Relevancy – you’ve probably heard this term buzzing around LinkedIn recently and may be wondering: is it just another industry fad, or does it actually matter? Surely any coverage is good coverage?
We’re here to break the news that, as a PR, links aren’t the only metric you should be tracking. To see real growth, a business needs campaigns that are relevant, in publications that are just as relevant. We know how tempting it can be to jump on any old topic that’s trending and exciting, but if it doesn’t resonate with your target market, it can be harmful.
This blog will get into the details of why this is, explaining what exactly relevancy is when it comes to digital PR, why you should care about it and our tips for creating relevant but still newsworthy content. We’ve even shared some examples of our recent and relevant campaigns to give you a bit of inspiration.
But, if you prefer to skip the ramble, here are some key takeaways:
👉Quality over quantity: aim to secure placements that align with your brand, even if it means fewer links
👉Relevant campaigns put you in front of the right people and increases visibility, driving conversions
👉To create a relevant but newsworthy story, you need to understand your audience, and have a close eye on your industry’s trends
What is relevancy in digital PR?
In 2024, the phrase ‘they’re not relevant anymore’ is tossed around in pop culture, as a jab at former Love Islanders or child actors who haven’t survived the cutthroat cycle of mainstream popularity. In fact, it offers an interesting parallel to digital PR, but whilst both brands and celebrities must continuously work to stay connected to their audience – there’s a key difference.
In digital PR, relevancy isn’t about chasing fleeting trends or viral moments; it’s creating lasting, meaningful connections that align with your brand’s core values and resonate with your target audience.
So when we talk about relevancy, in practice this means asking yourself “does it make sense for my brand to be mentioned in this particular article and this particular publication”. Securing a feature in a prestigious magazine like GQ might seem like a big win, but if your business has nothing to do with fashion, it’s not a strategically relevant placement.
It’s time for us to move away from the outdated numbers game of link building that characterised the early days of SEO. Today, the best marketers are focusing on quality and brand relevancy, steering clear of spammy tactics.
Relevancy is about ensuring that every mention, every link, and every campaign reinforces your brand’s identity and speaks directly to the audience you’re trying to reach. This approach has a whole host of benefits….
Why is it important to make DPR campaigns relevant to the brand?
There’s a growing consensus in the world of digital marketing that relevancy isn’t just important – it’s crucial for the success of a digital PR campaign, and growth of a business. Here’s why:
➡️Visibility
When your digital PR efforts are relevant, you’re more likely to appear in publications and platforms where your target audience is actively engaged. This targeted visibility not only increases your chances of being seen but also ensures that you’re reaching the people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. Each mention drives relevant traffic back to your site, boosting what we all ultimately care most about – conversions.
➡️Brand alignment
When your PR activity is in sync with who you are as a brand, it creates a more cohesive narrative for your audience – strengthening your brand image and helping to build trust. From a messaging perspective, you don’t want to confuse your customers by having your brand linked to campaigns that say drastically different things.By prioritising relevancy, you’re building a consistent image that resonates with your core audience.
➡️SEO
A handful of highly relevant links provide far more SEO value than hundreds of non-relevant ones. This is because when a link comes from a source closely aligned with your brand, it carries more weight in the eyes of the search engines. Google is getting increasingly good at understanding context and it now evaluates the relevance of the linking site to your content; when you secure a link from a highly relevant publication, you’re sending strong signals about your site’s authority and relevance in your niche.
➡️E-E-A-T
This is partly because relevant coverage plays a huge part in enhancing your website’s E-E-A-T signals. When you consistently appear in relevant discussions within your industry, you’re demonstrating your expertise and building authority. This improves your standing with Google, boosting your rankings and also positioning your brand as a go-to resource to your audience.
➡️Why the journalists should link to your page
Aside from anything else, relevancy increases the likelihood that a journalist will want to use your content in the first place. Relevant content enhances their article and offers the journalist genuine value. You want the connection to be plain as day, so that it’s no question that they include your content to enhance their article.
Examples of relevancy in our work at Cedarwood
The best way to explain a relevant campaign is just to show you one! Here are three examples in our work recently where we’ve crafted a story both relevant to our client, and newsworthy – resulting in lots of coverage.
- A super relevant campaign that went viral just last month across national papers is our newsjacking piece for a printer toner client. We aligned our client’s products with the peak in summer holidays through identifying essential documents to print before boarding your flight. This transformed a mundane product into a timely solution and landed our client widespread coverage:
- For our new DIY supplies client, we launched a newsjacking piece where we jumped on a topical trend (apprenticeships) to provide relevant data that appealed to their target audience. We outreached the campaign to outlets in their industry and landed a number of hyper-relevant niche links to the website:
- There’s no hiding the fact that you have to be a little more creative in some industries than others when it comes to crafting relevant digital PR campaigns. The vaping space is a great example of this – there’s certainly a less exhaustive list of related topics. So, to get round this, we thought outside the box and submitted FOI requests to local councils to identify how many illegal vapes had been seized over time. With this data, we then created an infographic showcasing the UK’s vape raid hotspots, outreaching it as an asset for journalists.
The outcome was over 150 relevant and targeted links that enhanced E-E-A-T signals across the brand:
How to create relevant but newsworthy content
🔈Audience understanding
Your first step should be getting a deep understanding of your target audience, their interests, and problems they’re facing. But the insights from tools and AI aren’t really enough, so how can you go about this? First, have a clear contact page and form so that people know how and where to go to send you their feedback.
Secondly, platforms like TikTok are a great way to get a better sense of the thoughts and feelings of your audience. Search your product or service keyword and have a look at what the main discussion points are – is there opportunity for you to provide data or expertise that solves an issue they’re having? For example, searching ‘printing’ into TikTok reveals viral videos surrounding the idea of DIY- printed t-shirts. Therefore, a campaign looking at this new gen-z trend of upcycling our clothes at home, and an expert how-to guide, would be a relevant campaign for a printing company.
🔈Timely, trending content
Relevancy is time-sensitive and journalists don’t want stories that are yesterday’s news. To create relevant stories, you need to be constantly monitoring the emerging trends and events within your niche and create content that offers unique insights on these. Content calendars are a great way to do this, marked with key dates and relevant events. With this, you can then brainstorm ideas in advance, allowing you to newsjack quickly. To return to our printing example, key educational dates like the dissertation submission period or GCSE exam period would be worth marking in advance as this allows you to create timely content surrounding printing dissertations or practice papers.
🔈Keyword research
Whilst often overlooked in digital PR, this shouldn’t be left to the SEOs! In fact, keyword research should be one of the first steps of a digital PR ideation process, as it guarantees that you’re narrowing in on genuinely relevant ideas. Looking at these terms guarantees that your campaigns are going to align with what your audience is actively searching for. Plus, by incorporating these keywords into your pitch, you’re hitting two birds with one stone – speaking the language of your audience, and increasing the likelihood that your content is discovered organically in the SERPs.
Cedarwood Digital is an award-winning SEO, digital PR & PPC agency based in Manchester. If relevancy isn’t your forte or your campaigns just aren’t landing, how about getting some expert help. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you.
