Effective content marketing and public relations campaigns may distinguish your business and significantly influence campaign success. That being said, most companies typically focus on them separately. However, if you were to combine them, you would be able to produce much better results. The purpose of both public relations and content marketing is to generate a compelling brand message that connects with target audiences.
A successful public relations strategy may help raise awareness, reach new audiences, create trust, and stimulate purchases. On the other hand, strong content marketing should also do all of these things. For this reason, we will tell you how to combine content marketing and PR for maximum results.
Identify the strengths of each team
Although PR and content marketing aim for the same outcomes, they do so in fundamentally different ways. That’s why taking stock of the company’s strengths for which you do PR is essential. Most companies have dedicated SEO and content marketing teams that are unaware of how public relations works. The same goes the other way, and members of the PR team are often unaware of what the marketing department is planning. Therefore, it is essential to try at least to create some form of back and forth between the teams. It would be best if you started by cataloging the skills and experience of everyone that works in the content marketing team.
For instance, content marketing experts will typically work to solve problems that their target demographic faces. They will also try to link them to products or services that can help. A PR equivalent isn’t responsible for doing this, but they know how to get in touch with the right people and measure the right KPIs. It will be impossible for the two teams to benefit from one another if they operate without coordination. Once you understand how the two teams work independently, you can find ways to collaborate.
Determining where the strengths of each team lie is the first step in combining content marketing and PR.
Create campaign ideas together to ensure brand growth
When more than two groups work together, they can bring a greater variety of ideas and perspectives to the table. For this reason, it is vital to combine content marketing and PR to work together to develop campaign ideas. Growing a brand requires different approaches to marketing. PR professionals can provide out-of-the-box thinking to help content marketing teams figure out the best solutions. Working together on campaign ideas allows companies to explore different strategies that can help their brand grow exponentially. Additionally, brainstorming campaign ideas together will aid in determining the campaign’s precise goal. This way, you will be in the loop throughout the entire process, allowing you to work on the best and most appropriate approach for your team.
PR can bring fresh content ideas to the table.
Combine content development efforts
Both public relations professionals and content marketers consistently produce excellent work, but for different audiences. If you can collaborate with your clients on their content and assist them with brand storytelling, you will be able to help them with their media outreach. Companies whose content marketing team works closely with PR are in a better position to reap the benefits of content recycling due to the insights they gain from their joint content creation efforts. In addition, by working together with PR, content marketing teams will have more resources to implement effective brand awareness campaigns.
Communication is essential
Final success depends on the quality of communication and cooperation between the two groups. It’s easy to get off track when multiple groups work on different marketing initiatives simultaneously. If you want to save time and money, ensure the content marketing team is aware of your every move and ask them to do the same with you. Since face-to-face communication is essential, requesting that the content marketing and PR teams meet once every month or every other week may be necessary. This may be the most vital aspect of integrating content marketing and PR for optimal results.
If the goal is good communication, biweekly or monthly meetings are required.
What benefits does combining content marketing and PR dring?
When content marketing and public relations work together, various aspects of running a successful business become much more streamlined. This is because the two sectors complement each other well. The following are some of the advantages of combining content marketing and public relations:
1. Improved SEO
Optimizing your content using SEO in today’s digital age makes sense. Companies that are not utilizing SEO are hurting their businesses. On the most basic level, publishing press releases online may assist in raising online authority since they stay in search engines and can improve online exposure. Thought leadership articles and white papers provide another option for public relations to increase online influence.
2. Better content
Creating excellent material isn’t enough; it needs exposure to have an effect. Generating exposure is where a solid public relations approach can truly shine. Public relations companies specialize in identifying influencers and determining how to contact them. They can also help companies reach a new or, if they want it, a larger audience. When PR and content teams work together, they may maximize a story’s visibility and give extra information to reporters and influencers. If the PR team is working on a brand launch announcement, for example, adding infographics and a short video describing the launch can help complete the narrative and provide reporters with information you can quickly share online.
3. Brand consistency
All branded communications should aim to maximize and reinforce a company’s value proposition, brand identity, and brand personality. When marketing teams work independently, it’s easy to lose sight of what the brand represents. Public relations teams are on hand to keep things in order. When these two teams work together, staying focused on the goals at hand is much easier while maintaining brand image.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve covered how to combine content marketing and PR for maximum results, all that remains is for you to put what you’ve learned into action. This way, you will not only be able to maximize your results, but you will also be able to form a stronger connection with your collaborators.
