If your business offers a service as opposed to a product, it can seem like implementing digital PR into your strategy is impossible. Deciding what to attempt to sell in to the press can be difficult. For example, while fashion brands have plentiful products that can be used to sell in to the press, your business probably won’t.
However, Digital PR is especially important for your non-product brand and there are approaches that can be taken to ensure successful results come from it. Thought provoking content, visually appealing infographics and topical trend data can be used to gain coverage, and in turn, grow the influence and awareness of your brand.
Speak about what is topical at that moment in time
You need to create content that goes beyond the service offered. Engagement can be sought through time and topic relevant content, that highlights underlying issues that drive back to the business.
For example, MediaVision joined up with the BBC Good Food Eat Well Show and created content that BBC Good Food readers would love. During the research stage, we discovered that browsers were really interested in learning how to create healthy and good-looking food, easily. So we started conceptualising a series of content pieces to educate and entertain.
One of the first was a set of ‘Healthy Food Hacks’, which included simple tips and tricks on preparing different foods. Next we published ‘Healthy Food Facts’ which focused on niche food ingredients and their origins and uses, along with beautiful imagery, which performed really well on social.
Establish your company as having relevant expertise and knowledge
A competitive advantage can come from leveraging the respect of key people in your company. For example, Instant Offices finds, creates and manages workspace. In order to produce a newsworthy and unique press release, we included quotes from the Head of HR, Helen Taylor with regards to how LinkedIn should be used to further your career.
Commentary and quotes can associate the company with particular expertise, as there is no product to be tried and tested.
It is important to produce unique content, or content with a unique edge, so that it stands out as something that will be featured. New statistics and attention grabbing infographics can work well here, as well as quotes from the experts.
It is especially important to build relationships with the media and be remembered as experts in your industry, so that when new stories are sent out they are perceived as coming from a credible source.
Reach out further than the obvious and create content out of house
After reaching out to the highly influential titles in your sector, try to repurpose your content to make it relevant to a broader audience. In this way, you might be able to make it relevant to an assortment of other interest groups in lifestyle, consumer, newspaper and regional titles.
Finally, bringing in an external team to create content for you, will make it feel less like self-promotion and more like news, Therefore providing unbiased coverage.
For more information on promoting your service contact our Digital PR Department