2022 is slowly but steadily coming to a close. For brands and marketers, that means it’s time to look back on the past year and take a long hard look at how your PR and marketing campaigns were performing (or underperforming). 

Did you accomplish everything you set out to accomplish? Did you meet your KPIs (key performance indicators)? Did you increase traffic? Sales? Boost your domain authority? Improve thought leadership? Grow your social media following? Generate a ton of publicity?

These are just a handful of marketing deliverables you may be assessing right now. The reality is, every brand is different, and no two brands will follow the exact same marketing and PR strategy. 

That being said, there are a few basic questions you should be asking yourself as you assess this year’s performance, and put the final touches on your digital PR strategy  for 2023. 

1.Ask yourself what’s changed in your business, your industry, and amongst your audience over the past year. 

Don’t make the mistake of simply reusing the same old digital PR and media relations strategy as last year. Things have changed, and you should too. A good marketing and digital PR strategy always begins with a bit of research. If you don’t know where to start, perusing industry magazines and journals, researching keyword trends on Google, and just talking to other people in your industry is a good way to start. 

2. Prioritize the top 2-3 goals you have for the year, and work out from there. 

Naturally, most of us have more than 2-3 marketing and PR goals for the year, but if we really look at the big picture, we’ll usually find that our smaller goals often fall under the umbrella of bigger, broader goals. 

For example, I might want to boost my domain authority, and get more organic backlinks to my website this year. But if I look at the bigger picture, I’ll realize that my actual goal is to get more traffic to my website, and the domain authority and backlinks are just channels that I might use to accomplish my larger goal. 

Here are some common marketing, digital PR, and media relations goals you might be working towards this year: 

• Increasing website traffic
• Improving sales conversions / boosting sales
• Generating more exposure and brand awareness
• Improving social engagement
• Establishing a thought leadership profile
• Improving brand credibility / authority
• Increasing client / customer retention rates

By identifying top level goals, and understanding where we hope to be at the end of the year, we can find the most appropriate strategies to implement throughout the year, and most importantly, hold fast to the vision of what we want to accomplish. 

Having a grasp on the larger goals at hand will also help us throughout the year as we evaluate our progress. If we realize that XYZ marketing channel isn’t working to help us accomplish our broader marketing goals, it becomes easier to let go of that idea, and replace it with another strategy that might be more effective. 

3. Choose marketing and PR channels that align with your broader goals. 

Now that you’ve identified WHAT you want to accomplish this year, it’s time to consider how you want to get there. The possibilities here are endless, and will vary depending on what you’re hoping to accomplish. 

Consider the following marketing and digital PR strategies, based on your goals: 

• If your goal is increasing website traffic
  • Creating compelling, valuable, relevant content regularly on your blog. 
  • Developing a blogger outreach strategy to increase domain authority and generate backlinks.
  •  Implementing a media outreach strategy to generate earned media attention and publicity. 
• If your goal is  improving sales conversions / boosting sales
  • Using influencer marketing to generate 3rd party awareness and provide “social proof”
  •  Implementing a media outreach strategy to generate earned media attention and publicity. 
  • Evaluating and refining your sales and followup strategy. 
• If your goal is generating more exposure and brand awareness
  • Media  outreach
  • Influencer marketing
  • Focus on blogger outreach strategy and link building. 
  • Creating compelling, valuable, relevant content regularly on your blog. 
• If your goal is improving social engagement
  • Refining your messaging and talking points for social media to boost engagement and better connect with your audience. 
  • Using influencer marketing to generate 3rd party awareness and boost engagement. 
• If your goal is establishing a thought leadership profile
  • Creating compelling, valuable, relevant content regularly on your blog. Also share these as bylines with larger media outlets. 
  • Reach out to industry media, journals, etc as an expert in your industry. 
  • Media outreach.
• If your goal is improving brand credibility / authority
  • Media  outreach
  • Influencer marketing
  • Creating valuable content that builds rapport with your audience. 
  • Adding press logos to your website. 
• If your goal is increasing client / customer retention rates
  • Evaluating your customer service practices, and client communication strategies. Making changes as needed. 
  • Refining your sales process. 
  • Refining your email marketing strategy. 

This is obviously not an exhaustive list of potential marketing and PR channels and strategies. But by having a general idea of what you want to accomplish, and the channels you can use to get there, you can start to iron out the minute details and timelines. 

4. Once you have your goals and your strategy in place, it’s time to educate and inspire your team. 

Whether it’s just you and a partner working on your brand, or if you have a huge marketing and PR team dedicated to your success, it’s always good practice to start the new year off with a little education and inspiration. 

The amount of education and training available online for free or very little cost is astounding. Now is a great time to train and educate yourself and your team on changes in your industry, new technologies, new trends, and anything else that might be helpful in implementing your 2023 digital PR strategy. 

Incentivizing yourself and your team members to accomplish  your 2023 marketing and PR goals can also go a long way in keeping people motivated and excited as we enter into the new year. 

Whether you’re a seasoned pro at crafting your annual marketing and PR strategy, or a total newbie, sometimes it can be helpful to get an outsider’s perspective. Email us or fill out the form below to book a consultation to discuss your 2023 PR strategy.