How do you self-start your digital PR journey?
If you are reading this article, you are probably already skilled in the art of pondering the question “where do I start?” you may have even used this question as a reason to start the VAT return, or clean the house. So, lets tackle that straight away, go put the kettle on, while you make your favourite cuppa, ponder the answers to these three questions:
What am I trying to solve by creating Digital PR content?
Be honest with yourself, there is no right or wrong answer, however the answer does have an impact on what you put into the market, as well as how and where you place your content. You may be trying to launch a new product, or raising the profile of a new hire, or looking to deepen your sales activation in the market. What ever your objective, make sure you know it, and write it down in a plan. When you move on to content creation ask yourself, “does my content support this objective?” if the answer is no, don’t disregard the idea, put it in your future ideas plan, as your current objective won’t be your last objective as you develop your new Digital PR skills.
What are the topics I can talk about that will benefit the people I want to help?
Often when trying to answer this question people can go blank, it can be hugely frustrating, even the most experienced PR professionals can go through this. As your journey into creating digital content progresses this will become easier, however if you are struggling for your first few pieces try thinking about common objections you face in the market, or common problems your customers have for which you have the solution to, or can offer advice, or questions you often get asked. When you think about it in this context, you probably have a handful of topics. Often it is tempting to create one piece of work that will tackle all the topics, instead think of each topic as its own stand-alone content piece. Write them in your plan, maybe even dare to write a date next to the topic to set yourself a publishing deadline.
Who will benefit from my content?
To answer this question, start to think about what their day might look like, where do they shop, what are their interests, what internet sites do they visit, what social media pages do they use, what online content do they read, and what demographic they are. The answer to these questions will help you build an idea of the language to use for your target market, and a list of digital media you can host your content on.
Without knowing it, by answering these three questions you have created a plan that will give you:
- A clear objective.
- A plan of topics that meet your current objectives, with target publishing dates, and a future pipeline.
- A list of digital media outputs to target for publishing.
If it still feels daunting, don’t be afraid to call a specialist, there is always help at hand with in the Digital Somerset community.
By Charlie Lilley, ADPR