The digital marketing mix is always being upgraded with the aim to give consumers what they’re looking for, and ensuring this is done in the most efficient way possible. With different marketing tools such as Public Relations and Search Engine Optimisation, organisations are often spoilt for choice when deciding which tool to employ to really get the job done. A burden that comes with having a lot of options, however, is deciding which would be a fit for what you want to achieve… luckily for you, we can help with that.

While many marketers will present these options as an ‘either or’, competing with one another, the reality is that these tools can all co-exist to deliver what your organisation needs. Although it can be confusing for managers with various budgets and timelines to know which medium to employ in order to receive the best outcomes in your marketing journey, the truth is that these tools all work together in aiding your brand, company or organisation to yield optimum outputs. Performance marketing has the mandate to perform optimally through various platforms, but in order to use all the tools necessary to deliver results, it’s important to first understand what each of them do:

Search Engine Optimisation

When you have a question about anything, how do you go about finding an answer? 87% of people go straight to Google (‘asking mom’ was a close second). Whether the question is related to finance, beauty, sports or any other industry, people still trust Google with providing them with the correct answers. When brands employ SEO, they optimise all the information they have on their website in a calculated effort to make it show up first when users search for queries that they provide solutions for.

A consumer looking for the best way to solve a problem should land on your content if this is what you offer as a business offers a solution for and your site is optimised for SEO, as you will have improved not just your ranking on Google Search, but also your overall visibility for branded and non-branded keyword. If they are looking for recipes, products, services, and anything else that your business offers, SEO works to ensure that your website responds to their queries with the best solutions that you offer, and establishes you as a thought leader, top of mind, for those consumers.

Public Relations

If you’re looking to manage your brand reputation through positive media coverage of your brand activities, CSI initiatives, and even campaigns, this is where PR steps in and achieves these goals. When your organisation has exciting and newsworthy information to share, it would be PR that leans on the media relationships available to organise interviews and coverage for your company. PR also works to align the brand messaging and purpose with those of influencers or celebrities to partner together and increase publicity for your brand, services, or products among consumers.

Which One Works Better?

The above methods have two main differentiators, namely intent and longevity. While Public Relations leans more towards advertising, which is great for the agility and the reach required in campaigns, Search Engine Optimisation targets users who are already looking for what your company offers, making the likelihood of returns higher.

Where Public Relations offers quicker turnarounds with responses to all queries whether on social media, it’s important to note that SEO is not an overnight success. It requires time to build up your reputation on search engines, however, it offers longer-lasting results as this method produces “evergreen content”.

Find The Perfect Balance: Best Practice

For your brand, company or organisation to reap the best results out of your digital strategy, it’s important to find the perfect balance between these two tools. Search Engine Optimisation is important to have as an ongoing tool to ensure your website is always optimised for users search queries. It will also assist in letting you know what trends there currently are in the online space, even according to seasonality, which will aid your public relations efforts to ensure your campaigns and messaging are targeted. Public Relations plugs in perfectly for campaign-related publicity and media or consumer queries related to campaigns or other public relations activities.

As an organisation, you want to make sure that your consumers are aware of your campaigns, but also that they are able to find your services without prior knowledge of who you are. The foundation of all great marketing outputs needs to ideally include SEO. If you’re considering Social Media Advertising, or any Paid Media efforts, first consider getting the correct keywords from SEO to ensure you get the best outputs. If you’re considering mailers, or PR, align with your SEO team or agency on search trends to ensure what you’re serving is indeed what consumers are looking for.

If you’re looking to find out how to get started and incorporate SEO into your marketing mix, get in touch with us.