How to build a digital PR strategy during times of uncertainty

From marketing managers to chief marketing officers, chief financial officers and chief executive officers, everyone is expected to be more present and interested than before in the outputs of each marketing channel and with that comes more of a focus on the ins and outs of your strategy, and its role in driving revenue.

When focusing solely on a PR strategy and its outputs from a direct revenue perspective, we know there are likely to be questions and comments around activity like: ‘but this campaign isn’t about our products, how is it relevant?’

These are all valid and expected questions from a business that wants to drive revenue. However, selling more and increasing revenue is a long-term result of PR, not an overnight one. The instant outcome, however, is building a brand, engaging a customer and earning relevant links back to your domain – and this is key.

The ROI of PR

To gauge the return on investment of PR, it must be incorporated into a search strategy. It’s here where the revenue impact can be seen, when taken into consideration alongside other SEO activities, all working in tandem to drive search visibility, business growth and have an impact on the bottom line.

When building PR strategies and focussing on the output specifically, we must avoid selling products and services – something which might sound counterintuitive given the backdrop – and instead sell what your products/services do, who they impact, and what they solve.

It’s at this point where not succumbing to revenue pressures from wider stakeholders and allowing these to influence your strategy will pay off. If we avoid trying to sell and drive revenue through our PR efforts, we will earn more coverage, drive more impact and build a strategy that offers more longevity.

This is not to say that activity can’t involve products – it absolutely can, and it can be effective, but if your strategy ideation starts with a product, you won’t get very far before it runs dry.

Value-driven PR

All businesses have brand values and core beliefs that they want to be known for. They also have definitive customers with real issues and priorities. Good PR strategies understand all of this, they take it into account and use it as a foundation to build from – this is a core process for us at Impression when creating a digital PR strategy.

This approach though can only work if your PR function is viewed in the right context. If the goal is coverage, being a part of the conversation and being involved in issues that are relevant to the customer, then it is vital that all of this is being undertaken with the impact on SEO in mind.

This means building assets on your site, driving targeted links back through news articles and monitoring the impact on keyword rankings, referrals, sessions and goal completions – allowing the business to monitor its impact on revenue and performance.

To conclude, then, the economic outlook should shine a light on marketing activity for budget holders, but more attention on a PR strategy from those in the wider business isn’t a bad thing, often this is what PR teams are trying to achieve.

But we must remember that output and measurement in PR are what can be controlled, this is how the strategy is built, what it includes and what it impacts as well as the results and the target press - selling products and services isn’t the focus.

When there’s a specific focus on revenue, PR activity must be a part of your search strategy. If it isn’t, you will struggle to show a real ROI that is relevant to business performance.