Is Content Marketing the Future for PR Professionals?
The rapid growth of content marketing — the process of generating great online content with the goal of developing trust among your brand’s target audience, and to establish your brand as an industry thought leader — is growing the demand for Public Relations (PR) professionals.
In order to run an effective content marketing campaign you need to generate high-quality content. But you also need your great content to be seen in all the right places. That’s why you need individuals who who have the skills to earn you mentions on authoritative publications and blogs–and spread your content over essential social media networks.
Content marketing is transforming the traditional roles of PR professionals. The traditional model of writing up a press release, pitching a big media outlet, and getting a reporter to generate some media coverage may be quickly becoming outdated. With the growing prominence of social media and online content like blogs, an editorial coordinator has many more tools at their disposal.
Techniques like search engine optimization (SEO), online engagement, link building campaigns, and blogs are revolutionizing how PR specialists reach their target audiences. In fact nowadays, “likes,” shares, tweets, and blog posts can be more effective in directly engage a target audience than traditional PR practices.
As Matt Braun, Director of Public Relations at Hanson Dodge Creative, puts it: “Organizations now use Twitter to break news versus a press release…and it’s forced people like me to use tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogs as vehicles by which we can get others to publicize products and clients.”
The age of content marketing has arrived, and as more businesses begin to adopt content marketing strategies, the demand for PR professionals who know how to optimize SEO, digital and online tools like Google Analytics, email outreach platforms, and social media networks, will continue to expand.
The Growth in PR and Content Marketing by the Numbers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), between 2000 and 2010 the number of PR specialist and manager jobs rose by nearly 63 percent, and is expected to rise another 21 percent between 2010 and 2020.
The growth of content marketing is having a true effect on the need for PR professionals, and is paving a new career path for individuals who would have otherwise only looked for employment at traditional PR agencies and advertising agencies. Here at Software Advice, we wanted to confirm what we were hearing and decided to do a quick search on the New York City Craiglist’s page to see what the job market was like for PR and content marketing job seekers. Here is what we found:
However, in order for PR professionals to reap the benefits of this growing trend they need to make sure their skills are up to snuff.
5 Useful Tips for PR Professionals Interested in Content Marketing
If you are a PR professional or just someone interested in content marketing, here are five useful tips on how to take advantage of this growing trend.
- Talk directly to your audience. PR professionals go beyond print publications and big media journalists, and learn how to talk directly to your audiences through platforms like blogs and popular social media networks.
- Sharpen the saw. If you are interested in content marketing, it is imperative that you learn valuable skills like: SEO, digital and graphic design, and social media marketing.
- Create your own narrative. If you are in communications, there is a good chance you are a good storyteller. Use this skill to develop your own content strategies, such as online social profiles and blogs.
- Be ready to respond on a moment’s notice. Due to platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the days of “I will send it you in a couple days” are coming to an end. That means before you make a pitch or start your outreach, make sure you have responses and content that is already “post ready.”
- Don’t use traditional PR as a crutch. Planning an event and generating news coverage from press releases may be coming to an end in the near future. That means you will need to know how to address your audience in news ways, like influential blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or any other popular online social platform.
The age of content marketing has arrived, so make sure have the necessary skills to join the future.
