Spending On Digital PR Expected To Rise

Is your business spending money on its digital PR? Are you planning to carry out more marketing and PR activity in the digital world in the coming months or year? If the answer to either of those questions is no then you might want to rethink your strategy.

A recent article for Biz Report revealed that digital PR spending is expected to increase in the coming five years.

The news provider cited data from Fractl and BuzzStream, which found that many businesses described their digital PR activities as important to their survival during the lockdown that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.

71 per cent of the companies surveyed said that digital PR had helped them during the pandemic, with 26 per cent revealing that without their digital marketing, they would not have stayed in business during lockdown.

However, the survey also found that many entrepreneurs still struggle to fully understand digital PR, with many unaware of how it varies from traditional PR. In fact, over half of the people surveyed said that they didn’t understand terms such as backlinks or inbound links, and yet they continued to manage their own digital PR efforts.

While a significant number of organisations struggled to explain how digital PR works, many see the value in it.

Nine out of ten of those questioned said that they know digital PR helps with SEO, for instance. What’s more, 67 per cent said that they intend to increase their spending on digital PR in the next five years, while 29 per cent said they plan to keep their spending the same.

Chief growth officer at BuzzStream Stephen Panico commented: “While many clearly see the benefits [of digital PR] and will continue to invest in the tactic, there’s also a ton of opportunity for companies to explore digital PR and improve their brand awareness and off-site SEO.”

An article for Forbes at the end of July explored some of the digital PR techniques businesses can use to tell their brand story.

At the top of the list was video, which is a popular option because it blends visual elements with text or voiceover to help tell a story. For many people, this is much more appealing than reading a wall of text, the news provider noted.

Some of the top tips for using video effectively to tell your brand story are to shoot features about specific employees at your company, or to create videos talking about your office or brand culture.

“Video connects your audience to your brand by allowing them to experience behind-the-scenes content,” the news provider noted.

Social media, meanwhile, is another important digital tool to use because it allows your audience to engage with your brand, whether that’s by allowing them to comment on content or simply to like something that you share.

If you use social media to share your brand story, it’s essential that you understand which platforms are best for different types of content and that you have a clear tone of voice that you use to talk to your customers.

Feel as though you’d benefit from some assistance with digital PR in Buckinghamshire? Get in touch with us to find out how we can help.