The importance of offline events, for online gain

Brands are seeing the benefits of digital PR and SEO more than ever, meaning that the digital landscape has become increasingly crowded. Companies are having to diversify their digital PR strategies in order to stand out, taking a step back from reviews and sponsored posts to produce more creative campaigns. 2015 has seen a trend for brands taking their strategies offline for BIG online gain.

It has become apparent that bloggers and journalists put a lot of emphasis on experiences and trying new things. A famous quote from Maya Angelou claims…

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Digital PRs can engage their target audience and key influencers through experiences to generate positive emotions and memories associated with their brand.

Offline and online: Hand in hand

By taking a look at our PR team’s weekly campaigns update, it is clear to see that offline for online gain is a huge focus in the industry. Stunts, billboards and events are covered everywhere. For example, the Carlsberg ‘Probably the best poster in the world’ billboard gained them coverage on all the nationals, marketing, drinks and event websites, even though it was an offline stunt.

Utilising social media, building effective relationships and generating great content are what the online world focuses on and what better way of doing this than hosting engaging events or producing eye-catching stunts?

One of our favourite recent stunts was part of Marmite’s ‘The Summer of Love Not Hate’ campaign, which included a pop-up shop opening in Soho. My colleague Carrie wrote about it previously in our favourite PR campaigns of the week; it was such a great offline PR stunt which achieved social and online coverage. Social, traditional, digital and great customer engagement – what more could you want from a campaign?

Events and stunts show that a brand has personality. Even though an online asset can show a brand’s character and beliefs, it doesn’t allow customers to gain that familiarity that they might want. People want to be able to trust the companies they are buying from and using as a service. Experience is everything.

Blogger events are a great experience for both the organisers and those attending. Such events work well for several reasons; they are an enjoyable experience for the bloggers attending, which helps us generate coverage and SEO value for our clients. They also allow us to network and develop relationships with some great, influential bloggers in different locations across the UK.

No matter what kind of client the event is for, building up these blogger relationships is invaluable for future work – both for getting feedback on ideas and involving them in future campaigns.

Source: Branded

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