In the business of marketing, there are countless theories as to how best to promote and brand a business, product, or services. Some say advertising. We of course say, “PR’s the best!” Others say SEO, search engine optimization.
Each of them works in some way, but the most effective way is actually the combination of everything. But rarely does a budget allow for a huge marketing spend, so rarely do they work hand in hand. So if we had to choose, we would suggest using public relations to build your brand and then incorporating SEO services to create a killer team. It’s time that PR and SEO got together to hit a home run for your garden business.
The reason that both SEO and PR techniques should be used together is due to the fact that they are both designed to help a business grow. Sure, they both focus on different techniques, SEO focuses on building a business’ online visibility on search engines and PR strives for building your real life brand person by using media attention to grow a business, but used collectively you can get more bang for your marketing buck.
Here’s how:
Optimize press releases for SEO
Press releases are still the bee’s knees in the PR world. But before writing your next release, make a list of keywords that would bring relevant search traffic to your website. When writing the release, use keywords throughout the entire story, especially in the title and the opening paragraph. This will allow your information to be released to the media and still be found on a search engine.
Press Release for Each Target
For the same story, alter the press release for who you are targeting. Newspaper columnists, bloggers, and social media news outlets/individuals digest information differently. Catering to each subgroup allows multiple ways for the story to be found as well as improves SEO opportunities.
Selective Pitching 
Of course you want media and bloggers to pick up your story and ANY pickup is great for exposure. But when pitching your story, go after the high traffic producers. A story in a small community newspaper is nice but an article in a major publication will be found easier in search engines, as will your business.
Company blogs are a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website and for SEO purposes. Creating new and relevant information sends new attention to search engines and provides the opportunity for more links back to your website. Blogs also provide the chance to be found and promote interaction with your audience.
Social Media Tie In
Need something to put on your social media sites? Post your press releases and media hits on your websites and share a link to all of your social sites. This gives a chance for fans or followers to remember why they “liked” your page in the first place, your products and services. It also allows for brand exposure to more people and the opportunity to go viral. For an even bigger impact, find a way to connect to the day’s or week’s “hot” social conversations by including those keywords into the description of your posted story.
In the end, it’s a blend of both public relations services and the content that is created and targeted SEO keyword research that will take your brand to the next level.
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