3 Methods Direct-to-Client Brands Can Use Media Protection

The digital marketing landscape has gone through a drastic change. Marketers can no longer rely on traditional search and social marketing channels. Costs go up and profit margins go down. With this in mind, DTC brands will find it daunting to acquire high lifetime value (LTV) customers, and if they do, there is no guarantee of long-term, repeatable business. This is where media coverage, including PR, for DTC brands comes to the rescue. And it’s fiercely competitive. The top three ways brands can use media coverage are listed below.

Spread the link

The link here is a reference for affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a complement to public relations. the DTC Brand Success Stories like Casper (detailed in the next section) demonstrate the power of affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing helps you reach your target audience. And the best part about it? It occurs in every phase of the customer journey. Another aspect is that in affiliate marketing, you only pay for measurable results, which makes it a low-risk way for DTC brands to generate leads, traffic and increase sales volume.

What is Affiliate Marketing? And how does it work?

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based advertising method. An individual or a company (or a network) receives a commission by redirecting new visitors and customers to a company website. Essentially, a brand advertises a product or service and leaves a link to that offer. Content creators like bloggers and social media influencers often use this method across most platforms. Likewise, Affiliate marketing involves registering with a company or network.

Through this network, DTC brands can expand their reach and visibility. And when someone buys or takes the desired action over the network, the network gets paid for. There are several affiliate networks. The few common ones are:

• Clickbank.com

• MaxBounty.com

• JVZoo.com

• CommissionJunction.com

Affiliate Marketing Statistics

Note that 21 percent of the higher average order value of sales is through affiliate marketing. About 16 percent of all e-commerce sales in the US are generated through affiliates. And around 58 percent of the higher annual customer sales come from affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing offers more than a few advantages for good reason. Affiliate marketing generated revenue of $ 6.8 billion in 2020 alone. So there is evidence of the pudding.

Related: An affiliate marketing program could be the perfect move

Monitoring SEO and other search trends

Nowadays publishers are very savvy and passionate about SEO trends. Thanks to Google, the platform has changed the way product reviews are presented. The reason for this is that today’s consumers googling a product before making a purchase. They do this to get the best possible, easy-to-find reviews. These savvy brands then serve as a public relations avenue by helping journalists create great reviews. Therefore, it pays off for DTC brands to know the search success in advance in order to jump on the bandwagon.

However, Google offers more than just reviews. The search engine also looks for expert knowledge in the article. It uses this information to find comparable products and quantitative measurements to gauge how the product or service is doing. The work for the DTC brands starts with samples. The brands usually send out samples of leaflets to journalists to help them write fact-based, authoritative articles to increase their visibility. It is these articles that, once they appear on the Google search engine, make a great PR strategy for the DTC brand.

Related: Everything you need to know about Google Trends to grow your business

The Casper case

Casper, a US-based mattress brand, has created search-specific landing pages. It has also poured AdWords money into its website to improve its position in the market. The result? Casper gets a critical share of more than 550,000 monthly Google searches for mattresses. In addition, Casper tops Google search results for several mattress terms. From a landing page for reviews to a landing page for duvet inserts, Casper has a bespoke SEO flytrap page for himself. Virtually every mattress-related keyword that users enter into Google will show their purchase intent on the Casper website.

To use and improve the SEO game, DTC brands can use several SEO tools to optimize their websites. Some of the more notable are:

• Hubspot website grader

• Google Search Console

• Google Analytics

• Ahrefs

• Semrush

Harness the power of social media

Another way to get attention to your brand is to use advertising on social media. So when a DTC brand gets a media coverage, it should share the news with its fans and followers. And these are usually found on branded social media accounts. Social media is a great way to get new customers. A word of caution – don’t stop there!

You can take advantage of other strong aspects within the PR spectrum as well. These are reviews and personal recommendations (digital word of mouth marketing methods). Your regular and well-known customers will be informed about your coverage in the press. But they can do more than just that. They often share the link with friends and family via WhatsApp and other applications. This has a multiple impact on an existing customer. It’s a great way to convert new customers. Most importantly, your own content is critical. So share the reporting details on the blog site and link back to the article.

Remember that consumers prefer and trust a rounded rating that mentions other brands. So make sure that the coverage isn’t intrusive or over-selling. This is especially true for the younger generation, as they are more media-savvy. They belong to an era when reviews are a daily staple on social media.

Related: 5 low-budget marketing ideas for bootstrapped startups

Separators

Media is the name of the game. Seen from above, it can take various forms. DTC brands need to hone and forge collaborative efforts with the media and audiences in order to break out of the competitive mess and stand out from their competitors. That online presence, including PR, can then build or destroy your brand. Additionally, DTC brands should also consider using the power of the media to be at the forefront of trends.