PR (or Public Relations) is a strategic communication process that builds a mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and the public. PRs can be categorized into 2 categories: traditional PR and digital PR. However, the aim of both traditional and digital agencies is to enhance a client’s reputation and increase visibility among target audiences.
In the last few years, traditional PR was somewhat replaced by digital PR. But both have their unique benefits in their own ways to build a relationship between an organization and the public. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and digital PR agency.
TRADITIONAL PR VS DIGITAL PR
TRADITIONAL PR
The most prominent initiative of traditional PR is press outreach with a focus in media outlets such as pamphlets, newspapers, etc. So, communication is only one way. They can be very successful in building brand awareness but on the other side, we can’t track the exact metrics on the audience. A traditional publicist will focus on how the client’s brand is portrayed, how the communication is taking place and how many times the brand is being mentioned throughout the placement. It definitely requires patience as it is a bit long procedure. A traditional PR agency would involve selling in the press release over the phone or lunch.
Traditional public relations are still relevant in today’s highly digitized world and will be able to encompass a wide range of components attached to a PR campaign.
DIGITAL PR
As it is mentioned earlier, both have the same aim but still, they do differ. The difference is that most of the communication and networking is done online i.e. through social media. It will be beneficial if you have good relationships with influencers and bloggers. Good understanding of technical SEO and its compatibility are the skills that are offered by a digital PR. Using this data expertise to aid the content creation process, identify influencers within the marketplace, secure high traffic metric placements and ensure a citation, not only helps raise the awareness of the brand but also helps in increasing the client’s visibility online. Here, we can track the exact metrics of the audiences. The results are really fast and can connect to the audience in no time.
WHAT DIFFERENT CHANNELS AND TOOLS ARE COMMONLY USED?
Traditional PR tends to focus on TV, radio and general press. Digital PR, on the other hand, includes websites, social media platforms, bloggers, influencers and web portals. To do PR correctly, the tools needed are SEO software, marketing automation services, website analysis, social media solutions, and many others.
With the availability of the right tools for digital PR, we can track its every aspect. Important metrics are impressions, click through rates, the time a user spends on a piece of content, social shares, sales are all measurable. Another way is an actual ROI (Return On Investment). One can easily understand which campaign will work well and which won’t and can improve things accordingly.
With traditional PR, the way of measuring cost is AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent). It measures the column inches of an article and compares how much that space is worth according to the publication advertising rate card. It is now out of time and doesn’t provide any evidence of success or cost-effectiveness.
Since the last 10-15 years, there has been a commendable improvement in technology. We all are benefitted from it but can also face some challenges. Now one can track and know the best brand that is ruling the market which definitely makes the competition tough. So, one should consider all the options well before choosing a PR agency.
Among this, lies a recommendable PR agency named PRchitects which not only helps to increase the visibility of the brand but also develops a good relationship between an organization and the audiences.
PRchitects is a 360-degree digital PR and marketing agency, putting much-needed ‘online PR thrust’ behind startups and brands. They help startups scale new heights with digital PR. It delivers results through online press coverage which helps in increasing the visibility of a brand.
PRchitects also provides influencer marketing. They say, “Influencer marketing works amazingly well for businesses targeting young demography”. Influencer marketing matters because it creates buzz, increases followers, builds perception and customer trust. A well-managed influencer marketing campaign can trigger a great “word of mouth” for your business.
In the end, neither digital PR nor traditional PR is superior to each other. Businesses should execute a combination of both digital and traditional PRs for maximum exposure. One must balance the old with the new, and it is the challenge of every public relation expert to find where the balance lies. In this technological era, traditional PRs have branched onto digital PR sections. Digital PR today holds the same importance as traditional PR did years ago.