How to
create an omnipresence with
Digital PR
With digital rapidly changing our world and the way we communicate to our audiences, Digital PR provides us with the power to create more of an authentic omnipresence with our audiences.
Today, people have never been less engaged with traditional Marketing and PR. They’re online, savvy and make decisions based on their own research. They also choose their own tribes and channels based on the stories that resonate and build trust with them.
This changes everything for the PR industry.
With traditional media consumption declining and Marketers, SEO pro’s, influencers and entrepreneurs now pitching to media directly, we now need to go wider with our work.
In addition, despite so many more channels being available to us, it is now harder than ever to reach our audiences given we now live in a ‘Search’ and ‘Scroll’ society.
Research suggests people’s attention spans are now less than eight seconds. In some cases, it’s thought to be as low as three seconds depending on the channel they are on at the time.
That’s not a lot of time to capture someone’s attention.
For PR pro’s, this means we now have to be damn good with our content and messaging as well as also create an omnipresence across a range of channels with our communications to ensure we properly reach your target audiences.
This is where Digital PR comes in.
How Digital PR changes the traditional PR model
Traditionally Public Relations has only focused on capturing people in, what I call, ‘BROWSE’ mode – which just involves traditional media and social media channels.
While this is still an effective strategy, it is only half the job done as your campaigns are only reaching audiences in the short-term i.e. when your media article(s) or social posts go live. Give it a week and the impact of our work tails off and then disappears given there is so much noise and competing content being released everyday.
As Communications professionals, we now need to shift our skills to build our campaigns to reach our audiences when they are in both ‘Browse’ and also ‘Search’ mode.
Why?
Because 80% – 90% of people ‘pre-research’ online before making any kind of decision, taking action or purchasing almost anything these days.
Quality, authentic content and earned recommendation are also now the keys to building trust to ensure they choose you instead of your competitors.
In addition, it takes people at least seven different interactions or touch-points with your brand, service or product before they trust you.
This is only possible by creating an omnipresence with Digital PR.
If you’re not designing campaigns that reach people when they’re browsing on traditional media and social channels as well as gearing your content to be on P1 when they’re searching online, you’re doing your company or client a major disservice.
It’s like driving a car with the hand-brake on!
Everything you do now needs to be designed with both ‘SEARCH’ and ‘BROWSE’ mode in mind.
What is 'Browse' mode in Digital PR?
‘Browse’ mode can be defined as capturing audiences in the moment via traditional media (both print and online) and social media channels. In effect, they’re the channels we have traditionally only leveraged as part of our PR/communications work.
‘Browse’ mode targets a broad audience (particularly if unpaid) who are typically less engaged. Organic reach to your existing audiences is also limited if your social activity is not amplified (paid).
Those in ‘Browse’ mode are, what I define, as a cold audience. They’re not expecting you in their feeds or when they visit a news site, but will stop scrolling if your content is relevant and interesting/engaging enough.
Hope is the key strategy here as it relies on the law of averages for the right people to be on the right channels, at the right time. It also relies on your work resonating enough with a percentage of those who have come across you to stop and take action.
When you look at it that way, it’s a little crazy to just rely on this strategy alone right?
What is 'Search' mode in Digital PR?
‘Search’ mode is where you find your most qualified audiences.
People in ‘Search’ mode are your hot audiences who are in market and specifically researching online for what your brand has to offer (sell) or say (thought leadership/influence into action).
In effect, leveraging ‘Search’ mode gives you access to the largest, most trusted media organisation in the world – Google.
To reach people in ‘Search’ mode requires a mix of art and science – which is where Digital PR comes in.
It involves researching, planning and creating high quality campaigns that leverage content across all channels which is also built to rank on P1 of Search Engines.
It also requires you to pitch to media differently and create online engagement in a way that builds online authority for your brand.
Reaching audiences in ‘Search’ mode means you can create the perfect intersection between providing something you know your audience actually wants and delivering high quality content exactly when they are searching for it.
Gearing your communications strategies for ‘Search’ involves using data, new digital tools and also PR-SEO to ensure it can compete and rank for the top spots online.
When you do it correctly, it benefits your brand’s entire online authority and reputation.
But reaching people properly in ‘Search’ mode doesn’t just happen by accident.
It should also not be left to another department or agency to do.
As a PR pro, you now need to learn how to build this into everything you do. The only way that can be achieved is by using Digital PR planning, data, new tools and activation techniques to get real measurable results.
Digital PR helps create an omnipresence for your brand
There’s no doubt that quality, authentic content and earned recommendation are the elements that are now changing opinion, building trust, generating brand awareness and, in turn, loyalty and profits.
Digital PR achieves that for you by helping create effective communications strategies that reach your audiences in both ‘Browse’ and ‘Search’ mode.
Creating an omnipresence across your channels provides you with more opportunities to be seen and found.
But it requires a different mindset and approach to PR.
We can help you get there!
Want to read more about how Digital PR can elevate your work?
Download our FREE report ’The 7 vital Digital PR skills you need in 2020′
Learn Digital PR online
Our Digital PR online course, which is endorsed by the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) and the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), provides you with the complete blueprint on how to research, design and activate an effective Digital PR strategy.
Learn Digital PR in your own time, at your own pace. It will change the way you see and do PR/Communications forever!