How to Use Content Marketing to Generate

Engagement and Coverage

Content Marketing With a PR Slant

PR Pros seek to build awareness, engagement and relationships with their target publics. To do so, they must create content that fulfills at least one of these considerations:

1. Is the content entertaining? 2. Is the content visually engaging? 3. Is the content informative?

Entertainment

•  Content that entertains is content that gets shared.

•  People need short, pithy

content. They aren’t going to read 500 words before reaching the punch line.

•  Examples: Buzzfeed and

Captain Morgan

Visual Engagement •  Striking content brings

awareness and engagement and can initiate relationships.

•  National Geographic uses

photos to create awareness and buzz around its brand.

Knowledge

•  “Awesome gets shared. Helpful gets bought.” -Tom Martin, founder of Converse Digital

•  Informative content (press releases, how-to guides, etc.) reaches audiences already interested in the brand’s product for service.

•  Use helpful content to drive marketing and sales leads.

PR and Content Marketing: Where’s the ROI? “PR may not be able to measure sales or contribution to share price, but PR can identify outputs that contribute to sales growth and other critical metrics.”

- Forrest Anderson, independent communications strategy and research consultant

Optimizing Content Marketing for PR’s Audiences

How to Optimize Content for Potential Customers

1.  Develop detailed audience personas. 2.  Discover where, when and how personas seek

information. 3.  Create and disseminate content where personas gravitate

online, not where you are. 4.  Measure the effectiveness of content and fine-tune as

needed. 5.  Constantly assess personas’ perceptions, attitudes and

behaviors and adapt accordingly.

Optimizing Content Marketing for PR’s Audiences

How to Optimize for the Media

1.  Research news outlets that serve potential customers. 2.  Build relationships with journalists and reporters. 3.  Send relevant, concise, easy-to-read pitches that include

rich media like photos and videos.

4.  Continue to research outlets and build and maintain relationships. News outlets come and go, as do journalists and reporters.

Content Marketing is the News

“If you want to be in the media, become the media…To ensure your place as a trusted source for stories in the media, create content that demonstrates that expertise.”

-  Lee Odden, author of “Optimize”

Content Marketing as an Ecosystem

•  Fragmenting content marketing assets can lead to duplication and wasted time and money.

•  Avoid problems by:

o Viewing the lifecycle of PR and marketing as part of a continuum.

o  Establishing a framework for parties to work together.

o Keeping consistent branding.

Content Marketing as an Ecosystem

The content marketing lifecycle: •  Reduce – Create shorter, “snackable” content. •  Reuse – Use content produced for PR for marketing

purposes and vice versa; a blog post can become an infographic.

•  Recycle – Generate “evergreen” content that has many applications and can be rejuvenated.

PR and Content Marketing: An Engagement and Coverage Powerhouse

•  Content marketing’s full capabilities become apparent when wedded with PR.

•  Engagement and coverage come from

pitching relevant and interesting stories. •  Supplement content with pitches and

earned and paid media to achieve greater results.

Want to take your content marketing

further? Download a copy of the “How to Use Content Marketing to Generate Engagement and Coverage” white paper today.