Traditional PR agencies are facing an increasing number of challenges in getting clients' messaging out there: Publications are shutting down or downsizing, many require advertising in order to place certain types of content, the appetite for event attendance has fallen and the implementation of paywalls means that fewer people get to see the content.

While traditional PR takes time and consistency to build brand credibility, digital marketing works at a much faster pace. This is because it allows brands to make quick changes based on analytics feedback on how audiences are engaging with an article or social advertisement.

Using digital marketing gives customers an agile, flexible platform to keep re-engineering their traditional messaging; when keywords or particular content topics are seen to work, they can be weaved back into PR.

Similarly, we can take content originating from PR and rework those for use across digital and social platforms. 

Native campaigns for broad reach

In addition, partnering with established online media publications works especially well. These native content campaigns provide customers with extensive reach among highly relevant audiences and drive referral traffic to website or campaign-specific landing pages.

Being present across multiple platforms is a good amplification strategy for a technology brand's messaging. However, there needs to be careful planning, coordination between all stakeholders and timeous implementation to ensure the most is achieved out of the spend.

Companies need to ensure that each of these different facets are working as a unified collective, informed by strong strategy with clear objectives for each platform, and that the expected return on investment from each is quantified.

Defining campaign success

Success and failure of campaigns are defined by the client objectives and whether the agency has delivered the strategies and solutions that can meet or exceed these set objectives ?— as well as understanding and 'buy-in' from the client.

There needs to be a consideration for the product or service being sold, the industry or ecosystem, the target audience and what competitors are doing ?— especially in a saturated market.

Then, there needs to be an understanding that continuous testing is required to find the optimal message, the optimal platform and the best results ?— especially when conducting a lead generation campaign. You have to iterate and evolve until you reach the finish line.

These fully integrated campaigns might have the richness of content of traditional PR but move at the speed of digital and, as such, there needs to be close cooperation between agency and client.

This includes all relevant stakeholders, right from executives through to sales and marketing teams, and even the contact centre that will be faced with queries about ongoing campaigns.

Agencies should be honest and upfront with customers and manage expectations around the performance of campaigns, and results derived thereof — especially when it is business to business tech that usually has long lead times.

Experience has shown that those who stick with it will reap the rewards of a sustained lead generation campaign; they will reap even more when PR and digital are seamlessly combined.

Traditional PR is not dying, and it will continue to play a valuable part in building and sustaining brand elevation as well as within the marketing and communications ecosystem. However, PR as a stand-alone is increasingly being seen as a bit of a dinosaur and the lesser attractive option from within the marketing mix.

Our role as agencies is to find ways to bridge traditional PR with digital marketing and ensure that our customers get the best return on their investment.

For more information, visit www.duomarketing.co.za. You can also follow DUO Marketing + Communications on Facebook or on Twitter.