{"id":2587,"date":"2019-03-26T08:26:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T08:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2022-09-05T19:23:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T17:23:58","slug":"what-is-the-pr-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/public-relations-blog\/what-is-the-pr-process\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the PR Process?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DSM<\/div><\/div>

An essential part of digital marketing is getting people to talk about you and be interested in your brand as well as the products and\/or services that you offer. Generating content for your own website and social media<\/a> platforms is a big part of how you generate a buzz about you. However, this isn\u2019t enough. You have to get people \u2013 who represent well-known publications in your niche \u2013 to want to produce content about you so that you can show the audience that you are a thought leader in your particular area. How do you do this? Through public relations.<\/p>\n

Any digital marketing processes that you engage in with respect to your business need to be planned well. You need to know where you\u2019re going and you need a roadmap of how to get to where you\u2019re going. PR \u2013 or public relations \u2013 is no different. You need a solid PR strategy<\/a> to direct your efforts and to help you achieve your outcomes.<\/p>\n

What does the term \u2018public relations\u2019 mean?<\/h2>\n

Very simply put, \u2018public relations\u2019 is all about developing a relationship with the public. You do this by developing a relationship with various media outlets \u2013 such as television and radio producers as well as editors of publications in your niche \u2013 so that you can connect with their audiences and \u2013 in so doing \u2013 broaden your audience.<\/p>\n

Why is public relations important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Besides broadening your audience, having a rock-solid public relations strategy helps to develop your reputation as an expert and specialist<\/a> in a particular field. Think about it. If you are a medical doctor specialising in stress management, if you contributed regularly to a publication that deals with this topic, people reading the article would see you as an expert because you are speaking authoritatively on the subject. As such, they would be more inclined to choose you \u2013 when looking for stress management solutions \u2013 you have already displayed their expertise in the subject.<\/p>\n

In digital marketing, one of the main ways that you can climb up the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is by having a high page rank. One of the best ways of developing this is by getting credible sites linking back to you. As online publications have an exceptional reputation in the industry and online, their sites will have a good reputation so when they link back to you, this will improve your own site\u2019s page ranking. This makes PR an essential cog in your digital marketing strategy.<\/p>\n

So once you have your strategy in place, where to from here?<\/p>\n

Public Relations Process<\/a><\/h2>\n

Find the outlets that would be best suited for your message<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Once you\u2019ve figured out what the messaging for your company is going to be, find the publications that are aligned with your brand and whose audiences will be receptive to what you\u2019re trying to get across.<\/p>\n

Be careful of choosing the right outlets for your messaging as choosing the wrong ones could be detrimental to what you\u2019re trying to do. Do thorough research before sending your material to a publication because if you send a PR pitch to the wrong publication \u2013 owing to the fact that you\u2019ve misunderstood their purpose – you could end up alienating their editors for life. As the journalistic community is very small, and editors regularly network, this could have the knock-on effect of alienating the publications that you want to target as you\u2019ll have developed a reputation of spamming people.<\/p>\n

Be specific<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When you pitch article ideas to editors, don\u2019t just take one press release and spam your list of journalists. Tailor make your article pitches to the specific publication and emphasise why you feel that this will add value to their readership.<\/p>\n

Editors get hundreds of article pitches each and every single day. Thus, to stand out from the crowd, and to get yourself noticed, bring something special to the table. Make sure that your headline packs a punch and that you grab the editor within the first couple of lines of your email. Make them so interested in your article idea that they feel that they have not choice but to feature your article.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>