How to take a PR Approach to SEO Outreach

PR (Public Relations) is the process of managing communication between a company or person and the public. It does not involve paying for advertisement but instead relies on organically sharing information to inform and educate. How does PR relate to SEO outreach?

What is a PR Approach to SEO Outreach

Often, websites want to share and spread the word about their services and products in various different ways, this includes: a blog, social media accounts, vlogging, podcasts and other online content. In order for their content and website to be successful organically, an SEO strategy will be used for the content to rank in search engines and increase performance.

Therefore, a PR approach to SEO Outreach can be beneficial to getting the word out there, especially if you are just getting started with SEO, and informing your audience about what you are offering and building an online presence.

Background Research

Before pitching your idea to anyone, you need to do a lot of research. The first place to start is your target audience:

• Where for they get their information?: Newspapers, social media, magazines or podcasts?
• Who are their trusted sources?
• What will catch their attention?
• How are you helping them? Are you bringing value to them?

These are the kinds of questions you will be asking in order to create your content for your audience but also discover the best places and people to reach out to in order to make an impact on your audience. Whether they be social media influencers, journalists, bloggers or video content creators, you must also thoroughly research them too:

• Are you looking within your niche or are there opportunities outside your niche?
• How do they communicate to their audience?
• What way can you contribute to them?
• How will you get your message across effectively?
• What can you give them in return?

You do not want to send generic pitches that will get sent to the trash, you need to make connections and be personal to grab their attention and be noticed.

Build relationships

PR is about building relationships that benefit both parties, therefore, you want to be able to provide the company/person with value. This is why PR is not advertising, it is not paid and therefore can be more difficult to get the word out but will be much more rewarding.

So, even before pitching your idea, start building a relationship with the other party. Email is a great way to start as it is so easy, fast and most people have one. So, once you have gathered prospective contacts that will benefit your business, reach out and start a conversation or help them with suggestions or even spelling mistakes!

Be Specific

Once you have built a relationship with contacts, now is your chance to pitch to them. This is where your SEO strategy is more important to help you decide what you want to pitch: a newsletter, social media campaign, a blog post, public speaking, boosting online reputation or a news story?

Be very specific as to what you can offer your contact and what they receive in return for the publicity. Sell yourself and your brand in a way that will appeal to them and the way they communicate to their audience.

Set Goals

Setting goals in PR is very important in order to track progress and sent the right messages to the right people. If your SEO goal is to: place 5 links on websites of over 50 DA within a month, then you know you would like to pitch ways where a link can be placed. However, if you want to build awareness of a new app or product then a news story pitch or sending samples for review can be more effective in spreading the word.

There are many goals that you can set for your business and they are good for keeping your outreach focused and successful. So be considerate in your pitches as you want to achieve your goal as well as maintain a positive and beneficial relationship with your contacts

Conclusion

A PR approach to SEO outreach is about building effective relationships within your niche and outside your niche, this is because you can target your audience from anywhere. Additionally, you want to be specific and pitch mutually beneficial ideas so that you reach your goals and your contact is also provided value. It is not easy to do but achieving these results for free and in more genuine ways, rather than paid, it can attract a lot more attention and provide a bigger return.