Content Marketing and PR: A Match Made in Heaven

Content marketing and public relations may seem like two different animals, but in reality, these two teams are made for each other. Content marketing consists of many activities, including overseeing marketing automation software, building landing pages,  creating blogs, developing white papers, publishing emails and pursuing a prominent social media presence, which are all important to creating awareness, enhancing your brand’s reputation, educating audiences, and finally turning leads into loyal clients. Public relations activities are devoted to telling your company’s story through press releases, executive media placements, managing media relationships, and customer case studies. Content marketing and public relations often work independently for similar goals: strengthening company reputation and increasing sales. In just the same way that melodies and harmonies merge flawlessly to create music, content marketing and PR balance and strengthen each other. Both seek to build your brand and attract new clients to your company, while providing a consistent, informative, and flattering image of your enterprise.

How do you harmoniously merge content marketing and PR? First, having both teams involved in a joint planning session. This way, the messaging for your organization is succinct across all communications, presenting a unified brand.  After the discovery process, each team will come away with article topics and ideas that fit each communication outlet. Some story concepts are better suited for the media, while others are great topics for white papers or blog posts. Following this initial joint effort, your content marketing and public relations teams should be present for weekly calls with clients and involved in reviewing and editing material before it is released.

Public relations teams excel at creating original content that best represents your company. Having your PR team participate in the review of blogs and white paper allows your content marketing team to create content that is consistent across all of your communications. Public relations and content marketing strengthen each other. A new white paper created by content marketing should be promoted by a glowing media advisory. Likewise, a release should be followed by social media promotion that the content marketing team will execute. The referrals from social media and news pickups build inbound links which improve SEO and increase downloads and leads for your company.

When content marketing and PR work together, the result is relevant, educational information that help buyers find you when they are searching for your product. Your press releases and articles draw clients to your website. Similarly, your content marketing efforts—like blogs and white papers—will draw inspiration from releases and articles, which can go into greater depth about your company. Consistent, educational, and informative content, all available on the Web, will increase traffic to your site, build your brand, and present your company as a thought leader. This begins with joint planning, which syncs your company’s goals and messaging from the start.

The creative energy generated by getting these two teams together will launch your company in a single direction: forward. By having PR and content marketing working harmoniously, you will generate results and create a consistent and unified image of your company as an expert in its field.

For more information on this topic, download our free white paper, “Best Practices for Marketing to Banks.”

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