Digital Public Relations Expertise
I have extensive experience combining my commercial digital marketing skills with my interest & background in policy, issues, and politics to create campaigns that have reach & impact.
I have extensive communications & public relations experience, and I can combine that with my extensive experience in digital marketing to craft effective digital communications & public relations campaigns to help clients get their message out, build a following, move the dial on issues, or inspire action.
There is a large push towards “AI” and automation in the Digital Marketing world, but these tools can be a disaster in communications campaigns, whether sensitive or not. It is important that your campaigns are run manually by someone who understands what is involved and what is at stake.
Here are the tools in the Digital Public Relations Toolbox and more that I have successfully used on numerous communications & political campaigns.
SEARCH ADS
If people have questions, they will go to Google or a similar search engine. How do you make sure they find you?
I have years of experience getting commercial clients in competitive segments to the top of Google for their most important keywords. The same skills will help your website or content be found when people are searching. There are tools to use to find out what people are searching for, what they are finding, and how well your content or campaign is resonating with them.
There are two important aspects to competing in the search results. “ORGANIC SEO” ensures your website is found for free in the results. One challenge, particularly with organic results, is to make sure the result that appears has the right message and information. Some people will only read the top of the results page, so this is your main opportunity to get your message out.
“PAID SEARCH” – usually through Google Ads – can help or ensure your message appears at the top of the search results. You can also craft the right message to be read by anyone searching the topics you are targeting.
By setting up a paid search campaign correctly and watching the search results, you can keep on top of emerging issues if the search volume picks up and be ready to respond
DISPLAY ADS
The Google Display Network has a huge reach, and while many are wary of the problem of poor placements if you work to focus your ads in the right places, you can get the right message in front of the right people, very cost-effectively. You can target websites, lifestyles, demographics, and the type of searches people do.
While static, graphic display and banner ads have been around for years, there are also more dynamic display options that help you get articles and messages out in front of the right people. For example, “Responsive” display ads can help you capture attention with graphics & headlines to get a message out and bring people to an article or web page to learn more.
Statistics from display campaigns can help you understand what people are interested in and what content has traction.
Leveraging Google’s targeting tools: You may be targeting the whole population (over 18) in an area if, for example, you are running a campaign for a political candidate. Or you may only be targeting a certain demographic, lifestyle, or people with a specific interest. Done right, “Custom Audiences” are the secret sauce that helps your campaigns hit the right people based on their interests and search history. Layered with a proper campaign goal (are you looking for email sign-ups? to raise money? Website visits? or to drive searches?) – those are goals you can set and Google will target the best eyeballs to reach the goals you give it).
Do You Want to Level Up Your Digital Communications? Let's Talk!
Could you be communicating more effectively in the Digital landscape? Are you taking advantage of all of the avenues, ensuring your budget is being used effectively, and using all of the right channels to connect with your potential customers? I would appreciate the opportunity to help your campaign or cause.
News & Discovery
Do you have great content on your website that you want to get people to notice? It is often best to get to them when they are in “Information gathering mode”. From articles that explain an issue or offer a different perspective to promoting new policies, products, or initiatives, you likely have information that you would like interested people in the public to read and understand. This means getting into their news feeds. This can be done organically, or through paid advertisements. Getting your articles and information found organically and ranking in news feeds can take time,- just like organic search results, but a sustained effort, good engagement, and good content can help. The right setup for your content is also essential.
Another option is to target paid promotions through what Google used to call “Discovery Ads” and now calls “Demand Gen”. Through these paid placements, you can promote your articles, content, videos & more to a precisely targeted audience – and get them when they are in the mood to read articles or watch videos.
YouTube/ Video ADS
YouTube is the second most popular site on the web, and it is a go-to for information for millions of people.
Similar to other media, you can get your content out “Organically” on YouTube, which means optimizing for searches and hoping for favourable treatment in YouTube’s algorithm. You can also pay for placement – either as an ad in someone’s recommendations or to show your video “Instream” as an ad.
Short in-stream ads cannot be skipped and are great for building awareness on issues or for a candidate.
Longer videos can be skipped after a certain amount of time, but people will watch even longer videos that explain or discuss a topic they are interested in. For these videos, you often only pay after someone watches a certain percentage of the video.
Like display, Paid YouTube Placements, done right, can be very cost-effective and very well-targeted. Millions of videos are watched every single day and Google struggles to fill the advertising space around them.
There is a lot of power in getting the right person’s undivided attention to get an important message out.
While creating videos can be expensive, there are also effective ways to create graphic videos which are much more cost-efficient if needed.
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you are targeting people who are on Social Media, then Social Media is where you need to be. Social Media allows you to build a support base and get your message out to a well-targeted audience.
I can set up and run social media campaigns and do a great job on them, but they are not my main focus.
Custom Intent Audiences
Custom Intent Audiences are the key to running many of these campaigns well and targeting the right audience with the right message. Google knows a lot about what people are interested in. Google knows what websites people visit, and what they search. Through carefully creating custom intent audiences, communicators can leverage this information to target your message to the right people at the right time.
BUILD A BASE OF SUPPORT
One of the keys to success in any public relations or issues campaign is to find the people who are pre-disposed to support you. From people who know the industry or those who can benefit from a project to people who like to be involved and informed,
Ensuring these people have the right information and are confident builds on the foundations of your campaign.
Done right, you can often find your supporters jumping in on social media or on comments pages to share their thoughts, especially if they know there are others out there who agree with them.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
I have used the digital toolbox at my disposal on numerous political campaigns to build awareness of new candidates, get their key policy points out there, get video in front of hundreds of thousands of people, and bring out the vote on election day.
I am registered with Google to run political ads and am familiar with the rules and constraints on political advertising on their network.
Email Campaigns
Email is often forgotten, but can be an is an important tool for communications campaigns. It is often the easiest and most direct way to get your message out, especially if you have built a base of support.
OPINION POLLING & FOCUS GROUPS
I worked for one of Canada’s top opinion polling agencies for 4 years and gained a wealth of knowledge about measuring, tracking, and deriving communications strategies from opinion polls and focus groups. I have done regular contract work for some companies since then. I can set up online surveys and look at focus group reports and polling data and work with a team to build an effective communications strategy.
Microtargeting
Do you need to get your message out to a narrow segment of the population that cares about the issue you are addressing? To only people with certain interests or who are searching specific topics? Custom Audiences in Google have you covered. You can make the most of your budget and get the right message to the right group, even though they may be small.
WHITE LABEL FOR PR AGENCIES
Do you have a public relations or communications company with clients that could benefit from expert digital marketing PR campaigns on Google or other networks but lack the in-house expertise or internal bandwidth to run them? I am happy to talk about white labeling my services. Your clients can get expertly run campaigns and you can ensure you do everything possible for them to get their message out.
How Can I help?
Could you be communicating more effectively in the Digital landscape? Are you taking advantage of all of the avenues, ensuring your budget is being used effectively, and using all of the right channels to connect with the right audience? I would appreciate the opportunity to help your campaign or cause.