Simply put, the end goal of any online marketing campaign is to generate more revenues. In an increasingly competitive environment, marketing professionals are investing more resources into branding. However, the question remains: is it possible to generate more sales from online PR activities, or is it purely a branding tool? A recent study by PRMarketing reveals that online PR can accomplish both objectives.

Online PR’s Role in Building Awareness

The goal of any online PR campaign is to make up for the lack of information about your company online. PRMarketing’s study revealed that a severe lack of product information online can lose Internet retailers as many as 67% of consumers. Creating more content through blogs, press releases, and review sites is one remedy for a lack of branded content. Keyword rich content will also rank higher, making it easier for your target audience to find your articles and giving them an opportunity to learn more about your products’ benefits.

Social Media and the Power of Communities

In the online marketing world, social media plays a key role in building brand equity and complementing online PR activities. PRMarketing’s study found that social networks influence 74% of consumers when it comes to making purchasing decisions. More powerful, however, is the stat that indicates visitors from social media sites are 10 times more likely to make a purchase online than the average consumer. Knowing this, online retailers need to invest online PR campaigns on popular social media marketing sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to exploit the power or active communities and build brand loyalty.

Leveraging the Mobile Platform

There’s no question mobile technology is on the rise due to the rapid increase in smartphone and tablet usage rates. One particular stat of major importance for online retailers is the fact that 79% of consumers will user their smartphones while shopping on the Internet. Investing in mobile friendly websites and applications can help you build up your online PR camapigns on multiple technologies.

Generating a Positive ROI

Finally, the study revealed that the average online PR campaign can yield a return on investment of up to 275%. Of course, dissenters will always state that it is too difficult to directly link online PR campaigns to individual sales. Fortunately, the advanced reporting Google Analytics provides can help in tracking purchasing paths from blogs, social media sites, press releases, and other online PR tools employed for various campaigns. Driving sales, in addition to complementing search engine optimization activities and building brand awareness, make online PR a necessary Internet marketing strategy for your business.