It’s been predicted that in 2018 online purchases will account for 18% of all retail sales made within the UK. It’s great news for e-commerce businesses, yet the industry’s unprecedented growth has inherently led to a boom in the number of brands vying for valuable online real estate. The more competitors your business faces, the harder it is to grow your brand organically online.
Digital PR is one of the most cost-effective ways to boost traffic, improve brand awareness and encourage positive engagement from your audience. While the relationship between PR and e-commerce may not always be immediately obvious, we’ve proven that it’s possible to achieve award-winning results when using digital PR as a tool to support your wider content strategy. With that in mind, here are just a few tips for growing your e-commerce business with digital PR.
The benefits of digital PR
The first question to ask yourself when working with a new content format, is ‘how your business can benefit?’ Understanding the process of digital PR, and establishing what you’re hoping to gain from it, is vital to maximise content ROI.
The benefits of digital PR are vast. For e-commerce businesses, they can include:
- Increased awareness of your products and services, as your message is shared across digital platforms
- Access to new audiences who may previously have been unfamiliar with your brand
- Valuable backlinks from journalists, publishers and influencers
- Various SEO benefits, including improved search rankings as a result of mentions and backlinks from trusted sites
Unlike print marketing forms, pickup from digital PR also generates links which can be tracked and monitored. This enables you to evaluate the success of your digital PR campaign in near-real time. All of this is great news for any e-commerce business hoping to enhance their digital strategy with PR.
Digital PR for e-commerce businesses
Depending on the scope of your e-commerce business, there are a variety of ways to incorporate digital PR into your existing content strategy. Whether you’re announcing the launch of a new product or service, or simply sharing some good news relating to your brand, digital PR is a great way to get your message out and showcase your brand identity.
Digital PR typically consists of three key steps – planning, implementation and measurement. Regardless of your industry, it’s all about knowing how to tell a story in a way that engages its audience. Getting your message heard by the right people is an important consideration, while measuring the success of your campaign is vital to optimising future campaigns.
Top tips for growing your e-commerce business with digital PR
Put your story first
You’ve got a great e-commerce brand, so naturally you want to shout about it. The most important thing to remember however is that all successful digital PR campaigns are founded on a compelling story. Without one you run the risk of struggling to draw interest from journalists and publishers, the likes of which have hundreds of press releases land on their desks every day.
Even if your press release is announcing the launch of a new product or service, great storytelling is key. In the same way as other forms of content, digital PR is all about offering your audience new and valuable information. Let your story speak for you and increased brand awareness will naturally follow.
Don’t neglect SEO
Gone are the days when PR and SEO teams worked in silo. Nowadays, there’s a real focus on how one can benefit the other. Coverage and engagement which stem directly from PR coverage will help you to grow your e-commerce business, but so will reaping the potential SEO benefits of your digital PR strategy.
Understanding the relationship between PR and SEO is vital if you’re to get the best possible return from your campaign. Backlinks and mentions from influencers and journalists are a great way to get your story heard. They’re also effective at supporting SEO and driving increased organic traffic to your site over a long period of time.
Measure your success
There are multiple facets to measuring the success of your digital PR campaign, each of which can be used to improve your strategy moving forward. Taking a closer look at the publications that feature your campaign is a great place to start, giving you a clearer view of how valuable each backlink is and the level of engagement your story is likely to have generated.
You should use Google Analytics to view and analyse any spikes in traffic and metrics relating to your revenue goals. Adding a UTM code to links included in your campaign is one way of tracking how successful your campaign has been in contributing to your objectives.
Digital PR is often overlooked in the e-commerce industry, yet it can offer huge benefits when implemented well. Successful digital PR campaigns are a cost-effective way of growing your e-commerce business and establishing relationships with consumers and publishers alike.
For more information on how our digital PR strategies can help you, get in touch today.