Insights - Laurie Pehar Borsh Digital PR

B2B Thought Leadership photo by Alena Darmel

Takeaways From The Annual B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report

The Annual B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, Edelman and LinkedIn’s latest collaboration, reveals insights into B2B marketing.

The study examines the impact of thought leadership on B2B decision-makers and C-suite executives, providing valuable guidance for organizations operating in this field.

Key findings from the report highlight the pivotal role of thought leadership:

73% of B2B decision-makers prioritize an organization’s thought leadership content over traditional marketing materials when assessing capabilities.
An overwhelming 90% of decision-makers and executives are more receptive to companies consistently producing high-quality thought leadership.
Thought leadership content can encourage customers to reconsider current supplier relationships, as 70% of respondents reported.
However, resource constraints hinder effective thought leadership, with 50% of respondents citing under-resourcing as a primary barrier.
Quality remains a concern, with only 13% of respondents rating the quality of thought leadership as excellent.

Effective communication is crucial in today’s challenging B2B landscape, particularly in the face of tightening budgets. Thought leadership is a powerful tool for demonstrating value and fostering customer trust, with PR playing a crucial role in shaping narratives.

Joe Kingsbury, Global Chair of Edelman Business Marketing, emphasized reframing challenges and opportunities to capture B2B buyers’ attention. He underscored the superiority of insightful content over traditional marketing approaches, highlighting PR leaders’ opportunity to drive impactful storytelling initiatives.

Ophelie Janus, the Global Head of Thought Leadership at Siemens, emphasized the importance of thought leadership in creating stronger relationships between businesses and customers. She underlined the importance of providing reliable and practical insights to establish trust and create value for customers throughout their journey.

The 2024 report highlights the importance of thought leadership in the changing B2B landscape. It encourages organizations to prioritize quality content and strategic communication to succeed.

Business Social Media Strategy Success: A Few Tactical Tips

Putting a business social media strategy into play is crucial for connecting with current customers and, more importantly, for business growth. Yet, even though business leaders acknowledge the impact of social media, many still need help to fully capitalize on its dynamic benefits.

Here are some simple ways to start making meaningful improvements.

Optimize Social Media Pages and Profiles

Your social media page acts as your business’s virtual storefront, as does your personal social media profile as an owner, president, CEO, etc. Before creating content, ensure your social media accounts are welcoming and informative landing pages.

Update your account branding (logos, headers), craft a compelling business summary, and ensure clear links to your company website. As the brand ambassador of your business or company, your social media profiles should be updated or created with a professional or appropriate headshot—consistency in colors, images, and wording across platforms. Doing so establishes a cohesive brand identity, making a lasting first impression on potential customers.

Quick Tip: Utilize graphic design tools for a professional-looking logo, header, or photo in minutes.

Don’t Just Post. Engage

Social media is a two-way street. Beyond sharing content, actively engage with your audience. Like, comment, or share posts from other businesses or influencers in your industry.

Respond individually to comments and reviews, building trust and transparency. Actively participating in conversations fosters relationships, increasing visibility for your content. And that can be the case for your business or personal social media accounts!

Quick Tip: Dedicate five minutes daily to respond to comments and engage for long-term returns.

Schedule Posts

Consistency is vital in creating more visibility on social media. Posting regularly builds familiarity with your audience and increases authority and visibility—leverage scheduling tools to plan posts, ensuring a consistent online presence.

Quick Tip: Choose posting times when your audience is most active for optimal visibility and engagement.

Share Testimonials

Positive customer feedback is a powerful marketing tool and should be part of every business’s social media strategy. Share testimonials on social media (with permission) to build trust and credibility. Showcasing your customers’ experience with your brand shows appreciation for their loyalty and enhances your brand’s authenticity.

Quick Tip: Transform reviews into visually appealing graphics to make testimonials more shareable and noticeable.

Use Hashtags Strategically!

Hashtags amplify your content’s visibility, but their strategic use is paramount. Research industry-relevant hashtags and incorporate them organically into your content. Consider creating a unique brand hashtag to distinguish your posts.

Quick Tip: Research popular hashtags in your industry or generate them with available tools.

Social media might seem daunting for business owners, but these actionable steps can elevate your online presence. These simple, practical measures can help create a social media strategy that will be integral to your future success.

I can help your brand grow!

Social Media – Strategic and tactical management
SEO – Inbound traffic for more sales opportunities
Content Marketing
Website Revisions/Management
Public Relations/Online Reputation Management
And more.

Schedule a Call

Digital PR Mastery: The Crucial Role of Tactical Support for Professionals

Digital and social media PR support is not merely a desire for business professionals, it’s now an essential business tool. In the current era dominated by digital connectivity, professionals are tasked with creating and sustaining a strong online presence. I like to refer to this as Personal Digital PR!

This new level of visibility can significantly impact career trajectories, networking efficacy, and personal branding. However, even in 2023, attaining this “digital prominence” remains a significant challenge.

That’s why I strongly advocate that busy professionals consider hiring tactical assistance from an experienced PR and digital media strategist.*

Let me explain and outline why tactical, not only strategic, help is so necessary for the busiest entrepreneurs, business, and creative professionals:

Unravels the Digital Complexity

The digital landscape is expansive, encompassing websites, social media platforms, content marketing, and email campaigns. Navigating this intricate ecosystem poses a challenge, particularly for those not versed in digital marketing. Tactical help becomes a beacon, simplifying the process and providing a clear roadmap for professionals.

Provides Adaptation to Dynamic Algorithms

Major digital platforms routinely update algorithms, shaping how content is displayed and distributed. Staying abreast of these changes and adjusting strategies accordingly is a time-consuming endeavor. Digital strategists, well-versed in these updates, become invaluable allies in helping professionals stay ahead of the curve.

Mitigates Time Constraints

Professionals often grapple with demanding work schedules, leaving limited time for cultivating and managing their digital presence. Tactical assistance is indispensable by outsourcing tasks like content creation and social media management, enabling professionals to focus on their core responsibilities.

Harnesses Specialized Expertise

Effective digital marketing requires expertise in SEO, social media promotion, content creation, and analytics. Professionals may lack the necessary knowledge, making tactical assistance essential. Bringing in specialized professionals ensures the execution of effective digital marketing plans. I’ve been at it since 2003!

Cultivates Brand Consistency

Maintaining a consistent and professional online image is paramount. Tactical help guarantees alignment between a professional’s digital presence and their personal brand, fostering trust and credibility in the digital realm.

Leverages Data for Informed Decisions

Data analytics is a powerful tool in digital marketing, but interpreting and utilizing data effectively requires a certain skill set. Tactical experts offer guidance in interpreting data, making informed, data-driven decisions, and refining digital campaigns for optimal results.

Rise Above the Fierce Competition

In the global digital arena, competition is fierce. Tactical support distinguishes professionals, enhancing visibility and making them more compelling to their target audience.

Expand Networking Horizons

Digital media opens doors to extensive networking opportunities. Tactical assistance helps professionals identify and connect with key influencers, partners, and potential clients, amplifying their reach and networking capabilities.

Measuring Success Through Data

Digital marketing’s advantage lies in its measurability. Tactics help establish performance metrics and KPIs, allowing professionals to track the effectiveness of their digital efforts and make informed adjustments to strategies.

The Indispensable Role of Tactical Help

As the digital landscape transforms the way professionals present themselves, many find tactical assistance invaluable. A seasoned PR professional with expertise in digital and social media strategies becomes pivotal in creating a lasting digital presence, ensuring competitiveness and success in the ever-evolving digital landscape. It’s what I do!

A Personal Touch: 20 Years of Expertise

With over two decades of experience as a publicist and marketing consultant, I bring a wealth of knowledge to help busy professionals navigate and maintain their online presence. Recognizing the uniqueness of each individual’s journey, my goal is to ensure the right image projection and content alignment, essential elements for sustained opportunities and growth. Remember, entrust your personal and professional image to seasoned professionals for optimal results in the dynamic digital sphere.

Discover the details of my services and fee structure by exploring this page. My clients exclusively collaborate and work with me, ensuring personalized attention. I can offer references and, in many instances, accommodate specific budgets, aligning with my clients’ growth as they achieve their business and career objectives.

PR and SEO: A New Symbiotic Relationship

The Adaptation and Evolution of PR and SEO

The integration of SEO into PR strategies is vital for a robust online presence. There are many compelling reasons why businesses and personal brands need to use SEO to enhance their public relations and online reputation campaigns.

Amplify Website Visibility through Link Building

PR and SEO go hand in hand when it comes to link building. High-quality backlinks from authoritative websites significantly enhance your website’s credibility and visibility. They signal to Google that an authoritative site trusts yours, earning you SEO benefits. It’s that straightforward. By combining compelling PR stories and content with a targeted keyword and link-building strategy, you can achieve remarkable results.

Boost Your SERPs Ranking

Securing a spot on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs) is highly sought after, and strong SEO is the key to getting there. By optimizing your content and leveraging PR efforts, you can improve your website’s ranking for relevant keywords, driving more organic traffic and increasing brand awareness. Use flagship keywords to add value to your campaigns by making them more search-friendly.

Establish Website Authority

SEO isn’t just about keywords, it’s about showcasing authority in your niche. PR campaigns can generate media coverage and endorsements from industry experts to enhance your website’s authority on search engines. Strengthen your campaigns by aligning off-site content with relevant on-site material.

Elevate the Value of Your Campaigns

In today’s digital age, PR and SEO are intrinsically connected and mutually beneficial. By becoming SEO-savvy, you add substantial value to your clients, business, and customers. Incorporating SEO best practices into your PR campaigns is a sound strategy in today’s online landscape. Imagine the added value to your client if you could amplify the results of a successful campaign with SEO expertise.

Increase Keyword Ranking to Attract Customers

Whether you’re selling products or services, site traffic is of paramount importance. By combining PR efforts with SEO, you can strategically optimize your content to rank for keywords that not only align with your goals, but are also likely to attract more customers and clients. This leads to more leads and ultimately new opportunities. Choosing the right keywords is the trick, and this requires a blend of SEO and PR insights.

Provide Deeper Insights to Clients

While PR campaigns traditionally focus on metrics like reach and media mentions, SEO opens up a whole new world of valuable insights. Incorporating SEO allows you to track metrics such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates. These metrics offer a more comprehensive view of your campaign’s success and help fine-tune your strategies.

Future-Proof Your Skills

SEO tools offer invaluable data insights. By analyzing keyword performance, click-through rates, and user behavior, PR professionals can gain a deeper understanding of their audience’s preferences and behaviors. This data informs future PR strategies and content creation.

Harnessing the power of SEO can supercharge campaigns, improve online visibility, and achieve better results. In an era where digital presence is paramount, embracing SEO as an integral part of a PR strategy is a savvy move that empowers your brand and ensures its continued success.

Using AI in Digital Marketing: Top 7 Disadvantages

AI in digital marketing is fast becoming all the new rage. So… I had to share this post by NPDigital*, which offers deep insight for all marketing and PR professionals. A must read.

Here’s the post:

With so much of the digital marketing world adopting artificial intelligence, you may ask, “Am I the only digital marketer with concerns about AI?”

The answer is a resounding no!

As with any new technology, there are always those with hesitations. Even in those who eagerly adopted AI, there may still be concerns about its disadvantages and risks. This is especially true for digital marketers.

In this post, we’ll outline the current state of AI. We’ll then share seven disadvantages of AI in digital marketing, as determined by our survey respondents. Finally, we’ll share tips for mitigating such disadvantages and risks, so you can adopt AI for the benefit of your marketing strategy.

How AI is Being Used in the Marketing Landscape

There is a lot of misunderstanding about how companies use AI. This is often due to lack of understanding of what AI is and what it actually can do.

As it currently stands, AI touches many aspects of digital marketing. For example, it’s used by email marketing platforms to collect customer data and personalize content. It’s also used by advertising platforms to optimize digital ad placements.

There are some digital marketers who use AI to collect and curate content. Even just popping a prompt into ChatGPT or any other AI copywriting tools counts as content curation.

There are more blatant examples. Chatbots are a common occurrence across the web. They use AI technology to respond to customer questions, but also to learn how to better interact with customers in the future.

The use of AI in digital marketing is wide and varied. As more AI tools become available, this is only likely to increase over time.

What does the Data Show Us about AI Risk and Disadvantages?

Continue reading on NPDigital.

*Laurie Pehar Borsh PR is a NPDigital/NPAccel partner

Top 7 Disadvantages of Using AI in Digital Marketing

Laurie Pehar Borsh Personal Digital PR Manager

Personal Digital PR Manager or Producer? Do You Need One?

Do you need a personal digital PR manager or producer? Yes, today’s professionals/entrepreneurs are much more informed about Digital PR, and online reputation management much more than ever before. Thanks to the many amazing coaching, classes and tools available today.

These coaches/classes are fantastic and offer lots of great information and ideas. But I have come to realize that many people come away with information overload. “Where to begin, what to say, when to do all this?” Most business professionals are either too busy, overwhelmed, even too nervous to start, or stick with a personal promotional effort (on and off-line), which is where I come in.

Simple, and effective digital PR production and management services

I recently reconnected with an old friend. She is an established realtor in an affluent area of Los Angeles. She asked me about my PR business and what I was doing these days. I told her that my main focus was to provide super simple, and effective digital PR production and management services for executives and professionals. Especially on the writing and promotion of personal brands online.

She chimes in: “Oh my God, you mean you actually take on the social media stuff for your clients? They don’t have to do it all by themselves? I just took at Social Media Class – and it was packed with interesting and great information… but, it MADE MY HEAD SPIN!”

Hiring a personal digital PR producer is cost-effective

1. Here is an Executive/Professional who understands “the need” for online promotion/reputation management — to keep everything up-to-date and current. and 2. Here is an Executive/Professional who (a) does not want to even deal with this whole online networking, PR initiative stuff, because she is overwhelmed and unfamiliar with it; (b) because she has way too much on her plate already and (c) because she hates to self promote. She couldn’t fathom talking about herself online, but she loved the idea of allowing me to act as her “Digital Publicist.” Help her connect with potential clients/business via traditional publicity and online promotion tactics.

Robust online persona (PR) production and management are a must-have for everyone IN ANY STAGE OF THE GAME.

Personal digital PR manager in your corner to tell your story!

This is the way I see it: People hire stylists, landscapers, builders and housekeepers all the time. My business is no different. Hiring a digital PR manager to produce/manage your online (and off-line) personal PR initiative is not so much a luxury, as it is a necessity. You have to be in it to win at it, as they say. Build an (online) audience, and continue to build that audience to stay visible. Whether you’re constantly looking for new business, customer retention, or job placement, if you build it and keep it built, they’ll come.

Contact me!

Online Reputation Management Help? Is it Actually Necessary?

Online reputation management (ORM) is necessary to control how people perceive you (and your business) on the Internet. Management tasks include reviews, ratings, comments, and other information that others post about you… and more.

It also involves what you post.

That can include your specific comments on another person or company’s social media posts, blogs and online articles, as well as your own content including written and recorded (voice or video).

In other words, what you write about and how you write. ORM includes everything you do and put online!

Put a “human” in place who is well versed in all matters of public relations, crisis management, and public reputation management! Today’s public reputation, of course, is concentrated in all areas of the Internet: social media, directories, maps, and search engines. You need an actual human in your corner!

Why does online reputation management matter when it comes to business?

A positive online reputation helps build trust with customers and potential clients. Whether that is on a personal or company brand level.

In today’s digital age, online reputation management is increasingly important. Your online reputation is the way others perceive you online. This can include everything from the way you present yourself on social media to the way search results appear when someone looks you up online.

Managing your online reputation is about ensuring that the information that appears about you online is positive and accurate. That includes PR strategies, such as promoting positive content about yourself online and engaging in online reputation repair if negative content appears. By taking control of your online reputation, you can protect your personal and professional brand.

Online reputation management (ORM) is the process of managing what people say about you online. ORM includes monitoring your online presence, responding to negative comments, and removing inaccurate information. ORM’s goal is to ensure your online reputation is positive and accurate.

It’s no secret that online reputation management is important. In today’s digital age, our online presence can make or break our personal and professional lives. From job interviews to first dates, potential employers and partners are increasingly turning to the internet to learn more about us. It’s more important than ever to ensure that an online reputation is positive and reflective of who we really are.

Should online reputation management be automated?

Simply put, NO! Only a seasoned public relations professional will manage, monitor, and improve an online presence. This can involve everything from creating and maintaining a positive social media profile to responding to negative online reviews.

Your PR professional will use specific tools to track, monitor, and report all data points. Taking proactive steps with a professional to improve your reputation ensures you are putting your best foot forward online. No matter where or how someone finds you.

Laurie takes the burden of online reputation management off your shoulders. Contact her today to see how she can keep your digital presence fresh and up-to-date!

Why PR and SEO are Inherently Connected!

Yes! PR and SEO are and will forever remain connected.

Google continues to apply many ranking factors to organic search rankings. But backlinks remain one of the most fundamental aspects of SEO. And not only are these links still vital, but getting the “right kind” of backlink has become harder than ever. Why? Because you have to reach for backlinks from high authority sites and sites within your niche.

These are backlinks that are “editorially placed.” Which means specific links were placed in specific content because they offered value to the reader. This is earning, rather than simply winning a back link. And you have to work hard to earn media, as most public relations professionals attest to! Backlinks on high authority websites are, in my opinion, SEO GOLD for public relations professionals and the companies they represent.

Content is King, and so are Backlinks from High Authority Websites.

It’s all about the art of PR! After all, it is the job of PR to win or EARN media coverage, and that includes digital publications. We are finally attributing digital media publication placement as earned media! It’s about time! When you win a piece of earned media, the article usually includes a backlink to your website. These are your most valuable backlinks, because they’re editorially placed and in high authority or industry niche publication websites. Remember, “Content is King” as they say.

In this post “rank brain” world, Google places more emphasis on the quality of content than ever before. Let’s say you invest in creating a few core pages on your website. If you earn some high authority backlinks, you could be successful in ranking for a few broad keyword terms. And to rank for as many keywords as possible to onboard organic traffic, you must invest in even more content. Meanwhile, public relations can continue to pump out quality content to win earned digital media placement. This means you can actually get way more value from combining your PR and SEO content efforts!

The Importance of a Digital Footprint.

A digital footprint is what a user finds on the first page of Google when they enter your brand name. That’s important, because it’s the first impression you make with the vast majority of people who engage with your brand! You always want your website to be in the top spot, and your social profiles should also occupy some results. But to make a good impression, the average user will want to see more than just a nice website. For maximum credibility, people need to find mentions of your brand on high authority sites, i.e. publications or review sites. This can propel you from an unknown entity into a credible business. This is what PR delivers!

While your digital footprint isn’t always quite the same thing as the SEO of your own websites, it’s all linked! The more earned media you win, the more backlinks you win, and the more our website ranking improves. Furthermore, the more articles mentioning your brand online, the more users can find you. And that equates to the exceptional personal or business brand visibility and credibility!

Your Business’ PR: Can it benefit with good memes?

An interview Laurie Pehar Borsh

Today is all about Public Relations and how it is directly connected to all aspects of the business. She expresses her thoughts on how she overcame a huge setback in 2008 during the market crash. Laurie focuses on staying cool, calm, and collected in hard times, and keeps pushing to continue to grow both her business and her client’s business.

Laurie Pehar Borsh Digital PR