I love to use the deep content PR strategy.
Deep content isn’t complicated, anyone can use it as a digital PR strategy, and the results are predictable.
The downside: You have to put in the work. It tends to be a slow burn.
However, slow and steady wins the race
Here goes:
The Deep Content Structure
Deep Content
Above is an example of an online content structure that’s five levels deep.
In the example above, five layers of evergreen content are stacked:
Deep content is centred around providing increasingly higher quality to Content Divers since they’re more valuable than Surface Dwellers.
As for the importance of structure and depth, the logic is the same as for iceberg publishing and content themes.
Learn more: The Deep Content PR Strategy: Win By Going Deeper
💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get better PR ideas.
The basic structure is derived from various levels of content quality. It doesn’t mean that your brand gets a free pass for publishing low-quality articles; it means that your articles must meet the requirements of the social object cloud — and from there, the content quality must increase as users dive deeper into your content catalogue.
The Strangeness of Press Releases
Think of a regular press release:
How do most press releases end?
Besides a standard boilerplate with company information, you will find contact details. Why use those contact details? You rarely get a precise reason; there’s typically never a compelling call to action.
So, let’s back out for a second:
The press release writer tries to make the headline more compelling than the actual press release because everyone wants clicks. Then, the most valuable information goes into a few sentences at the top. And the longer you read, the less attractive the content gets.
Press releases are designed to become duller the further down the page you read. The typical end is only befitting:
“For further information, please contact.”
If someone is so damn interested in your dull press release that they’re reading it to the end, that’s how they should be rewarded? Huh.
Surface Browsers and Content Divers
The basic idea:
If a user has shown interest in your surface-level content and wants to go deeper and learn more, it’s your job as a brand to allow this to happen.
When users are satisfied, they decide when not to go any deeper. Your commitment to this strategy is to ensure that users never leave because the option to go deeper doesn’t exist.
Why deep content? Unless you’re Wikipedia, it’s a Sisyphean task to offer total breadth. However, providing great depth is possible — with a narrow enough focus.
Depth is necessary because surface browsers are still just looking around, turning over stones here and there. Content divers are immersing themselves — which is more interesting from your brand’s perspective.
Opt To Go Deep, Not Wide
There’s an argument to be made here:
The one person reaching your press release’s call to action is more valuable than the hundred people who read its headline.
The value ratio will, of course, differ depending on the context. But the argument is viable enough to build a successful content strategy because content divers are more valuable than surface browsers.
The structure requires the highest quality content at the base. Because if you “put your best foot forward,” content divers will quickly abandon ship if they notice that your content is getting worse and worse the deeper they go.
Content divers are, by nature, pickier about their content. Convince and convert them, however, and you gain loyalty and trust beyond anything you can accomplish with surface browsers.
Strategic Prerequisites and Fit
The deep content strategy isn’t the right fit for all brands.
Deep content is SEO-friendly and caters to online audiences looking to dive deeper into specific niches. It’s a good fit for business-to-business ventures. It’s a good fit for thought leadership strategies. It’s a good fit for B2B knowledge work.
However, the deep content PR strategy also goes beyond conventional white-collar industries.
Users are also looking to go deep in the most creative of spaces:
It can be anything from music to art, from gaming to collectables. Many online audiences are interested in diving into the most remote online deepsea trenches imaginable.
Please support my blog by sharing it with other PR- and communication professionals. For questions or PR support, contact me via jerry@spinfactory.com.
PR Resource: Content Themes
Content Themes
Let’s use a fictitious example of an IT company. First, they decide on a Promise Filter for their content strategy:
Promise Filter: We make IT easy to understand.
Then, the IT company breaks their core message down into four business-critical Content Themes:
Q1 Content Theme: We make people understand the Internet of Things (IoT).
Q2 Content Theme: We make people understand business automation.
Q3 Content Theme: We make people understand cloud computing.
Q4 Content Theme: We make people understand managed services.
For each quarterly content theme, they produce Content Packages. Each content package could contain the following:
Learn more: The Content Themes PR Strategy
💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get better PR ideas.
PR Resource: Inbound vs Outbound
Inbound vs Outbound
The inbound mindset is a fundamental shift in public relations.
Instead of focusing on trying to spawn non-existing audiences, PR can do so much more with existing online publics. 1Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/
If your inbound PR strategy is good enough, you might not even need an outbound PR strategy.
Read also: The Inbound First PR Strategy: Beauty From Within
💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get better PR ideas.
PR Resource: Evergreen Content
Evergreen Content
What’s evergreen content? For a piece of content to be evergreen, it must sustain its value over time. Meaning: The content must be relevant today, tomorrow, and the foreseeable future.
While news content might have a more significant impact short-term, evergreen content instead accumulates over time.
There are different ways to leverage evergreen content. I recommend a few axioms for evergreen content:
Learn more: The Evergreen Content PR Strategy: Forever Is a Long Time
💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get better PR ideas.
PR Resource: More PR Strategies
Doctor Spin’s PR Strategies
“The underlying principles of strategy are enduring, regardless of technology or the pace of change.”
— Michael Porter
Make sure to explore a wide variety of PR strategies for every different type of situation and challenge:
Learn more: How to Create a PR Strategy That Actually Works
💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get better PR ideas.
ANNOTATIONS
1 | Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/ |
---|