As more socializing and business transactions are taking place in the digital world, online marketing and public relations teams are working more closely together than in the past. No matter the approach, your business’ online presence will need to be integrated rather than compartmentalized. The following four guidelines will better ensure that your small business’ SEO and PR efforts are benefiting each other, increasing your brand’s online exposure:

No. 1: Optimize your links in press releases and earned media coverage. With press releases or non-paid stories, make sure that your small business is promoting the necessary links. Be aware of the website page links that you want to drive more traffic to, as well as keywords that need an improved ranking. In some cases, it might even benefit your business to link to the URL that’s generated from an internal search query rather than a landing page on your website’s main navigation, as these pages aren’t indexed by search engines. Your business will also want to be wary of using paid sponsorship links in any PR or earned media coverage in order to avoid penalties from the major search engines.

No. 2: Manage media outreach appropriately. For your small business’ marketing strategy to be comprehensive and successful, it will need to include influencers. Furthermore, you will need to have a clear understanding of which teams are reaching out to what kind of influencers. For example, the NALA’s PR team will reach out to national media outlets and local journalists/editors on your business’ behalf, while other aspects of your content marketing should include outreach to bloggers and other subject matter experts in your industry. No matter if this work is internal or outsourced, make sure there is a designated contact for different types of influencers, as you don’t want to confuse potential influencers with multiple requests from multiple people.

No. 3: Align the timing and messages of your content. Your brand’s online presence will need to be cohesive and consistent in order to resonate with your business’ current and potential audiences. This means you will want your press releases and earned media (as well as other online content) to be an extension of your brand’s overall themes and values. Avoid mixing messages and promoting different types of content. To help organize your business’ content, use a calendar that maps out your business’ priorities and seasonal hot spots for certain topics/events.

No. 4: Share and boost your content to get better results. Whatever the approach, generating online content can be time-consuming and expensive, so your business will want to maximize the reach of these efforts. If your content marketing team creates an infographic or visual/informational post that an influencer wants to feature with a link to the original source, promote this content even further by having your PR team pitch it to news sources to boost this link (and your content). Similarly, though your press releases are written for journalists and editors, increase the reach of this content by sharing it with your social media audience. Not only will this keep your followers up to date about your business’ current news, it will start to weave a brand story that your current and future customers can follow.