how to increase conversion rates by leveraging your media coverage
Good news! You just received an editor's pick in a major publication! Big media placements like this can drive awareness in a hurry. But how do you transition this to lasting growth and success? Smart brands can use media coverage to build long-term value across channels, turning a one-time awareness boost into new customers and increase your conversion rate. Follow along and we’ll give you the playbook that you need to become a multi-channel marketing genius (and impress your boss!) helping to increase conversion, improve your SEO, drive customer loyalty AND build even greater awareness for your brand and high-quality products.
how to maximize media placements: start from the inside & work out
In order to get the most out of your PR success and media hits, we like to start from the inside, on your website, and work out, to external channels. This approach ensures that you have the basics covered. For example, what good is a media hit if you don’t even have a page on your website to drive customers to?
PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE
The first step is to make sure that you have a landing page built out for the product, service, event, etc. that you are promoting. You’d be surprised at how many folks go to market without creating a dedicated landing page. This gives one central landing page for you and the media to drive traffic to. Plus, landing your media placements here will help to build your SEO authority.
Once you've got the page built out, you can optimize it with information from your media hits and awards. This info will provide an independent 3rd party validation for your brand and product and reinforce positive consumer reviews, which will lead to a higher likelihood of conversion, whether it is online, in-store, or while users are conducting product research.
Add the award badge to the main product image
Create an awards section with the badge and live text copy so Google can read that you won!
Depending on your CMS platform, you may be able to add a callout/flag on category pages
HOMEPAGE
The next level out from your product page is your homepage. Think about ways that you can display your win here. Most homepages see lots of traffic, utilize media placements to highlight a product, create awareness and help legitimize your brand and products.
Feature the award and product on your homepage
Explore adding publisher logos (with permission) in a media section on your homepage
Pro Tip: If you provide an external link to an article, ALWAYS open it in a new window.
Did you know email should be your highest converting/lowest cost channel? That is why it’s important to ensure your email program is consistent with a mixture of branded and promotional content. An award highlight is a great opportunity to connect with users in a ‘non-sales-y’ way.
Send out an email highlighting and linking the coverage of the award
Include a product image and link to your product detail page
Look for opportunities to segment and retarget people on your list that may be interested or on the fence about purchasing the product
Supporting the publisher helps drives readership and their business (win/win!)
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social is another great channel to broadcast your recent coverage. Again, the third-party validation of an award or coverage is a great way to mix up your channel messaging, letting others do the talking for you. Awards, highlights, and reviews can be great in paid social ads, too, increasing trustworthiness and click through.
Share the news and/or the link across your social media platforms
Boost or create an ad of your news to relevant audience and fans
Experiment with ways to use Instagram Stories and other features to spread the news
Tell your brand ambassadors, see what they can come up with to help share the news to their audiences in an authentic way
Pro Tip: In some cases, the product image is NOT associated with an article, in this case, feel free to use your own imagery and add the URL to the body copy of the post.
PAID SEARCH / SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
Not only can media coverage and awards help you drive clickthrough by spicing up your paid search ads, but you can also use these ads to re-engage new website visitors that the coverage brought.
Use the award in ad copy to encourage clickthrough
Create ‘longtail’ keyword campaigns around the publication and your brand/product
Retarget users with campaigns based on past visits to your site and specific product detail pages
GO IN-DEPTH: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Ready to take it to the next step? Going in-depth with content can drive organic traffic and SEO! As the owner and creator of a product, you have a leg up on the competition, so there’s no reason that you should not own the search results surrounding your product and brand. To capitalize, make sure that your landing page has the depth and detail to make it stand out as the go-to resource for your product. While high-powered media coverage is great, owning the organic landscape can pay out big when folks circle back to search for the product.
Create a landing page with details about the product, technology, and recent coverage, include a pull quote and imagery from the article the award/product was featured in
Use a mix of internal and external links (remember to open them in a new browser window)
Pro Tip: Use live text to be SEO friendly to drive organic traffic
CONCLUSION: INCREASE IMPACT & CONVERSION BY TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACH
We’re just scratching the surface with the possibilities here, but the point is that your media coverage doesn’t, and shouldn’t, live in a vacuum. In order to get the most out of your hard-fought coverage, you need to leverage all of the tools and channels available. Each media launch and coverage will be different, too, giving you the opportunity to flex some different muscles and see what works best for you and your brand.
