Maintaining a balance of traditional PR and digital PR in your company’s strategy is extremely important. It isn’t as delicate an operation as cooking to Heston Blumenthal’s standards, however it requires a fine level of experience, skill and knowledge in both elements of PR.
If you skimp on traditional PR, you will lose the long-lasting impact and the profile of securing inches in a long established national news outlet, like RTÉ, The Irish Times or Irish Independent. You also lose the opportunity to reach thousands of people nationwide, and actually hold their valuable attention for valuable minutes as they pore over an article, scrutinise a photo or interview that you or your company are part of.
If your digital PR is lagging, to your dismay, all-important followers on LinkedIn and Twitter drop, subscribers unsubscribe, and SEO ranking on search engines slide, undoing any hard work you’ve put into it and paving the way for competitors to edge you out on the coveted page 1 of Google.ie. You also lose the opportunity to engage with customers and prospects on a more human, less corporate-machine level.
360 degree PR strategy
The best way to create a 360 degree, all-encompassing PR strategy is to work with a PR agency who is a proven expert in both traditional and digital elements.
A great agency knows your key messaging inside-out in order to engage with your target audience, whether that is existing customers, new prospects, shareholders or staff. Even better, a truly great PR agency will assist in developing and fine-tuning your key messaging.
Once a PR agency understands your messaging, it understands your company, its needs and requirements, and it can safely deliver on both digital and traditional elements of your PR strategy.
For example, one quick test to measure your all-round PR is to search your company’s name online. If it is ranked high in organic (not paid for) results and is linked to by a relevant publication or news source – success! Your company is on the radar in a traditional and digital sense.
A mixture of traditional and digital PR can drive up your online reputation and brand reputation among your target audience using engaging, relevant, well-written, non-repetitive content. Content depends on the medium, but it usually manifests itself as blogs, press releases, media interviews, case studies, features and video.
Digital PR alone gets your rankings up on Google and uplifts your numbers of followers, however it doesn’t always have the same merit and “get people talking” factor as a piece in The Irish Times or appearance on RTÉ Prime Time.
Getting published in a very industry-specific magazine that targets your corporate audience is fantastic to present at board meetings, but it won’t mean much to an end customer or to a skilled employee who wants insight into your company’s culture.
Social media provides a less corporate, more personal side to your company which is so critical when it comes to recruiting and retaining employees and providing high quality customer service.
Strike the balance now
If you need to balance your traditional with your digital, or vice versa, Comit can help. Get in touch with any questions you have.