How Content Marketing and Public Relations Go Hand-in-Hand?

Nothing in marketing can work in silos. You have to constantly use that creative head to figure out how to cross-connect different marketing areas. In this blog, we’ll talk about how content marketing and public relations together set a strong foundation for your marketing goals.

Taking all our learnings from PR expert Michelle Garrett’s talk on the recent edition of #SparkToroHours, we bring to you this guide on public relations and content marketing’s friendship.

Why do Content Marketing and Public Relations Go Together?

If you cook food, you’d want to serve it to someone. Otherwise, it will go bad. Similarly, if you create content, you’d want people to see it. Content marketing is like setting the base and PR outreach is like building an escalation.

Outreach helps you generate backlinks the right way. These backlinks from articles, blogs, or opinion pieces place your blog in front of the right audience. So, for your blog to rank well, links from contextually relevant third-party sites are crucial. It not only increases your visibility but also helps boost your credibility.

Google says that in order to improve your keyword ranking, you should work on

1. Creating high-quality content

2. Linking it to relevant sites

How Does PR Support Content Marketing: Key Formulas

1. Strong Content + Pitching = Results

Statistics say that content marketing that generates mainstream press is likely to be 2x more effective than the original thought. And, the long-term ROI is many times higher. So, it’s only valid that pitching strong content is key to bringing in good results.

2. Content + PR = The Perfect Duo

Data-driven, newsworthy content + highly tailored outreach = High-authority link building and brand coverage. We think that’s enough said.

How Is Digital PR Different From Traditional PR?

Many mistake digital PR to be limited to just link building, but that is not the case. While traditional PR is all about generating media coverage through different means, digital PR comes with a by-product. It brings along good authoritative links from relevant sites. Digital PR is less about spammy links and more about expertise, authority, and trust.

How Can PR Amplify Your Content Initiatives? 

Create Newsworthy Content

Content is everywhere. Everyone is trying their best to offer something of value to readers. But differentiating your brand from others is extremely important if you want to boost your reach.

So, there comes the question, how to create newsworthy content? Ask yourself a few questions:

1. What are your primary areas of expertise?

2. What will your audience find interesting?

3. What content has gotten maximum engagement from your audience?

4. Can you survey your audience and get immediate feedback?

Analyze these responses and then work towards creating magical content.

Consider Tangential Content

What is tangential content? Well, it is content that’s created around a broad topic in the form of some niche and relevant sub-topics. Tangential content helps you widen your audience while retaining the initial prospects. Let’s look at a very simple example. If you sell beauty products, you can create tangential content around areas like skincare trends, different skin types, makeup tips, etc.

Of course, that’d sound like a very basic example. Collecting the right data might seem like a huge task. But hey, we are here to help you. You can find accurate data through surveys, internal data, social media, APIs, government sources, lab testing, and Google Trends.

Think Before Your Pitch

When you’ve decided the content for your pitch and the objective behind it, you need to think about ‘who’ you are going to pitch. Think from their perspective. Consider that they’d be receiving a lot of pitches and make sure that yours stands out. Because if they don’t read your pitch, you aren’t getting any coverage.

What Are Journalists Looking For?

1. Press Releases

According to Cision, 78% of journalists look for press releases. You don’t need one every time you pitch, but you should certainly consider having one occasionally. Journalists are primarily looking for the who, what, when, where, how related information. They want all the important information through links and other data forms.

2. Original Research

Cision says that 68% of journalists look for research. Basically, try to give them all data up front. Firstly, giving data through original sources provides authenticity. Journalists love that. Secondly, it makes the process more convenient for you and them. Win-win!

3. Multimedia Elements

We’ll make it as simple as we can. Create assets like images, videos, etc. and share them with the journalists. Don’t expect them to find the right images. Instead, create content that portrays your brand and adds some value. If you have compelling imagery to go with your story, it can even sway the journalists a little bit.

4. Interviews with Experts

Adding quotes and messages from experts is a huge plus point. Anyone who is an expert in the field you are writing about can be contacted and asked for an opinion. You can then include their opinion in your story. Authentic, real, and value-adding.

Choosing Who to Target With Your Pitch

#1 Think About Your Audience

The first step is to think about the readers/viewers/listeners you want to reach out to with your content. Then think about which media outlets and journalists can help you reach that audience. Tools like Sparktoro can help you see what kind of content your audience is engaging in.

#2 Figure Out the Strategy

The next step is to figure out how you want to reach these media outlets. You have to determine the right path to connect with them. LinkedIn and Twitter are great ways, to begin with.

#3 Tailor Your Pitch

Generalizing content for journalists isn’t a great idea. Not everyone caters to the same areas. Make sure that your pitch isn’t a copy-pasted template. Make it personalized on the basis of the journalist’s preferences. Choose angles that’ll be appealing to them. You can do this by reading the content that they write. Be specific to the needs of journalists and the audience.

Tactical Ways How Content Marketing and PR Teams Can Work Together

Though public relations and content marketing aren’t completely alike, one needs to understand the overlap that comes between them. How? Let’s tell you!

1. Both involve content curation

2. Both require you to build relationships

3. Both involve reaching out to audiences

4. Both require thought leadership

Now, coming to how both teams can work together. You can try different approaches that seem fit for your use-case. For example, say press releases, cross-linking can be a huge element. You can link your press releases to your existing content. You can also release your press releases as blog posts on your company website.

Moreover, case studies are a great way to link PR with content marketing. You can showcase success stories from Public Relations through your blogs. In addition to that, you can also turn talks and webinars into blog posts and articles.

And of course, you should absolutely repurpose your content from PR articles to blogs and vice versa. If you don’t get a press release, you can always self-publish your content.

Content Marketing and Public Relations and Social Media

None of the above-mentioned areas can work in silos. And, the more you link each one of them, the more effective they get. Michelle Garrett calls this the “Holy Trinity”. She says that it’s extremely beneficial to cross-share within these areas.

Look at the image below to see how the three teams can work together:

Source: Sparktoro Office Hours

Final Words

We hope you now have a better understanding of how public relations and content marketing work together. You should note that forming a stabilized relationship takes time and it’s not a one-and-done effort. You have to be consistent. Remember that it’s going to be fruitful in the long run!

Till then, why not create some interactive content for your next blog and/or press release. Start your free trial now!