Sydney Randall
Choosing which method of public relations to use for your business can be difficult. There’s a lot to consider: what channels you want to use, what audiences you want to reach, what metrics to track, and so much more. There are two main types of PR to choose from while crafting a strategy for your business: traditional PR and digital PR.
So, what’s the point of having two different kinds of PR? The two methods share a common goal, which is increasing brand awareness, but they differ in their executions. Depending on what your company’s goals are, one method of PR may be more useful than the other. Using a combination of the two methods might also be a great option for certain companies. It all depends on what results you want to see with your strategy.
Here are a few differences between traditional PR and digital PR that might be helpful when making your decision about which method to use for your company.
1. Traditional PR and digital PR focus on different channels.
As the name states, traditional PR focuses on channels that are traditional. The “old school” channels like newspapers, magazines, television, and radio are what traditional PR targets. Digital PR focuses on “new school” channels like social media, websites, and blogs. Digital PR uses methods related to social media, digital outreach, and content marketing to reach audiences while traditional PR relies on things like press releases, reputation management, and trade shows to spread messages. While it may seem that the world is extremely digitally-focused nowadays, there are millions of Americans who still consume traditional media like television, newspaper, and radio and still get their news from those channels. For that reason, traditional media is still relevant and it should be on the radar of PR professionals.
2. Digital PR provides more opportunities for feedback and engagement than traditional PR.
When you promote something through a newspaper or magazine or on the radio, it’s hard to get a response from your audience or give them a chance to interact with you. In this situation, traditional PR methods are like a one-sided transaction. However, with digital, it’s easy to receive feedback and engagement through social media or in the comment section of a website or blog post. Digital PR methods provide a better chance for interactions and allow companies to see how their campaigns are doing in real time.
3. Success and results are measured easier with digital than traditional.
Digital PR has the advantage of easy access to metrics like engagement, impressions, and reach. Thanks to options like Facebook Business Suite, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite, tracking success and results for digital PR has never been easier. Traditional PR, however, is harder to track. It’s difficult to determine just how many people saw a newspaper article or a magazine ad. It’s doable, but it’s much easier to see results while using digital PR methods.
4. Digital PR allows you to be more creative and subtle with your messaging. Traditional PR is more direct.
With all of the tools available through social media and content creation sites, it’s easy to make your company’s messaging creative and unique. The goals of digital PR revolve around SEO and visibility, so being creative is key. It’s also easy to make it subtle. Traditional PR is more direct due to two things: its format and its specific goals that revolve around managing public opinion through the placement and focus of the brand being mentioned in whichever traditional channel was chosen to be used. A combination of the two methods may be useful for some companies due to the varied goals that certain businesses may have.
5. Digital PR is more likely to reach a broader audience than traditional PR.
With the various methods of sharing available on social media and websites, it’s easier to reach a larger audience with digital PR than it is with traditional PR. If even just a handful of people share a company’s post on social media with all of their friends and connections on that website, the reach of the messaging in that post has the potential to grow tremendously. It’s possible to reach a large number of people through certain traditional PR channels, but with more and more brand-related posts going viral on social media each day, you can reach an even larger audience through digital PR channels and their newer, more current methods.
Conclusion
There are benefits to traditional PR and there are benefits to digital PR. Knowing the differences between the two is helpful when making a decision regarding which method to use. However, no matter what method of PR you choose for your company, it’s best to always monitor trends and updates in the PR industry to make sure you’re up to date on the latest strategies.
