Seven Questions to Consider When Mapping Your Digital Public Relations Strategy
2024 has been a year of continuous evolution for public relations. In this era, here are seven questions to consider as you manage your PR strategy:
1. IS AI A TOOL TO BE USED OR AVOIDED?
As AI becomes more and more prevalent in our daily lives it’s easy to understand why this tool can make your job easier. Its functionality takes out some of the guesswork, streamlines processes, and adjusts messaging as needed. But, it’s not a replacement for a dedicated PR team member, because it doesn’t understand the importance of connection and the “relationship” part of the PR role. It’s a helpful tool, no doubt, but don’t let it take the place of engaging your audience on a personalized level.
2. HOW DO YOU FIGHT THE SHRINKING NEWS HOLE?
Traditional news outlets are facing an ongoing process of retraction. Since less space is available, whether digitally or in print, it’s more important than ever to make your pitches unique and attention-grabbing. Also, building, growing, and maintaining relationships with the media is equally important. Your email is not the only one hitting their inboxes, so a compelling pitch and a phone call could do more for your story than a single social post. Just because there’s less space for news, doesn’t mean there’s less space for yours.
3. WHAT DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES DID YOU MISS?
If you didn’t take the time to understand your customers and create compelling content that speaks to them directly, then you’ve failed to connect your project or product to their lives and experiences. Your messaging must be consistent, strategically designed, and used over multiple platforms to ensure it reaches as many as possible.
4. HOW DID THOSE DIGITAL MISSTEPS IMPACT YOU?
Social media is vitally important, but so is your website presence and how you raise awareness among your base. Your website should be a one-stop shop for the information you’re sharing with your audience, a standardized repository that keeps messaging accessible for all. Social should lead to your website and vice versa. Create a circle of information that encourages your base to feel they have multiple ways to access your services.
5. DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE AND CAN YOU ANTICIPATE THEIR NEEDS?
You can’t predict the future, but you do need to take steps to learn more about those you’re trying to reach. Social media may be the most obvious approach, but looking ahead by leveraging other forms of communication is crucial. For instance, are there opportunities to combine a grass-roots, feet-on-the-street approach to tailor information directly to your audience?
6. HOW IMPORTANT IS THE POWER OF STORYTELLING TO YOUR DIGITAL CAMPAIGN?
Your product or initiative will always connect more directly with your audience when you engage on a personal level. Remember, your customers will be attracted to your services for a number of reasons, but can you tell a personal story, maybe even about yourself, to humanize and relate to them more profoundly?
7. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE LISTEN TO YOU?
Brands are now their own news outlets. They leverage their digital platforms to tell their own stories. But, while brands are targeting specific audiences for specific reasons, your role as a PR professional is to understand audiences regardless of the reason. This is reflected in the ways in which you represent your client digitally, in writing, and in informing through your own expertise. Your digital footprint will only expand as a result.
The questions inherent to marketing and PR can be daunting and extend far beyond those listed here. But starting from a place of looking inward, you’ll better understand what those outside of your organization may see. It’s an old, and let’s face it, cliché saying, but you often need to take a few steps back in order to move forward more efficiently.
The Next-Mark team has a proven track record in managing digital public relations for our clients. Feel free to reach out if we can help!
