In today's fast-paced digital landscape, the methods for buying advertising inventory and collaborating with digital content publishers has evolved. While traditional PR still holds value, there are now numerous innovative strategies that can enhance your reach and engagement. Let's explore these various methods and see how they compare to the time-honoured practice of traditional PR.
1. Traditional PR Press Release
What It Is: A traditional PR press release is a formal announcement issued to the media. It typically includes important news about your company or product and is intended to gain editorial coverage.
How It Works: You craft a well-written press release and distribute it to relevant journalists and media outlets. If your story is compelling, it gets picked up and covered in various media, providing free publicity and enhancing your brand's credibility.
Buying Inventory: There’s no direct buying of inventory here. Instead, the investment is in crafting a compelling story and leveraging relationships with media contacts. One of the downsides of this is that there is no guarantee your press article will be picked up, this is at the discretion of journalists and publishers. Furthermore, you do not have control over the content that is produced.
2. Programmatic Display
What It Is: Programmatic display advertising uses automated technology to buy and place ads across the web. These ads can appear in various formats, including banners, videos, and interactive ads.
How It Works: Advertisers use a demand-side platform (DSP) to bid on ad spaces in real-time auctions. These auctions occur in milliseconds as a web page loads, allowing for highly targeted ad placements based on user data.
Buying Inventory: You purchase impressions (views of your ad) through automated systems, often paying based on cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM). The process is efficient and scalable, making it easy to manage large campaigns.
3. Direct Media Buys
What It Is: Direct media buys involve purchasing advertising space directly from a publisher rather than through a facilitator.
How It Works: You negotiate with the publisher to secure ad placements. This could include Homepage Takeovers (HPTO), where your ads dominate a site's homepage, sponsored newsletter slots, or specific display ad placements.
Buying Inventory: This method usually involves negotiating rates directly with the publisher. It provides more control over where and how your ads appear but can be more time-consuming and often more expensive than programmatic options.
4. Affiliate Marketing
What It Is: Affiliate marketing involves partnering with individuals or companies (affiliates) who promote your products or services in exchange for a commission on sales or leads generated.
How It Works:
• Direct Affiliate Partnerships: You establish relationships with specific affiliates who then promote your offerings through their channels, such as website, social media, or email lists. Examples of these include Elle, Glamour, Good Housekeeping and many more.
• Affiliate Subnetworks (e.g., Skimlinks): These platforms connect you with many potential affiliates. They use hyperlinks to enable readers to click out of content articles onto your site. These hyperlinks are affiliate links that are then paid for on a CPA.
Buying Inventory: You pay commissions based on performance, such as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount per lead. This can be a cost-effective way to drive conversions, as you only pay for actual results. This is usually facilitated via a tracking platform like Impact.com, which tracks sales and payouts for you.
5. Native Advertising
What It Is: Native advertising integrates ads seamlessly into the content of a website or platform. These ads match the form and function of the surrounding content, making them less intrusive.
How It Works: Platforms like Taboola and Outbrain place your content as recommended articles on various publisher sites. These ads often appear as part of the site's editorial flow, increasing the likelihood that users will engage with them. Users who click on your featured article style ad are directed to your website, rather than the host publisher, where they will expect to arrive at a relevant content-led landing page of your own design.
Buying Inventory: You typically pay on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis, meaning you pay each time someone clicks on your native ad. This method blends well with the user experience, often leading to higher engagement rates.
6. Digital PR CPC (Linkby)
What It Is: Digital PR CPC (Cost Per Click) involves leveraging digital public relations to drive traffic and conversions through cost-per-click campaigns. Linkby is a platform that specializes in this method.
How It Works: Linkby helps brands get their stories published on premium publisher sites by paying for performance. Brands provide the content, and publishers integrate it into their editorial calendars. The focus is on generating high-quality traffic and measurable results.
Buying Inventory: You pay a predetermined amount for each click your content receives. This ensures that your investment is directly tied to engagement, making it a cost-effective way to drive targeted traffic and enhance your digital PR efforts.
What is the most effective way of interacting with publishers?
We still see value in traditional PR for its ability to build credibility and secure awards, but evolving your approach to integrate digital strategies is crucial. By combining the strengths of both traditional PR and digital methods, you can create a more comprehensive and effective marketing strategy. One of the biggest advantages of these digital alternatives is that they provide tracking and measurability. So you can have greater certainty as to their involvement in the marketing funnel. Especially when combined with multitouch attribution platforms. A balanced approach ensures you meet users in a variety of formats, appealing to as wide an audience as possible.
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