The Covid pandemic and the Ukraine invasion have crashed into many people’s lives around the world. As a result, organizations have had no choice but to keep up with such changes dramatically affecting their employees and customers. Fortunately, at least Covid restrictions have been lifted now, the peak of the pandemic has already dropped, and businesses are faced with the challenges of going back to their usual operations. If you’re currently revving up your public relations strategies, don’t worry. You can learn some great content marketing ideas that perfectly suit the current post-pandemic situation. Here are 5 PR content marketing strategies to help your business in this post-pandemic world:
1. Focus on trending topics
People’s needs for content and information have changed greatly during the recent global events such as the pandemic. Now, if you’re focused on creating PR marketing content strategies for your communication campaign, it’s ideal to pay attention to the current situations and trends. Content marketers should capitalize on any opportunity that arises. In fact, you need to leverage any effective strategy, such as SEO content strategy, to produce engaging content.
To create great quality, you should be able to foresee how your audience behaves. Get help and guidance from tech tools and conduct research on what topics are popular in your industry today. In order to remain competitive in the market, you should always be on the lookout for relevant topics you can discern.
Content on trending topics must first and foremost provide value to your readers. This content should pique their interest and keep them aware of what’s happening. Therefore, you should create clear, concise content that enables your readers to stay ahead of any competition.
2. Engage with readers
During the pandemic, more people have been spending more time on screen. And post-Covid 19, people continue to crave interaction and socializing with others. For your content strategies to work effectively, you should keep engaging your readers.
If possible, you should expand your media channels and platforms as your customers would want to find and hear from you from different platforms and websites. They also crave a personalized way of service. By taking note of these two things you can encourage your readers to continue engaging with you.
Personalization strategy is an ongoing marketing trend that you can use to get a business advantage. Whether you use email, social media, and other platforms, it’s worthy and effective to use the name of readers to address them personally. Doing so will get their attention and the support you need for your business.
Put yourself ‘in your customers’ shoes’
Here’s how you can find out what your typical customer or client is trying to achieve. Put yourself hypothetically ‘in their shoes,’ as the saying goes. You can do this by using your target’s perspective to fill in the gaps in the following statement:
“When I [want to achieve something], I need to [use or do something], so I can [solve this problem].”
- “Want to achieve something” is the solution your customer or client wants.
- “Use or do something” is the solution you can offer them.
- “Solve this problem” is what the client or customers want to satisfy.
For example: “When pitching to media, the contact list we use is too cumbersome, and therefore wastes too much of our time, and so we need to find a more efficient platform, and can use the time saved to make more individual quality contact with journalists for increased news media coverage.”
In this example, “a more efficient platform” is what you sell, and “increased news media coverage” is the end result your client or customer wants.
As an aside: I get email approaches every day from people offering guest posts and links for their marketing public relations campaigns, and I am amazed at the lack of personalization – email marketers who don’t bother to address me personally. (My name and photo are staring at them from the home page of my website.) This inaction lets them down badly because it is obvious they haven’t made any effort to relate to me or my business, and have missed harvesting the value of personalization. Some examples from the last couple of days include emails that start with:
- “Hello, my name is George…”
- “Hi, I hope you are doing well”
- “Hey, How are you? This is Cherry”
- “Hi, This is Olivia and I am a ghostwriter and content marketing expert”
- “Hello, Hope your business is keeping you busy”
- “Dear Sir or Madam, I sincerely hope this email finds you well,” etc.
Imagine how journalists feel when they receive pitches all the time in this lazy, unprofessional way!
Maintain consistency on all channels with your support team or social media team. Ensure that your PR or marketing team acknowledges and appreciates all comments, likes, and shares. Depending on the channels you use, ensure increased engagement by using the right content strategies and quality photos, videos, and audio copy.
3. Stay original
Speaking authentically and engaging meaningfully is no longer optional. Authenticity is crucial in all industries. The more original you are, the more people will respect and give your brand more value. You can devise content that is truly original in order to garner more attention from people.
Ensure what you share in your channels aligns with your company’s values and not just marketplace trends. While it’s okay to join bandwagons, events, and trends, ensure you still keep your original identity that sets your brand apart from the rest.
Your brand may lose customers if it is perceived as inauthentic and copycat. Keep your customers and audiences informed by using surveys and polls to avoid this problem. Authenticity and trustworthiness are key to ensuring that your messaging resonates with them. Also, conduct a content audit to improve the website and copy quality.
4. Create informative content
In this highly competitive web-based culture, every brand and business publishes fresh content almost every day. One great strategy is to earn the trust of your readers. And you can do this by producing genuinely helpful, informative content. Fortunately, you can build trust with your PR content marketing.
Keep your site a high-authority resource in your industry. Make your content informative and practical for readers. Doing this will earn their trust, approval, and belief in your credibility. Remember that content is the best way to educate your readers. Be picky and careful with topics to write about in your content. Content ideas should relate to the questions and information needed by your customers.
5. Use all the applicable media channels to extend your reach
When focusing on the various communication channels to use in a PR content marketing campaign, communication strategists sometimes overlook using some of the useful media channels that are available to them. It is therefore valuable to refer to the PESO model (Paid media, Earned media, Shared media and Owned media) to check that your content campaign reaches the maximum relevant audience.
Conclusion
The recent pandemic has impacted almost every industry, including content marketing. Content marketers must recognize this and adapt their strategies to remain relevant and current. You can’t deny that content is king and so it’s helpful to refer to the tips mentioned in this article so your PR department can continue publishing high-quality content that readers can treat as valuable insights for them to use.
Kim J. Harrison has authored, edited, coordinated, produced and published the material in the articles and ebooks on this website. He brings his experience in professional communication and business management to provide helpful insights to readers around the world. His wide-ranging career includes roles as a corporate affairs manager, consultant, author, lecturer and business manager. Kim has received several international media relations awards and a website award. He has been quoted in The New York Times and various other news media, and has held elected positions with his State and National PR Institutes.
