How to Combine SEO and Public Relations to Attract More Customers

According to research published by Hubspot, 61% of marketers say generating traffic and leads is their top challenge.

Often professionals wonder if they need to invest in SEO or Public Relations. Many companies fall into the trap of thinking that they are two totally different strategies, mistakenly believing that there is only one way to achieve their marketing goals and attract more clients. In some discussions by professionals in the field about marketing strategies, many argue that Public Relations or SEO have become irrelevant. But that’s not true! Both have their respective benefits when done correctly. But what many do not know is that they really work well together, even better than when they act independently.

According to research published by Hubspot, 61% of marketers say generating traffic and leads is their top challenge. SEO and Public Relations are two interesting marketing strategies, and when used combined, they can get great results. They are two sides of the same coin. In this article, you will learn how to define each strategy and understand how your company can maximize results and possibilities.

Why is important to combine SEO and Public Relations?

• Cost – A good strategy coupled with techniques like backlinks can increase the possibilities in SEO and help all marketing strategy. Content works according to the sales funnel, rather than just informational material. Content production should be based on the target audience of your company. Knowing and understanding your audience is critical to formulating more assertive marketing strategies. Do you know your client’s profile well? This customer has the same profile as the audience you want to reach (target audience). Who are more frequent leads? What do they have in common? This goes for both PR and SEO. When you know which websites or magazines, for example, it is easier to expose your brand.

• Credibility – Content spread across a variety of platforms, such as blogs, social media and mainstream media can have a beneficial impact on overall strategy. The more traditional media (newspaper, magazine and TV) still (and for a long time) inspire more confidence for consumers. With a unified strategy, it is possible to distinguish which subjects serve journalists and which are best suited to blogs.

SEO + PR = more traffic on your website

• Strengthen branding in specialized media (positive impacts can be recorded even when advertising is offline and there are no links);

• Create links to the client’s website/blog, able to strengthen authority on digital channels (Link Building);

• Knows what your patients are looking for on the internet. Your patient is on social networks during hours of the day, looking for your daily information on Google, sending daily messages on WhatsApp, receiving emails, being on Instagram and so on. And that tells us great relationship opportunities. This plays a crucial role for businesses which have a solid customer base offline and need to bring the word-of-mouth to online channels. 

• Help generate/increase buzz on social media channels.

Keywords and Content Creation

During the development of the marketing strategy, it is common to include specific keywords in your editorial plan to improve the blog and/or website search rankings. However, press releases are widely publicized on the Internet and therefore are an opportunity for SEO efforts. By combining and becoming strategic with content marketing and public relations – interviews are a great opportunity to promote your services -, publications and outreach can be optimized for SEO as concisely as total and organic blog/site traffic reach.

Also, when choosing the keywords to rank, consider the longtails for press releases or link building. According to recent marketing statistics, 50% of search queries are four words or longer. (IMPACT, 2019). Just to give an example, as a local and offline company, which offers construction certificates; the strategy put in place for HK Certifiers was to focus in the locations and long tails keywords, such as “what does a private certifier do”. From outside of Google Top 250 to the 1st position on organic search rankings. 

Here, it is important to highlight a crucial part of SEO: your website needs to be easy to navigate, especially the ones which provides solutions online. A website needs to be organised in a way the user will find what they are looking for straight away. For example, Double Jab is a website which sells personalised boxing gloves. It needs to be clear as soon as the user lands on its page and the navigation menu should be simple and straight forward. 

What can you do now to join both marketing strategies?

• Keyword outreach planning and outreach strategy according to your Domain Authority;

• The creativity of advisory to seek agenda diversification (think of guidelines that go beyond “company X launches product Y”); here, the marketing team needs to think outside of the box and put yourselves in the customers’  shoes.

• Development of unique strategies for each blog or news website.