Why Relationships Are Key In Digital Marketing

The client relationships you build in your business should play a key role with your overall digital marketing strategy and campaign. Simply, if you didn’t have any relationships with anyone, you wouldn’t have a successful business.

But when it comes to the non-PR side of marketing, the SEO side, that doesn’t interact directly with the consumer, it suddenly becomes less personal – more about reaching targets such as how many links you have, what does the backlink portfolio look like and what is the domain authority score? All of these factors are important considerations, but where is the relationship building that marketing was built upon?

As there is so much overlap between what SEO professionals do and what PR professionals do, it seems only right to combine each other’s strengths to overcome weaknesses. While SEOs may put too much emphasis on statistics, numbers and links, PRs often don’t put enough emphasis on this. And while PRs focus on building relationships, positive coverage and brand awareness, SEOs often neglect this aspect, focusing on efficiency and targets instead. Whatever you call it – linkbuilding, authority building, media outreach, profile building, content amplification, influencer marketing or network marketing, one thing is clear – relationship building really should play the main role in activity if you want long term success. Trust and credibility are the two pillars of the clients’ relationship. So, read more to know how you can build the relationship and take it forward to enhance business growth.

Find influencers & create relationships

Finding influencers in the industry you’re targeting isn’t difficult, it’s just time consuming. But take the time and it will pay off in the long run. You’ll find that focusing on people as opposed to your website is a much better use of your time. Once you find these influencers, try and engage with them, not by spamming their inbox but by actually reading what they have written, commenting on their content with insightful opinion, checking out their LinkedIn or Twitter accounts i.e. get on their radar. Then, when the time is right, your content will be the perfect fit for them and by that time you will have built a solid relationship.

Use current industry events

Always be ready to provide content or comments on something that is happening now in your industry. It will pay off! If you take your time to write a piece around a topic using keywords, you can become a reliable source that people can turn to when they need instant expert commentary. Remember – be quick, relevant and there.

Leapfrog the media

If your press release is news worthy enough and it is shared across the right platforms, then other sites will pick it up. If you’re issuing press releases but finding they don’t get picked up – ask yourself, ‘is this even newsworthy?’

Unlinked mentions

Try using a competitor research like AHREFS, to monitor where your brand is being mentioned without being linked. This could be your opportunity to build an initial relationship with someone who is already familiar with your brand. Then try using a shout out or some unique content so instead of just having a mention with a link, you could have tailor made content on their site that portrays your brand in a positive light and showcases your authority. Plus you’ll be building a relationship with the author, who may be interested in even more content further down the line.

Keyword mentions

When you see a great piece of content that mentions your target keywords via a tool like Google alerts, most digital marketers will make contact with the author and offering up a quote in exchange for a mention or link. This tactic is one that focuses on quality over quantity. How about instead striking up a relationship with the author, offering them some unique stats or an interview with the CEO to delve further into the issues? Thus you provide a voice of authority on this topic. And not just as a one-time-thing, as maybe your brand could become a spokesperson or a regular contributor on this topic. The other option here is to suggest working together on a joint event so both parties gain.

So, in summary try looking at digital marketing in the same way as a PR executive would and realise how important it is to build a trusting relationship with current and potential customers. As marketers, we spend hours perfecting the customer journey, analysing the data to find out more about their customers so they can target them more effectively. But relationships are key here – you may have to work at it, but in the long run they can be it.