Some search engine marketers may have a fundamental understanding of public relations (PR) tactics but many lack the IT mindset and experience to leverage the power of PR to generate quality inbound links and authority that results in enhanced visibility, traffic and especially, revenue.
PR professionals struggle to keep up with the rapidly evolving world and how it can vastly improve the impact of their efforts to increase sales. But when it comes to search engine marketing, PR professionals must develop and create new attempt to approach new strategies.
Building Your Foundation
The first step in developing an effective SEO+PR strategy is to create a dedicated resource for the media and analyst community. Typically, this consists FAQs, backgrounders, press releases, event calendars, awards and recognition, and links to coverage.
This dedicated resource is a one-stop shop for the press, yet it also provides value to prospects, customers, partners and peers. This may include socialized elements including a dedicated PR-focused blog, social profiles and even rich media content like webinars, images, audio and video. Over time, it's also advantageous to develop a library of blog posts, articles, presentations and even books that validate your commitment and industry credentials.
Research for a Story
With a complete collaboration between SEO and PR teams, creating and promoting compelling contents can be less stressful. Search engines' result pages provide a natural place to initiate story research and development. Once an idea is formulated, the next step is to conduct detailed research to identify industry influencers across publications, blogs and the social graph.
Once you've finalized your list, leverage knowledge of their personalities, areas of interests and previous writings, you can then create a compelling "pitch".
If direct outreach may not be ideal or effective, consider leveraging your network by using forums or blogs with messages and supporting content to build a strong support. Continue to facilitate conversation even after the initial goal is achieved because long-term relationships are the backbone of effective PR programs.
Speak Aloud
A truly successful SEO+PR campaign includes regular development of foundational content including press releases, articles and speaking engagements. To ensure proper momentum with PR activities, create, optimize and syndicate press releases on a monthly (or otherwise appropriate) basis. Press releases can still be effective at generating visibility in social media and news search engine, which in turn helps fuel inbound links, even if they do not directly result in coverage.
To maximize visibility on forums and blogs, you should first become a regular contributor that speaks relevant and informational solution on your company's behalf. Submit for relevant speaking opportunities, as they not only build industry visibility and credibility, but also generate high-quality inbound links. The same is true for industry awards and certification opportunities.
Delivering Your Offers
Regardless of the level of diligence surrounding initial research and message crafting, at the end of the day, a SEO/PR campaign’s success ultimately relies on the quality of the "offer" which may vary based on the topic, business and objective.
You can send samples to partners as a promotion and review, and also other offers that have similar ability to gain attention. This can include, but not limited to, discount, product demos, special contests, trials, etc..
When these fail to produce a desirable amount of links, you can consider securing strategic sponsorships that offer inbound link opportunities.
Measuring Your Success
The traditional PR measurement model usually focused on the equivalent advertising value of coverage. Traditional SEO measurement models focused on rankings for targeted terms and resulting traffic to a website. Both fall short of more compelling goals like an ability to effectively generate qualified leads or sales. Somewhere in between, consider measuring the quality of links and direct traffic from those links.
To maximize the impact, syndicate all optimized contents via social and other marketing channels, including any resulting coverage. Also track citations/mentions and analyze sentiment to truly understand the overall impact of your SEO+PR efforts and the company's online reputation.
Conclusion
The steps outlined above can help create a meaningful increase in quality inbound links, resulting in greater industry visibility, authority and ultimately revenue. The internet is a vast network where billions are online 24/7, so there is always a chance no matter how small to use your PR tactics as your internet marketing effort.