How Professional Services can leverage Digital PR to build trust and authority in their industry

People seeking Professional Services, whether it be legal advice, financial consulting, or medical expertise, are essentially entrusting these firms or individuals with some of their most important and often sensitive life events. It is crucial, then, to have a strong perception of authority and trust for any Professional Services brand, to both attract your target audience, and nurture long-term customer relationships.

With the power of digital marketing, there are many ways in which a company can improve their reputation as a trustworthy and authoritative brand within their industry, with two of the more standout methods being Digital PR and enhancing E-E-A-T signals on Google.

Digital PR for Professional Services

By leveraging Digital PR strategies, Professional Services firms can strategically position themselves as thought leaders, building credibility and nurturing trust among their audience, ultimately solidifying their authority in the field.

Building trust through content and storytelling

With clever execution and a strategic approach, businesses can leverage digital PR to organically craft the narrative of a brand’s expertise and credibility, establishing a sense of familiarity and trust with your target audience.

By creating and contributing to high-quality, authoritative content that can be shared and distributed through reputable publishers or on industry-specific websites, brands can establish themselves as trusted voices within the Professional Services industry. Content such as success stories, thought leadership pieces, adding expert commentary to news stories, and producing research reports are powerful pieces of content that – when positioned in the right way – are popular amongst reporters and news outlets and are likely to gain some press coverage, particularly if they have a story-like element.

Whether it’s sharing the story of a satisfied client or demonstrating the brand’s own evolution and values, storytelling adds depth and authenticity to the brand’s narrative, reinforcing its position as a reliable and trustworthy authority in their field.

Establishing authority through thought leadership

To establish credibility as an authoritative brand, companies need to consider the following key elements:

• Positioning key individuals within your organisation as industry experts: having the experts within your company provide comments or quotes on trending industry topics through reputable sources can solidify their positions as thought leaders, and go-to sources of valuable information
• Publishing insightful articles, whitepapers, or research reports – ideally with unique or primary data: publishing insightful articles, whitepapers, and research reports further reinforces this authority, demonstrating a deep understanding of industry trends and challenges; using primary sources of data rather than relying on secondary sources not only strengthens the brand’s credibility and sets it apart as a trusted authority but is also more likely to be picked up by publications or journalists because they offer original, firsthand information, making them more credible and compelling.
• Promoting your brand and people at conferences, webinars, or events to share your expertise: engaging in speaking events, webinars, and industry conferences provides additional avenues for sharing expertise and connecting with audiences, and gives you the perfect avenue to promote your company and people in the press, ultimately establishing the brand’s reputation as a leader in its field.

How Digital PR can impact E-E-A-T

Brand awareness

The Google algorithm favours brands with established reputations (expertise & authority). Having a strong digital PR strategy can encourage conversations around your brand, and establish your brand as an expert leader in your area of Professional Services, consequently increasing brand awareness.

Increased brand awareness not only drives organic traffic to your website but also improves your brand’s perception of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, key components of Google’s E-E-A-T signals.

Establishing experts within your organisation

Google places considerable emphasis on external validation of expertise, making this aspect crucial for enhancing online credibility.

Using press coverage and featured insights to validate the knowledge and experience of key individuals within your organisation can significantly contribute to E-E-A-T signals for your brand; as mentioned above, having people within your company provide comments or quotes on trending topics within the industry to reputable sources gives a boost to your brand’s experience, expertise, and authority – which in turn improves your reputation as a trustworthy brand.

Driving brand searches

Digital PR efforts have the potential to increase brand searches, as press coverage can prompt your target audience to directly search for your brand name. Branded searches reinforce the brand’s online presence and contribute to Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines.

As a continuation of this, Digital PR can contribute to a higher-than-average organic CTR on the SERPs. As the brand gains recognition through PR efforts, users are more inclined to click on links associated with your brand, signalling to search engines that the website and associated content are relevant and authoritative.

Backlink profile

An important aspect of an organic search strategy, and therefore contributes to E-E-A-T signals is building a backlink profile to your website. By securing high-quality backlinks from reputable sources, Digital PR enhances the website’s authority and trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines. Brands can use Digital PR to acquire valuable backlinks through:

• Press coverage
• Guest contributions or expert opinions around industry related topics
• Collaborations with industry influencers

Real world impact of Digital PR in Professional Services

Utility Bidder

Following the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Utility Bidder struggled to engage their target audience because most office spaces were closed.

Partnering with Click Consult, they seized the unique opportunity to explore how this huge shift towards remote work was having an impact. They began by collecting some first-hand research on several topics, and using this to generate three separate press releases on the following topics:

• A study into how many workers did not have access to the technology they needed to do their jobs from home
• A guide to how remote workers could claim back energy expenses
• A thought leadership piece about the ways in which office etiquette would change post-lockdown.

This was a huge success, and the press coverage was picked up by huge publications such as The Independent, and ComputerWeekly. The coverage even mentioned Utility Bidder’s managing director by name, establishing him as an authority on this topic.

The PR campaigns produced:

• 54 national media placements
• 30 linking placements
• With an average domain authority of 58

Citation

Again, creating a Digital PR campaign that was developed from the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, Click Consult partnered with HR firm Citation to create a digital PR campaign that tapped into this theme.

After interviewing the go-to expert on all things futurology, Dr. Ian Pearson, Click were able to craft a captivating press release which centred around the topic of returning back to the office – where it was speculated that the tea round might be banned (horrifying thought in the UK), and in-person meetings would have to be held in beer gardens (alas, not so horrifying).

Timing the press release for when Boris Johnson announced the return to the office, the campaign was a huge success, producing 30 placements, with an average DA of 63.

Citation’s campaign was picked up by many regional news publications including MyLondon, Bristol Post and Wales Online.

Summary & final remarks

Digital PR is a powerful tool for Professional Services firms to solidify their position as industry leaders and nurture long-term relationships with their audience. By embracing Digital PR strategies effectively, Professional Services firms can navigate the competitive landscape with confidence, establishing themselves as go-to authorities in their respective fields.