Here's How Content Marketers Can Use PR for Explosive Results

Content marketing and PR might be viewed as two separate components of your overall marketing strategy, but when they're brought together in interesting and imaginative ways, you can achieve outstanding results.

From extending the reach and amplifying the impact of your promotional materials, to building the authority and credibility required to be regarded as a thought leader, there's a lot you can gain through the right combination of content marketing and PR.

Finding an approach that works for you could elevate your brand and your marketing to a new level.

Use PR to set your content apart

There's no doubt it's getting harder for brands to get their content noticed amid the ever-growing array of distractions and demands on their audience's time - particularly in the digital space.

It's estimated that the following events happen every 60 seconds online:

• 510,000 comments are posted on Facebook
• 350,000 tweets are sent
• 3.47 million videos are viewed on YouTube
• 26,000 apps are downloaded
• 4,100 sponsored Instagram posts are clicked on

In this hectic, fast-moving and endlessly competitive environment, it's important to use every tool at your disposal to boost the visibility of your brand and convey a powerful message that cuts through the noise.

A strong PR strategy that focuses on building relationships with journalists, editors and news outlets will help you gain more media coverage, raise the visibility of your content and get it in front of the right people at the right time.

Earn your audience's trust

Building trust in your brand is one of the most powerful benefits you can expect to gain from good PR, partly because it's so difficult to achieve through traditional marketing and advertising.

Modern audiences are becoming increasingly jaded and skeptical, particularly about ads, which many consumers now make an active effort to avoid. When customers see advertisements or marketing messages coming directly from a brand - particularly one they're not familiar with - most will view it with a healthy dose of suspicion and mistrust.

However, when a company receives positive attention from an impartial, reputable news source, audiences are more likely to pay attention and give credence to the coverage, since it’s been earned rather than bought.

If building trust through PR is a priority, you need to develop a clear, structured plan to earn good press coverage. That might include steps such as:

• Having a clear brand story and ensuring it's reflected in every aspect of your marketing
• Investing time and care in building genuine relationships with journalists and editors
• Researching what your ideal media outlets look for in a good story

Turn blog posts into press releases

There are many benefits to be gained from recycling and repurposing content, one of which is that it helps you achieve maximum value and returns from the assets in your marketing mix.

A good example of this is using blog posts as the basis for press releases. If you've recently conducted a piece of research you want to promote, or you have a big product launch coming up, covering it on your blog is one of the first things you'll want to do. But you shouldn't stop there.

If you've written a blog post, you already have a good amount of the content you'll need to compile and distribute a press release. This will increase your chances of earning media coverage, which will contribute to brand awareness and trust.

Furthermore, any outlet that uses unique data contained in your press release will have to link back to the original source, which helps you increase traffic, get more eyes on your content and establish credibility.

Build authority as a thought leader

Thought leadership is a common marketing priority, but it's not easy to reach the point where your brand is viewed as an authority on a particular subject or sector.

PR can make a big contribution to your efforts to be recognized as a trusted source of information and insight. If just one of your industry reports, surveys or analysis pieces earns good media coverage and gets people talking about you as an expert commentator, you're on your way to achieving thought leader status.

Strong relationships with journalists and editors can also help you drive recognition of individuals within your business through speaking engagements and interviews.

Develop relationships with influencers

When done right, influencer marketing can unlock major benefits, including direct connections with your target audience and higher levels of trust and brand awareness.

Using PR to identify, engage and develop relationships with influencers will make an enormous difference to your content marketing and the results you gain from it. For example, if a respected journalist known for shaping opinion in their field refers to one of your guides or whitepapers in an article, your content will gain more views, downloads and credibility.

Furthermore, links to influencers will bolster your own marketing output. You can share, promote and discuss their content on your channels, delivering additional value to your audience and further strengthening your brand.