Marketing and communications professionals around the globe are constantly trying to figure out how to raise and elevate the brand awareness for the organization they work for. Of course, for PR professionals, there are many ways to go about this, including media relations, direct marketing, advertising and content creation. However, there is one key element that often times gets ignored by publicists that could, if administered properly, greatly help achieve one’s goals.
Digital marketing and SEO were once totally separate from PR strategy, but what we’ve learned in recent years is that brands and PR efforts are only helped when SEO strategy is involved. In fact, it should be a must for any comms plan. Here’s why.
As publicists, it’s our role to get our clients’ featured in the media. But … what if we excel at our jobs (the dream placement!) and the client’s website isn’t set up to take in all of that new web traffic generated by said placement? Unfortunately, it leads to the brand awareness falling short of the full recognition it could have received.
PR agencies and the SEO team should work together to ensure the client’s website is readily found when a user searches it after the media hit and will have a positive experience while on the site. These efforts build on themselves. As more people search and land on the website, the more organic traffic the client will receive, and the more brand awareness there will be.
Next up is backlinking, a tactic publicists should be knowledgeable about. While getting features for a client is often a top priority, raising brand awareness through client mentions within online news sources and high-ranking blogs is key. It’s important to spend time monitoring client mentions and asking editors to add a link back to the client’s site. Again, this improves a site’s credibility, traffic and rankings on search engines and therefore increases the brand/client’s overall awareness.
The world of media is ever-changing and it’s important to keep up with the latest tech trends and tactics to maximize positive exposure for a client. SEO is one of those ways. That being said, PR is not the same, linear path for each client. It’s critical to figure out the right formula that works for each client. But no matter what, SEO should be a part of that formula, for all clients.
About the Author
Annie Pace Scranton proudly started Pace PR ten years ago, in May 2010. She’s loved the journey thus far and enjoys working with all of her colleagues and clients, even if it’s remotely for right now.
