Three ways digitalisation can transform your PR strategy

May 17, 2019

Spain

Digitalisation

Communication has changed – and continues to change. The influence of digitalisation has affected PR professionals and brands alike which has meant learning new skills and technologies.

In our recent survey, conducted amongst 43 global PR agencies, 58% of respondents saw digitalisation as the biggest change in the PR landscape, including the increase in online media and the use of new technologies. Consequently, 95% of the agencies surveyed are providing a digital service, with 75% managing their digital services in-house – like us at McOnie!

So, the question is: do you recognise how investing in digital communication can benefit you and your brand?

Lead generation
Digitalisation across communication now presents more opportunity to capture data and generate leads for your business. Traditional PR is often disadvantaged by the perception that it does not have a tangible impact on sales, due to the inability to track direct lead generation. Not anymore! One of the major benefits of digitalisation for PR is traceability. Through focussed campaigns on LinkedIn, Facebook or collaborating with digital media partners, we have the ability to promote your story, entice your customers and see who clicks where and how many times, enabling us to analyse the customer journey. Whether you’re promoting a new whitepaper, driving attendees to a workshop, or prospecting for new customers, a lead generation campaign that aligns with your PR strategy and is based on quality content can cement a strong brand message and help cultivate new customer leads for your business.

Video
Video is an increasingly popular tool within PR – and for good reason. According to Renderforest survey, 52% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content that delivers the best return on investment. In addition, social shares for video content are inexplicably high compared to text and images – video has an estimated 1.200% more shares across social platforms.

Whether it’s a product, service, or event, video content is animated and memorable content that will resonate with your audience. On LinkedIn, for example, video-based posts outperform by an average of three times the engagement of text posts. 62% of B2B marketers rate video as an effective content marketing tactic; as reflected in our own survey where 68% of respondents see infographics, visual content and video as the most important PR tactics, with 87% using video content in their PR strategy.

Fun, knowledge packed, short videos capture attention and provide more value to audiences than links to content. Video doesn’t have to be flashy or extensive either. Research shows the most successful length for promotional and brand awareness videos is less than 30 seconds.

Storytelling
Despite the proliferation of online content and increase in fast news, high quality content remains important. With the amplification of digital this means your brand messages will be subject to more reach and further views online; therefore it’s crucial it’s accurate, well-crafted and demonstrates true value to your readers. The ‘story’ doesn’t need to be in written form, but could take the shape of a video, infographic or podcast. Though, needless to say, any supporting copy needs to be just as impactful and hold just as strong a message.

Digitalisation has welcomed us into a new era of storytelling – storytelling 2.0. Social media, for example, offers brands the opportunity to reach a large audience, create a personality online and participate in two-way conversations allowing for discussion and interaction with their audience. A successful social media story connects a brand closer to its target audience and speaks to them in a way that isn’t just about the product itself, but highlights the brand’s values.

By McOnie

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