- Web Marketing Is Your Online Presence
- Web Marketing Is Search Engine Marketing
- Web Marketing Is Online Advertising
- Web Marketing Is Email Marketing
- Web Marketing Is Blog Marketing
- Web Marketing Is Social Media Marketing
- Web Marketing Is Online Public Relations
- Web Marketing Is Multimedia Marketing
- Web Marketing Is Mobile Marketing
- The Bottom Line
Web Marketing Is Online Public Relations
Some marketers regard social marketing as a form of public relations. Certainly, enlisting the support of sympathetic bloggers is a public relations activity. In fact, a lot of what you do online falls under the category of online PR. There are a lot of influencers online—websites, blogs, you name it.
In fact, many of the old media people you deal with now prefer to be contacted online. Instead of sending out physical press releases via postal mail, you send out virtual press releases (and accompanying media) via email. It's a lot faster—and lower cost.
Many companies also find that supporting media of all types is made easier by putting key marketing materials in a press room on their websites. It's actually easier to put all your product images, press releases, management bios, or whatever on your website, where all media can access them, than it is to supply these materials via traditional methods. A well-stocked and easy to use online press room will actually get you more placements than you would have had otherwise.
For these reasons, you really need to think of online PR as a new activity in your marketing bag. And unlike traditional PR, it's something you can measure; while you might never know what a mention in a traditional print magazine got you, it's easy enough to track those visitors to your website that resulted from an online press release or mention in a particular blog. Old-time PR people might not like this new accountability, but it puts the PR part of your program in the same league as your other measurable marketing activities.