Digital PR Trends for Your Business

Krista Neher

Aug 08 2023

Digital PR Trends For Your Business

Public relations (PR) happens everywhere – both online and offline. That being said, there are two areas to consider concerning public relations and digital marketing, presentation and opportunities.

Presentation:

The first is ensuring that your PR assets and presentation are suitable for online mentions and articles.

The Digital Press Room

Make sure that your website has a “Press” section. Most journalists are on a tight timeline – they need immediate access to resources to cover your business or include you in articles.

Example:

To make it easier for journalists to include me as an expert and get what they need, I set up www.KristaNeher.com/resources with all the information they need readily available. This positions me as an expert and increases my professionalism while saving time. Consider creating similar resources for your business and key executives.

The press section of your website should contain the following:

• Copies of press releases
• Contact information for the press
• Downloadable resources
• Bios and images of top executives

The Digital Press Release

Optimizing your press release for digital is also vital if you want to be covered by the media. More and more, even traditional news sites are creating online articles and content they can blast on social media. Giving journalists as much information as possible in the right format makes it easier for them to do their jobs.

If you want your press release to be ready to travel digitally, consider including the following links or content in addition to the traditional press release.

• Downloadable high-resolution images that are relevant to your press release
• Downloadable logo
• Infographics or visuals that explain the content
• A short video (under two minutes)
• Screenshots or demonstrations
• Short-format content (tweets, boilerplate company description, etc., that can easily be included)

As you write your press release for digital, also be sure to consider SEO best practices in the content. Press releases and news articles often appear at the top of search results. To maximize your exposure, be sure that your press release includes the keywords and phrases that people are likely to be searching for related to your press release topic.

Opportunities:

The second is to take advantage of the unique opportunities that the digital space provides for PR – including working with bloggers or smaller publications and harnessing open-publishing news sites.

There are a few trends in PR that have been fueled by digital that you can take advantage of.

• 24-hour news cycle – News now happens 24/7 and isn’t tied to a release time. This means that news can be covered at any time.
• Shorter timelines – With more pressure on journalists, they often have shorter timelines, so accessibility and response times are key.
• More news – Journalists who previously wrote one article for a print paper now also have to write 3 – 5 articles for online editions. They have to create more news and always look for relevant, interesting stories. This also means they must create MORE content, so the easier you can make it for them, the better.
• Smaller niche sites – There are also many small, niche, and community sites. While it used to be that big publications like the Wall Street Journal or USA Today were the holy grail of PR, now many smaller sites may have a more relevant and engaged audience.
• Contributing writers – Many news sites now have contributing writers in addition to professional paid journalists. For example, many online versions of popular magazines like Inc and Fortune get most of their content from pre-selected industry-expert contributors.
• Journalists are people too – This isn’t specific to digital (I suppose they were always people) but keep in mind that journalists are people too. They get inspired by what they see on Facebook. They use search engines to find answers and experts. Not only that, but they use online resources to support their stories.

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Power Tip:

Journalists often use search engines to research stories, sources, and additional information. Optimizing every aspect of your PR content can increase your probability of being found by them.

This is an excerpt from Krista Neher’s best-selling book, “Digital Marketing That Actually Works.” You can find this and more books at Boot Camp Digital.

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