By Josh Ochs

For any business trying to build their presence online and amplify their message across a range of platforms, it seems the game changes every day. You have to stay ahead of your competitors and keep up with your fans’ fickle preferences if you want to succeed. We asked several public-relations professionals for creative digital pr ideas they use to amplify their message in the digital world.

What are your most creative Digital PR tips for amplifying your message?

Feature experts in your field. “Write a highly interesting list post featuring 10 to 20 experts in your field. Pick a topic that not only relates to what you do but that will also be highly engaging for your audience. For example, if I sell wine, I might interview 20 sommeliers about the best tasting wines under $20.

The key is to pick interviewees who have their own devoted social media following. When your article comes out, they’re going to share it on their own channels, directing traffic back to your site! If we want to stick with the wine scenario, you’d be smart to post a link to purchase each of the bottles mentioned in the piece. Hello, conversions! This tactic can be used across industries and mediums.” —Tami Brehse

 Leverage past endorsements

“Influencers are extremely important for spreading your brand and generating buzz, but building those relationships takes effort. Leveraging past endorsements is a fantastic way to establish credibility when reaching out to them. For example, if you are trying to get a mention on a top blog it can help to show them how you were already mentioned on another similar blog (even if it is not quite as popular).

In other words, don’t be afraid to build relationships with small players in your industry to boost your digital pr. Using the referrals and trust generated from them, you can then approach the medium-sized influencers, before finally moving up to the big time.” —David Mercer

Connect with influencers offline

“Know when to go offline. Connecting online and offline experiences can help develop meaningful brand-audience relationships and amplify your message. Consider how you can create a tangible experience that begins in an intangible space. When everyone is focusing on sending mass emails or pushing digital content, a simple handwritten note to an influencer or a well-executed event can separate you from the pack.” —Annabel Jones

Build relationships with freelancers

“Form relationships with freelancers. Media companies are now employing fewer on-staff writers and opting instead to employ a constantly shifting roster of freelancers. To get your message heard, stop wasting time bombarding a media company’s masthead, and start building strong relationships with freelancers. An added bonus is that they can give you input on which of their outlets is best for a certain story.” —Katie Witkin

Contribute content to related websites

“As a brand in a niche market, one of my favorite tricks is to reach out to blogs and websites in an industry relating to mine and offer to contribute content to their website. This helps in a few ways, as you can get some nice referral traffic when targeting the same market, establish your authority in the industry and get some of the SEO benefits of being linked back from a website relating to yours.” —Alex Reichman

Refocus your PR efforts around analytics

“Three creative tips I like:

1. Prioritize your influencer and blogger outreach by focusing on your top 20 to 25. After you’ve done this, zone in on what story your company could be offering that would attract readers to their blog. Stop to think about current trends, relevant SEO keywords that would stand out and catchy titles that result in ‘click bait.
2. Pitch different. If you have something out of the norm of your everyday pitch but it still gets your message across, use it! Start thinking outside the box and start including content like infographics, YouTube clips or even a quiz.
3. Use Google Analytics. You should be studying your Google Analytics to determine which publications are giving you the most website traffic. You might be surprised at some of the results from smaller publications, which will help you to refocus your digital PR efforts and where you are spending the most time pitching.” —Rebecca Haynes

Foster relationships with organizations that share the same values as your brand

“Too often people create a list of target publications based only on online magazines, newspapers and established publications within their industry and don’t look any further. But you should also reach out and foster relationships with companies or people who may not be ‘publications’ but still have a stake in the success of your business/brand.

In today’s digital world, most of us are publishers in some form or another; a public recommendation from a relevant supplier with an established reputation within your target market might be just as effective in driving relevant traffic and assisting conversions than a guest article or inclusion in a feature.

Return the favor by including commentary, photos, or references to these providers within your own content. Just be sure that the organizations you’re building relationships with share the same values as your brand, and whose audience fit within your target market.” —Aisha Kellaway

Make the most of influencer connections

“Quote industry influencers in your own content, and then make the most of the connection:
Include a link back to the quote source;

1. Tag influencers when you post a link to your content on your own social media accounts
2. Send each person you mentioned a short, polite email letting them know you included them (along with a link to the content in case they want to check it out)

Frequently this leads to influencers sharing your content via their own social media channels. Remember that the people you’re emailing are very busy, so keep the email short and personal.

Finally, to keep organized with a company’s many social media accounts, I use Buffer to schedule social media posts and Hootsuite for tracking/managing company mentions on social media.” —Kate Harvey