siliconindia | | August 20169Integration of content marketing with PR can empower the role of PR to have greater and more significant impact on bottom line business goalsor is useful for the consumers. And consumers having turned publishers, there is always the opportunity of a journalist or influencer being reached as well, not to mention the power of directly engaging and conversing with consumers.Become The Media (Owned Media)At PRHUB, we embraced social and digital as part of our integrated push, earlier and more deeply. As I did this deep dive over the past 2-3 years, it has become apparent that `Owned media' is the way to go for any brand. With a good plan, sustained invest-ment and great content, any brand or company can aspire to get there. If we can move beyond being a gate keeper to content, to a creator, driv-er and generator of content, we have the power to sit at the decision table as we know consumers and possess the power/ability to reach and engage them directly. Infact, there are exam-ples like American Express and Gen-eral Mills, who are able to monetize marketing editorial with external ad-vertisers and syndication. In essence, it is all about creating more owned assets which attract, engage and in-spire earned and shared media. Those same assets can work with paid me-dia for customer acquisition objec-tives as well.PR Professionals Who Reskill Them-selves Are The Best Content Market-ers One Can Ask ForWe are used to creating content for decades now, and are diverse ones at that. Some of us, savvier, have also done blog posts, creating infographics or even SEO tuned online press releases. If we add content planning, community engagement and social asset/content promotion into our skillsets, I bet we make better content marketers simply because we already understand the nuances of messaging and brand persona building. PR-Content Marketing Integration Makes For The Most Potent Weapon In The Marketing MixThere is an explosion of content out there, making it nearly impossible for any content to stand out. And what is the value and even purpose of content creation if it is not seen by your target audience? The only way content can stand out is by being visible. Just imagine, if the content gets picked up by a leading print or TV outlet or even a major blogger or a social influencer with a million following? As PR professionals, all we need to do is to extend our focus to the new age influencers to encourage editors, journalists and influencers to give the content, the powerful boost it needs to go viral.Integration of content marketing with PR can empower the role of PR to have greater and more significant impact on bottom line business goals. By providing news content that traditional sources are not, brands are creating new connections with their communities and customers. While much of content marketing falls under the realm of corporate marketing, the expertise in messaging, content creation and media relations that PR professionals bring to the table are highly relevant. It is time for PR and content marketing to tango, in the larger interests of brands and consumers.
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