These are interesting times for public relations. While the objectives, strategies and expected outcomes activities have not changed over the past decade, the impact that technology has had, and continues to have, on how public relations fulfils its agenda, the unrelenting advance of digital channels, tools and tactics make the PR mix more challenging than it has ever been.
Now that digital media has redefined the way the market interacts with a brand, PR has entered a transitional era that is evolutionary and revolutionary to the organisation’s communication goals, which ensure their target market and media are engaged throughout the brand awareness and decision-making process.
Emerging from this dynamic environment there is a more profound emphasis on developing and disseminating quality content. Content has always been the go-to of successful PR campaigns but as the variety of communication channels has exploded, the challenge to deliver has become more pronounced.
That is why context is becoming the realm in new era public relations models. Content provides meaning while context provides currency. Content, by its very nature is static. Context is storytelling and unique. The increasingly digital model requires that content be guided by context, engaging with the target audience so that the content is delivered at the most optimal time.
Content has always been the central to a public relations strategy. Whether through traditional media channels – such as provocative thought leadership pieces – articulates the who, what, why, when, and how of the business. The establishment of digital public relations has significantly elevated the importance of content in the PR model.
In today’s consumer marketplace, whether business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B), the power of initial engagement rests with the media.
Resonant content
The challenge is shifting the public relations mindset regarding what constitutes quality and resonant content away from the tradition of creative advertising and collateral and towards a notion of content that requires no bells and whistles to be engaging.
If content is the currency of a PR campaign, then context is the storyteller — easier to understand and act on. Context amplifies the value of content by providing a frame of reference for engaging with the target market in a more simplified way
More simply, context delivers the right content to the right people at the right time. Context is now emerging as the key differentiator to engage with the media and content dovetails nicely with key messages in the decision process.
As we used to say, public relations is knowing what to say and context marketing is knowing when and how to say it. As PR is evolving into an always-on digital universe, it’s capable of generating extraordinary volumes of coverage. Successfully incorporating the content model that effectively leverages context is now fundamental to the effective building of brand awareness.
We have never had access to so many dynamic channels through which to distribute content and we have never enjoyed the quantity and quality of data that allows for the narrow defining of target markets that this digital marketplace provides.
To be effective as a strategy and/or tactic, content and context must build relationships consistently over time, developing trust and connection. This is brand building at its core – managing how and what someone thinks about you.
Consumers want to interact on their terms and that means delivering meaningful value to them when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it. Consumers have embraced the new forms of digital media and are comfortable with those channels and platforms … but it is relevant content and meaningful context that nurture deeper, more lasting relationships and deliver greater customer value.
Content is king because no other asset a company creates or procures possesses the power to change perceptions in a way that moves people to make the ‘right’ choice in the decision-making process. Managed strategically, content can be leveraged and repurposed to address multiple opportunities over long periods of time. Context is queen because content by itself fails to realise its potential, deliver its expected ROI, and change the minds it was intended to change.
Sasha Kupritz is the founder of Tenacity PR. She has been a generator of content for ideas, angles, pitches and storytelling for the past 20 years. With roots in traditional, she views content differently. Through expertise in multi-platform PR, she has worked across the ‘media’ board for well known brands from financial to arts and entertainment.
