When done correctly, digital public relations (PR) enables brands to elevate their presence in online news publications while boosting website authority with a relevant, growing backlink profile. This is why brands, especially brands operating in the e-commerce industry, should implement digital PR into their SEO strategy if they haven’t already!
For e-commerce businesses, digital PR plays a vital role in driving sales and product promotion and provides brands with countless opportunities to tap into third-party audiences and target customers. E-commerce brands can also use digital PR to compete with their competitors and ensure their products and expertise feature alongside others in the industry. This is especially important during critical periods in the e-commerce calendar, such as Black Friday, when, according to the National Retail Federation, 87.12 million people shopped online for Black Friday in 2022.
At The Evergreen Agency, our PR team specializes in helping e-commerce brands, in particular, grow their media presence and help drive sales as a result. Read on to find out how important digital PR really is for e-commerce businesses and learn some of the most successful methods for implementing a tailored e-commerce digital PR strategy.
Why every e-commerce brand should have a digital PR strategy
Digital PR is a link-building tactic and one of the three vital pillars of SEO (technical SEO, content marketing, and link building) that work together to boost your website’s rankings in search results.
It is an ongoing commitment, and if done correctly, digital PR allows brands to push their product reach beyond their primary target audience. Digital PR is an organic method of promoting your brand to share your expertise and products with consumers. It can also be a cost-effective way for smaller brands, in particular, to drive more traffic to their websites.
Reaching journalists in your industry niche
E-commerce brands need to have a digital PR strategy if they want to effectively target the journalists in their niche who will have a genuine interest in the products they’re selling. The only effective way to expose your brand to writers is to pitch highly relevant, niche news, expertise, and products to them that are valuable to the publication they write for.
Creating meaningful relationships with journalists in your industry niche will help to keep your brand top of mind, and over time, you will notice patterns emerge. It will enable you to build a dedicated pool of regular journalist contacts that will come to you as a first point of contact when producing articles that require product recommendations.
Promoting your products to the media
Arguably, one of the most important reasons for having a digital PR strategy as an e-commerce business is the product promotion opportunities it offers. Digital PR engenders organic product placement and the ability to have your products featured in the media, specifically on websites that your target audience is most likely to read.
Many journalists specialize in producing shopping-specific articles, including roundups of the best products on the market for any given topic, meaning they are always looking for new items to review and include.
Shopping guides are particularly popular in the run-up to notable dates in the calendar year, such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, as well as pre-season features in the fashion and home and garden industries.