Why You Should Be Using A UK Digital PR Agency
“What actually is PR?” is a question that members of our team are met with on an amusingly regular basis, here at VerriBerri. It’s fair to say that people have a set idea in their heads as to what PR is. (Usually involving managing one kind of celebrity crises or another.) Whilst it’s not entirely wrong, it’s never exactly right, either. PR (Public Relations) is a wide-reaching discipline that encompasses any and every activity pertaining to a business or brand’s perception within the public eye. The team here at VerriBerri, a leading UK digital PR agency; wanted to detail just why digital press is so beneficial to businesses and brands.
Get Others To Celebrate Your Successes
It’s one thing to shout from the rooftops just how great you are as a business, but that will only get you so far. Even if you can prove your successes, there comes a point when self-promotion and marketing runs the risk of coming across as somewhat arrogant. If a renowned online publication runs an objective piece regarding your brand, on the other hand, that’s another matter entirely.
Let’s say, for instance, your business has a revolutionary new piece of technology on offer. If you call it revolutionary, people won’t bat an eye-lid. However, if an outlet like ‘HuffPost’ does so in the form of an attention-grabbing news title; then people will be more inclined to take an interest. Here at VerriBerri, our UK digital PR agency has secured articles and pieces in a wide variety of online publications, including:
- Vice
- Metro
- HuffPost
Why Digital Instead Of Print?
There’s been a big transition towards digital publications in recent years. You only need to take a brief glance at readership figures to ascertain why exactly that’s been the case. Looking at print newspaper circulation between 1945 and 2015, a report from the Brookings Institute found that the number of newspapers per hundred million population dropped from 1,200 to 400.
Indeed, most people nowadays get their news and consume their media online. In fact, according to Ofcom, 66% of people surveyed in 2019 got their news online, whilst only 49% used newspapers. In short, then, by accessing online markets, you’ll get seen by a larger overall readership, and it’s as simple as that!
Does Print Media Still Have Its Place?
Of course. We’re not for one second saying that there are no benefits to be had from still securing exposure in renowned print publications. In fact, that’s why, although predominantly a UK digital PR agency, we still also target print outlets in our pitching and outreach. The thing about the established print publications is that they have that industry clout and reputation that only comes with having been around for as long as they have.
What Else Does PR Involve?
Whilst our PR team’s work mainly revolves around securing articles in publications, day-to-day, that’s far from all that’s involved. We touched on the idea of reputation and crisis management within the introduction and, indeed, that’s most certainly part of modern PR. With news disseminating as fast and as widely as it now does, one misjudgement can prove costly for a business.
That’s why having a PR team on-board, who can both prevent crises from occurring and manage them if ever they do, is so beneficial to a business. PR also involves securing collaborations, campaign ideation and just having a team who fights your corner! Something which should never be underestimated in today’s febrile, often hate-filled world.
DIY? We Wish You Luck…
You might be sat reading this wondering, why not just do it myself? You’ve got a good business concept, story or product that you think journalists will be interested in, so why shouldn’t you give it a go yourself? People tend to underestimate the kind of legwork that goes into securing ‘leads’.
PR teams have extensive networks of journalist connections, utilise specialist software and then put in a huge amount of time on top of that all to secure what you just see as the end-product: the article online. In other words, there’s almost never enough hours in the day for someone to run a business and then manage the PR on top of that, as well. If you’re able? Then more power to you, because we think you’re pretty superhuman!
Contact VerriBerri
PR is an essential part of modern-day business and marketing, and its importance cannot be overstated. To establish solid foundations as a business, to secure that wedge within your desired marketplace, you need a mouthpiece. PR provides that mouthpiece. So, if you’d like to find out more about our UK digital PR agency, then click here to get in touch! Contact VerriBerri today on 01376 386 850. We’re always interested to hear from new businesses and potential clients!