Digital marketing among today’s tech and healthcare organizations continues to hit its stride, and increasingly, organizations are allocating substantial budgets to these efforts. Blogs, eBooks and eBriefs have all become synonymous with the term digital marketing and companies are on the content and email curation upswing. Before shifting more resources into these digital-centric campaigns, however, it’s important for company leaders to take a holistic view of their entire marketing programs, and ask themselves an important question.
Are they really leveraging existing assets to their full potential?
There is a good chance that hidden opportunities have been left untapped and the time is ripe to elevate brand exposure.
1. Conduct a Content Audit
You have an arsenal of content waiting to be leveraged across the media landscape. Comb your content library and identify pieces that can be updated or repurposed, and then leverage these assets for media pitches, bylined articles and social posts. Take those blogs, eBooks and eBriefs and tie them into the latest trends or speak to recent insights that change and shape your industry. The development of content is no doubt labor intensive, so rather than recreate the wheel, give your content multiple lives.
2. Personas for PR
Every digital marketing program has established personas that map to a customer’s journey. But are you leveraging these to map to the right publications for exposure? Publicity is great, but publicity that reaches the right customers in their buying journey has the ability to influence your sales pipeline. Don’t just target an array of publications and see what sticks. Be strategic in the publications that you target for exposure and speak in a language that matches customer pain points. Your established digital marketing personas will serve you well in your march to more media.
3. The Value of Visuals
Visuals continue to be a key component to any marketing program as the ability to tell a story through creative images is priceless. Audiences are drawn toward videos, infographics and GIFs for their ability to quickly convey a clear, concise message in a matter of seconds. While brainstorming ways to reach customers through a compelling image, think about the multifaceted ways it can be used. Maybe you have an infographic already in your toolkit that tells an interesting story on the state of the industry. Share it across social forums, or package it up and submit it with a bylined article for publication in a target outlet.
4. Tapping Tradeshows and Conferences
Events are an excellent way to reach current and potential customers. In preparation for these, you’ve likely established digital campaigns that set up one-to-one meetings at the conference or even begun a series of webinars to drum up interest from would-be prospects in preparation for the event. Don’t forget that there are also a number of key journalists and influencers attending these shows that should be on your radar. Leverage the messaging from your digital marketing campaigns to schedule meetings with top media and influencers. Take your presence at the show a step further and aim to land a speaking engagement at the event. This not only translates into great exposure for your brand and executive thought leadership, but it also creates excellent fodder when speaking with customers, journalists and influencers.
5. Leverage your numbers
Measurement and analytics are essential to every digital marketing program. Information on bounce rates and number of sessions is worth its weight in gold when it comes to understanding what messages are resonating and further zeroing in on the make-up of an audience’s demographics. It can also help to identify outlets or blogs that drive traffic to your website, solidifying brand awareness and organizational leadership. Publications that you may have been targeting only sporadically can quickly become a key part of your marketing strategy.
There are a number of synergies between digital marketing and PR. Ensuring your programs complement one another creates a seamless, comprehensive marketing program that can amplify your brand’s presence in today’s crowded marketplace.