March 10, 2021
Having an effective outreach marketing strategy is the cornerstone of success for many brands and agencies, and this approach is undoubtedly fruitful for yielding SEO wins. However, these are a mere portion of the successes that you can achieve. Read on to find out why there’s far more to outreach marketing than just SEO.
The aim of outreach marketing is to position your brand/product/service in front of its target audience. The key tactic for doing so is to build a network of contacts related to your offering, whether it’s journalists, bloggers, influencers, or another individual in a similar field.
These relationships are usually based on the premise that your new contact will link back to your content, hence why outreach marketing is inevitably rooted in yielding SEO wins.
Of course, with offsite links comes site authority and credibility, highly regarded by search engine ranking algorithms. The role that SEO plays within an outreach marketing strategy is important for placing your brand in front of your target audience, but there are more ways that the approach strengthens an online presence.
With a sustained outreach marketing strategy, you are essentially creating consistent conversations around your brand amongst an influential audience. Outreach marketing allows your brand to develop a consistent network of contacts, whom you’ll contact regularly regarding new campaigns or product launches. These conversations
This form of exposure, whether it’s through a key blogger within your niche or secured via pickup from top tier publications, leverages your brand presence and widens your audience reach. It can also lead to more organic opportunities, whereby journalists might keep you in their books and refer to you for commentary on your specialist area when required.
Making connections through outreach marketing doesn’t have to be limited to your initial target audience, and the strategy lends itself to branching out and expanding your reach.
For example, if your brand secures coverage in a national publication, you’re positioned in front of a far larger audience. The impact of this kind of referral traffic can be significant, boosting your click-through and conversion rate simply by widening your appeal. It’s also a great opportunity for brands in the early stages of growth, or for new product launches to gain exposure.
While not all of these individuals may feel intrinsically connected to your brand, this kind of outreach marketing gives them an opportunity to interact with the content your brand creates.
When bloggers, influencers, or journalists engage with your content, you’re synthesising more personal relationships with people external to your brand. This kind of authentic endorsement is sought after, and it can be achieved through different approaches including product reviews and user-generated content.
This kind of interaction with consumers is essential for building trust, giving them a clear indicator of your brand or the product or service they’re receiving.
Of course, outreach marketing is a portrayal of your brand offsite, so you can tailor the perception of your brand based on the connections you choose to make and the coverage opportunities you pursue.
By reaching out to outlets in the same niche as your brand, you can position yourself as an authority within your focus area. And contrarily, you can identify the coverage that you want to avoid.
A successful outreach marking strategy certainly requires a considered SEO approach, but the other benefits it can add to an online presence should be capitalised upon, too.
Find out more about this function as well as our wider range of services at NORTH. Take a look at our other essential guides too, from the Ten Things Every Outreach Marketing Campaign Needs and our ultimate Link Building Guide.