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The importance of a PR plan for your retail brand

Contemporary search environment necessitates PR for dominating the crucial stages in the customer's search process.

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3 min read
The necessity of a public relations (PR) approach for your retail business lies in managing its...
The necessity of a public relations (PR) approach for your retail business lies in managing its public image, dealing with media inquiries, and shaping consumer perceptions to boost sales and maintain a favorable brand reputation.

The importance of a PR plan for your retail brand

Boosting Retail Brands' Organic Search Performance with Earned Media

In today's digital age, earned media plays a significant role in enhancing a retail brand's organic search performance. Earned media, such as press coverage, third-party mentions, podcasts, and online reviews, is viewed as more authentic and credible by AI search algorithms and large language models (LLMs), improving a brand's chances to appear prominently in search results and AI-generated summaries.

This credibility is crucial, as studies show over half of earned media placements have a high impact on generative AI search responses, highlighting its growing importance. Earned media:

  • Signals to search engines and AI that the brand is a trustworthy, authoritative source.
  • Influences customer search journeys by shaping brand narratives visible in search snippets.
  • Maintains brand visibility even when AI-generated overviews reduce click-through rates to direct organic listings by up to 70%.
  • Especially benefits multi-category retailers who must compete for relevance across diverse product searches.

To capture category authority in search engine results pages (SERPs), retailers can leverage earned media by:

  1. Targeting High-Domain Authority Outlets: Prioritizing placements in publications known for influencing AI search visibility, such as TechTarget or ZDNet, can maximize impact.
  2. Building Consistent PR Presence: Sustaining ongoing media coverage helps maintain algorithmic trust and keeps brand narratives relevant.
  3. Utilizing Geo-Targeted PR: For retailers with local footprints, securing mentions in regional media can enhance local search rankings and inclusion in AI local results.
  4. Optimizing Earned Content: Working with journalists and PR firms to ensure coverage includes key brand messages, backlinks, and data points that AI models rely on to surface results is essential.
  5. Monitoring AI Impact with Tools: Using evolving tools like the AI Domain Impact Index can measure and adapt to how earned media affects AI search rankings in real time.

PR is not just about appearing in LLM and AI overviews; it's also about reinforcing trust signals, helping Google to prioritize shopping listings. Strategic PR efforts can help influence Google's "What People Are Saying" feature, which highlights user-generated content from various platforms. AI overviews at the top of Google's SERPs push traditional search listings lower down, causing click-through rates to reduce.

Targeted PR efforts can be used to hone in on specific categories and support category relevance and push new categories. Building cross-category experiences can help retail brands tap into the way customers shop and capitalize on demand for these experiences. PR is crucial for appearing in LLM and AI overviews, filling the gaps in the non-linear search journey and building trust with audiences in their purchase journey.

In the current SERP landscape, PR is essential for owning moments that matter in the customer search journey. A holistic press office approach, including expert commentary, reactive newsjacking, video creation, hero campaigns, and product PR tactics, can help retail brands cement their presence in the news and drive organic growth. PR helps support brand awareness, trust, and sales for retail brands, and it can amplify cross-category experiences by pointing links and brand mentions back to the category to build authority and demand.

Retailers that align PR and SEO strategies around earned media insights will have a competitive edge in capturing category authority in increasingly AI-curated search environments. However, research from Retail Week reveals UK retailers are under-investing in search visibility. Leveraging internal sales data or conducting owned surveys and research can provide a unique edge. Credible, unique data is key to adding value in LLM and AI overviews. Using creators or in-house brand experts to create 'how to' styling advice can help retail brands rank in the video SERP feature.

  1. The credibility earned from press coverage, third-party mentions, podcasts, and online reviews, known as earned media, significantly influences a retail brand's position in search engine results pages (SERPs) and AI-generated summaries.
  2. Utilizing geo-targeted PR strategies, such as securing mentions in regional media, can enhance local search rankings and inclusion in AI local results, benefiting retailers with local footprints.
  3. Building consistent PR presence sustains algorithmic trust, keeping brand narratives relevant and visible in search snippets, which influences customer search journeys.
  4. For multi-category retailers, harnessing external media outlets with high domain authority helps establish category authority and relevance across diverse product searches, driving organic growth.

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