March 10, 2021
3 minutes
A successful approach to digital PR combines a mix of core tactics and creative approaches.
Key tactics to use on any site include: fixing broken links, analysing your competitor’s backlink profile and searching for mentions of your brand that don’t have a link attached. See these as your starting point, your digital PR ‘quick wins’.
Analysing your competitors’ backlink profiles is a good starting point for setting benchmarks and goals. Use online tools such as Majestic, which allows you to input five of your direct competitors and compare their backlink profile against yours.
Not only does this allow you to compare performance, but the list of competitor links gives you an instant list of targets. You know these sites are likely to be relevant to your industry and website.
Every site, no matter the size, will at some point have broken links in their profile. Broken links direct to a page that is either non-existent or has been deleted or moved. Contact sites where broken links sit and ask them to redirect to a live page on your site. This allows authority from broken links to once again pass to your site. You can find a list of your broken links using tools such as Ahrefs.
Not everyone who mentions your brand online will include a link back to your site, at least not at first. Locate unlinked brand mentions and you’ll have a link-generating gold mine. Use brand-monitoring tools such as SEMrush to keep track of your brand mentions and identify opportunities to secure links and referral traffic too.
Although they often need more resources and time, long-term digital PR tactics produce results that transform brands online.
Your longer-term link building strategy is where you can really get creative. Innovative, original content is a key part of successful outreach strategies and a great way to secure high-quality links.
Whether it is data, a thought leadership piece, an infographic or a video, creative content allows you to build authority in your sector. Use it to become one of the leading voices in your industry.
It’s important your content is genuinely something that people want to engage with. Creative content cannot be sales-focused and must offer value to the site that will be publishing the content and to the reader.
We have a great article covering the ten things every outreach marketing campaign needs – give it a read for more information.
Proactive digital PR tactics include sharing news and stories using press release distribution. Do this alongside promoting launches, events and product reviews. Get internal and external teams to cross-reference prospect lists before outreach begins. This way you can identify any pre-existing relationships to exploit.
Monitoring PR requests from journalists is another great digital PR tool. Done correctly it uncovers live opportunities to build relevant links on quality sites. It gives your brand exposure and establishes relationships with publishers.
Staying abreast of topical news stories and trends can also support the generation of ideas for digital PR campaigns. Breaking news stories give opportunities for your brand to provide comment, building your profile as a sector leader.
With the massive growth of online shopping and B2B marketing, digital strategies now make and break brands. Be creative, bold and unique to establish yourself as a market leader and stand out from the crowd.
Develop your digital PR strategy using remarkable content that offers genuine value to the end reader. And build high-quality links that increase your organic visibility, drive traffic and put your brand in front of new audiences.
Get in touch for more information about building an effective digital PR strategy, or explore what our digital PR team can do for you.
