Because traditional PR isn’t obsolete–and it won’t be anytime soon.
Just because most PR and marketing channels are digital now doesn’t mean that we stop pitching for newspapers and magazines.
In fact, we’d like to think that the digital realm is just an extension of the traditional market. Just with less of a hierarchy and a wider, much more volatile space.
Let’s Look at Key Differences First
PR (or public relations) is simply keeping a positive image for your brand or company. PR also encompasses marketing tactics, so PR and marketing always go hand-in-hand together.
Since all forms of PR involve some form of technology (TV, phone, radio), where do we draw the line between traditional and digital PR?
Traditional PR
Traditional PR is PR not done online. We call it traditional PR because it consists of the long-established umbrella of ways to amplify brand awareness: radio, TV, billboards, magazines, and newspapers.
Traditional PR methods have also existed for as long as the realm of PR existed. Not only do traditional PR methods establish credibility, they are also key methods for reaching an audience in remote areas with no internet access.
Rather than just ratings and attracting an audience, traditional PR remains crucial for:
- building credibility,
- elevating media relations,
- achieving broad reach, and
- managing reputation through established media outlets
Digital PR
Since the internet took hold of the world in the 2000s, digital PR involved all forms of PR done online: influencers, vlogs, social media management, etc.
The internet and all its algorithms are volatile spaces where no one can predict what’s next. But this volatile space is where brands can get access to a greater number of people: 97.5 million of the Filipino population use the internet daily.
This is especially the case for mobile phones in the country.
The game in digital PR is simple: the more eyes on the screen, the better. And to get a bigger digital footprint for your brand, digital PR focuses on:
- SEO, including:
- Backlinks (the link people share or copy when they see your brand’s content)
- SEO enhanced blogs (with keywords)
- PPC clicks (pay-per-click strategies)
- online engagement, and
- traffic generation
Because of how online Filipinos are, digital PR is seen as the more innovative and straightforward choice–but it doesn’t render traditional PR old and obsolete.
Traditional PR Is, In Fact, Complementary to Digital Efforts
Virtually every single newspaper press, and magazine house, in the Philippines has a website. You also need to go through a website sometimes when planning a billboard campaign.
Traditional PR is even critical for TikTok campaigns–especially if you want your viral videos to have a longer shelf life.
Be it print or digital, traditional efforts complement online strategies.
Here’s how traditional PR complements digital-first strategies.
- Enhanced Credibility and Authority
Unlike self-made digital platforms, earned media in traditional outlets give significant credibility to a brand, boosting a brand’s image and authority in ways purely digital efforts cannot.
Since traditional PR focuses on making a brand known to a broad audience through established media relationships, these tried-and-true PR methods are still key for brand awareness and maintaining a brand’s reputation. These, in turn, build on a brand’s credibility and authority.
- Broader Reach
Traditional methods (through press releases, journalists, and editors) are still effective for reaching audiences not active on social media–particularly older audiences or specific community groups who cannot access the internet.
And there are many remote areas in this country.
If you want to build a campaign through community initiatives and the public sector (such as political campaigns, partnering with government agencies, and public health initiatives), you would still need traditional PR.
- High-Authority Backlinks and Content Amplification
Traditional PR coverage also provides high-value content that can be shared and amplified across digital channels, including social media, to extend its reach and impact.
Traditional media also provides valuable SEO for brands, adding to their overall online presence.
- Blogs with SEO keywords make brands easier to find via Google
- High-authority traditional media coverage can generate valuable backlinks to a brand’s website–a key factor in improving your brand’s SEO
- You also extend the credibility and shelf life of any of your online videos’ shelf life through traditional efforts.
In short, traditional PR can provide the “news” and credibility that fuel digital marketing efforts, creating a dynamic interplay between the two.
In Hindsight, Virtually Every Campaign Now Integrates Both Traditional and Digital
If we think about it, every campaign (or almost every campaign) combines both digital and traditional efforts.
This works beautifully, especially if you hire a PR agency with an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) approach. We’ll touch up on that in a bit.
The most effective PR strategies integrate both traditional and digital approaches, leveraging the unique strengths of each to create a cohesive and powerful communication plan.
What matters more are your audience-specific tactics.
Determine Your Audience First
The optimal PR mix really depends on your target audience and product.
As previously mentioned, traditional PR is often favored for older audiences and broader campaigns, while digital strategies excel at engagement and niche reach.
Use an Integrated Marketing Communication Approach
An Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) approach simply means combining many approaches all at once for your PR strategies.
But in doing so, you have to make sure each channel (billboard, social media presence, etc.) is cohesive together like a web, not isolated siloes.
There are so many ways to use an integrated approach, with strategic trends you can use for your brand.
Here Is A Straightforward Example: MSD’s Hope From Within
NGP IMC was also the PR of choice for a cancer awareness campaign with healthcare company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD).
For the traditional approach, NGP IMC’s connected with a network of credible journalists. Through these avenues, MSD’s Hope from Within event garnered:
- almost P20 million in traditional coverage, and P51 million in PR values, and
- around 20 PR pick-up–garnering 18 million readers.
Digitally, NGP IMC:
- hosted online forums
- created a microsite to spread awareness
- improved MSD’s online campaign presence in Facebook and X (formerly Twitter)
- created an influencer and ambassador engagement program through videos, news sites, blogs, etc.
The results also spoke for themselves. The efforts reached:
- 36,218 online forum sessions
- 5 million people on X (formerly Twitter), and
- 27 million people on Facebook
It’s Best to Be Both Digital and Traditional
Rather than go completely digital, or stick to the traditional route, always try your best to do both.
Being rigid in your brand’s PR strategies wouldn’t work. At all. Especially now that Filipino audiences are smarter, more tech-savvy, and critical.
Remember: traditional PR strategies add credibility, digital efforts add traffic.
Want to map out your integrated PR blueprint? Talk to us, and we’ll engineer your optimal PR strategy together! NGP IMC has 20 years of integrated marketing and PR efforts. We don’t believe in just traditional or just digital. To us, we maximize as much as we can to give you results.
You can reach out to us here or book an appointment with us here.
Kriztin Cruz is a recruitment and digital marketing professional, freelance writer, hobbyist painter, and frustrated sociologist–with too many things to want and too little time to spare. She graduated with a Psychology degree in 2019 at De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde Antipolo. When she’s not drafting a corporate letter or working on anything digital marketing, you can find her doing the following, but not in this order: reading a good book, scavenging for a good book, sketching, painting, journaling, junk journaling, obsessing over an obscure Czechoslovakian surrealist film (or anything by Miyazaki or Del Toro), cooking, finding a cafe to relax in, and creating new things while a nice documentary plays in the background.