In today's fast paced, always-online world, having a strong brand presence is key in any digital marketing strategy. But of course we would say that, right?
So what is brand awareness, why is it a big deal, and why should businesses care about it?
Think of a logo with a tick, and it’s Nike. Think of a big yellow ‘M’, and it’s instantly McDonalds. These are all clear connections that we can make without even thinking, and it’s all down to brand awareness.
Picture this, a potential customer scrolls through their social media feed, and comes across one of your posts. Whether it's a tweet sharing a recent article, an Instagram story showing a new product, or a Facebook video, social media platforms have become a hot spot for brands to showcase their personality, and become thought leaders in their niche.
On the other hand, they may have a question that they need answered, and take their search to Google. If your brand has the authority to discuss this, and can provide answers, you become a trusted source of information to consumers.
This is brand awareness, and it's defined as 'the extent to which consumers are familiar with the qualities or image of a particular brand of goods of services'.
How does Digital PR play a part in this?
Digital PR involves building and managing relationships with online journalists, bloggers, and influencers, to secure high-quality backlinks and mentions across various digital platforms and media sites such as The Mirror or Yahoo! News to name a few.
These media placements not only increase your brand's online visibility, but also contribute to a positive reputation, so when reputable websites link to your content, search engines see your brand as an authoritative source, and in turn, boost your SEO rankings.
In a way, this is almost planting a subliminal message in the reader's mind. Whilst they might not be looking to make a purchase at that very moment, they now know your brand. When they do come to make a purchase, they could do a simple google search and find your brand in the SERPs. From that initial connection of reading the article, they may feel naturally drawn to your site, and click on to make a purchase.
Your digital PR efforts can amplify your brand's reach and credibility in your niche. High quality backlinks earned through digital PR campaigns not only drive traffic directly to your site, but also signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy and relevant.
This positively influences your SEO, leading to improved rankings and ultimately, increased brand exposure.
How can a business utilise Digital PR for this?
Taking on a reputable agency who specialises in Digital PR services can be highly beneficial. Not only do they know the in’s and out’s of digital PR, but they will also know exactly how to get your brand in the press.
One thing does need to be made clear though, no digital PR is an expert in every niche, and I can absolutely back that up - but it’s all part of the process. The important thing is that they understand your brand, your audience, and exactly what you want to achieve.
At the core of digital PR lies engaging content through digital pr campaigns. By crafting compelling articles, videos, infographics, and other forms of online content, businesses can captivate their target audience and put themselves at the centre of any conversation in their niche.
As well as building a strong online presence, you have to provide top quality content to your audience. Content isn't just king, it's the whole royal family. This could be anything from blog posts to videos to podcasts - choose your fighter.
Remember to be authentic, be relatable, and be shareable, because when your content resonates, it's not just consumed, it's shared, and that's how you get your brand to spread like wildfire.
As well as this, optimising digital assets for search engines is essential for improving online visibility and driving organic traffic. By incorporating relevant keywords, internal links to other relevant pages, earning these high-quality backlinks, and gaining press coverage from top-tier media outlets, companies can improve their search engine rankings and enhance their overall brand awareness.
It’s also important to give journalists a reason to publish your content. Whether it’s a recent news hook such as the Spring budget or a weather warning, an event coming up such as The Oscars, or a new trend on the rise.
Another important thing to remember is to think outside the box with your content ideas, and remember that inspiration can come from anywhere. For our client, Eflorist, we discovered a new trend on Instagram, showing how using bleach can make your flowers last up to 3 weeks longer.
From this discovery, we knew this would be a rising trend, so we worked with their internal Flower Expert, David Denyer, to confirm the validity of the hack, and the science behind it - packaging this up into a press release to send to the media.
This quick thinking reactive piece landed 206 pieces of coverage for Eflorist - with 202 backlinks to their site! A true quick WIN.
By giving journalists a reason as to why your story is important, you can address any potential issues, and answer any questions that readers might have about these current topics. This is particularly useful when doing any reactive or quick win stories, but doesn’t always have to be necessary for your larger hero campaigns.
Hero campaigns are the top dog of digital pr campaigns, and is typically one that can take months of work at times. These are the stories with large data sets and compelling visual assets, such as striking graphics, or interactive games.
For example, we created a campaign for our client, Group 1 Automotive, with the idea starting with a question as simple as ‘I wonder how many people in the UK know all of their dashboard signals in their car?’.
We then conducted a survey asking the British public what each dashboard signal means. Turns out, only 7% of drivers across the UK can recognise and define the meanings of ALL dashboard symbols, equating to approximately 46.5 million drivers that don’t completely know their dashboard signals.
We took the findings from the survey and displayed this on the campaign page on-site, but we wanted to take this campaign one step further.
To do this, we then created an online quiz to sit on their site, allowing people to test their knowledge of dashboard signals. This campaign resulted in 175 pieces of coverage, with almost all of them (172) linking back to the site and the quiz!
To summarise:
Overall, digital PR can play a huge part in getting your brand seen online, and reaching both old and new potential customers.
Remember to:
-
Craft compelling content for your target audience
-
Be authentic, be relatable, and be sharable
-
Think outside the box with your content ideas
-
Give journalists a reason to publish your stories
-
And optimise your digital assets for search engines to both improve your online visibility, and drive organic traffic
If you'd like to know more about our Digital PR services, contact us here.
