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15 of the Best Free Website Builders to Check Out in 2023

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15 of the Best Free Website Builders to Check Out in 2023

In today’s digital world, having a business website isn’t an option. It’s a must.

An online presence is the digital equivalent of a calling card or listing on a phone book’s yellow pages. It increases brand awareness and allows you to display products and services online.

Unfortunately, not all businesses see the benefit of having a website. A survey commissioned by Top Design Firms found that 27% of small businesses don’t have one — and the top reasons holding them back from getting one are cost and lack of technical know-how.

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But here’s the good news: there are plenty of high-quality options for free website builders, many of which require little to no coding knowledge. 

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If you don’t know where to look, don’t worry. We’ve compiled 14 of the best free website builders. They offer robust functionality like SEO benefits, embedded analytics systems, mobile optimization, and professional-looking templates. 

These builders are the next best thing if you’re on a tight budget. Better yet? Most of the free website builders we’ll show you have paid options if you need additional features as your business grows.

1. HubSpot Drag-and-Drop Website Builder

HubSpot’s free website builder homepage.Designing a beautifully branded website doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re taking the DIY-route to create your own website and don’t have coding experience, consider trying HubSpot’s drag-and-drop website builder.

It comes with everything you need to build a website, including content management system (CMS) tools, themes and templates, security features, and a built-in content delivery network (CDN) to ensure pages load quickly.

It also connects easily with HubSpot CRM. That lets you integrate contact forms, live chat requests, and more, making it ideal for businesses already using HubSpot’s CRM tool.

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Features:

Advantages:  

  • Personalization (thanks to HubSpot CRM)
  • Security
  • Responsive themes and templates

Disadvantages:

  • Multi-language blog functionality is still being implemented
  • No built-in e-commerce functionality
  • You’ll need to learn HuBL (HubSpot’s templating language) to build custom modules and coded templates.

Pricing: Limited free plan available. The premium CMS plans with additional features start at $23/month when billed annually.

Brands using HubSpot:

2. Wix

Wix’s free website builder homepage.

With over 200 million users, Wix is one of the most popular free website builders. The easy-to-use, fully-hosted platform offers an easy drag-and-drop editor, an extensive collection of apps, and professional-looking templates. Wix can even propose a design for your site using its Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) software, Editor X.

Features:

  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Large collection of apps and templates
  • Analytics and reporting

Advantages:

  • Easy to use
  • Large collection of apps and templates
  • Optimized for mobile

Disadvantages:

  • The free version displays ads.
  • The premium plans are pricey when compared to others on this list.
  • Unable to switch templates when the site goes live. The only way to change templates is by creating a new site and transferring your premium plan to it. 

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $16/month when billed annually.

Brands using Wix:

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3. WordPress.com

WordPress’s free website builder homepage.

WordPress is the world’s most popular free website builder, with a 43% market share in the content management space. When building websites with WordPress, you have two options: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. 

WordPress.org lets you download WordPress’s open-source software so you can build and customize a website to fit your needs. However, there are a few caveats. Not only will you need a domain name and hosting before you get the website going (which comes at a cost), but you’ll also need to learn how to maintain and keep the website secure on your own.

In contrast, WordPress.com is much more beginner-friendly. It’s a fully-hosted free website building service offered by Automattic that uses the WordPress framework to provide a smooth website creation experience.

The only downside is that the free version is far less customizable than WordPress.org. For instance, you can’t customize plugins, and domain names are limited to [yourname].wordpress.com.

Still, WordPress.com’s free version empowers you to create visually stunning websites, blogs, and landing pages using the Classic Editor or the powerful new Gutenberg block-based editor. Below is an example of one of its pre-designed block-based templates:

Besides that, you can add assets like contact forms, videos, and embedded content to WordPress pages using plugins, an add-on feature compatible with WordPress but usually managed by another company. 

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For example, HubSpot offers a WordPress marketing plugin that lets you capture contacts through WordPress and track them in HubSpot’s free CRM.

Features:

  • Large collection of themes and plugins
  • Mobile-friendly and optimized for SEO
  • Managed website hosting and security

Advantages:

  • Customizable
  • Flexible
  • Mobile and desktop apps available

Disadvantages:

  • The free version displays ads.
  • More limitations compared to WordPress.org
  • Although intuitive, it’s more difficult to learn than other drag-and-drop builders.

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $16/month when billed annually.

Brands using WordPress.com:

4. Elementor Website Builder

Elementor’s free website builder homepage.

While WordPress makes site building beginner-friendly, WordPress page builders make refining your website and achieving your dream design easier.

Trusted by over 5,000,000 users, Elementor is a no-code drag-and-drop page builder that’s a great option for getting a customized WordPress site off the ground quickly. Choose from hundreds of mobile-optimized page templates without worrying about the underlying code.

Features:

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  • Drag-and-drop builder
  • Live editing
  • Large library of mobile-responsive templates
  • Multiple partners building templates and add-ons for Elementor (e.g., Astra)

Advantages: 

  • Beginner-friendly
  • Live editing
  • Third-party integrations

Disadvantages:

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $49/year (without hosting).

Brands using Elementor:

5. Webnode

Webnode’s free website builder homepage.

With over 40 million users, Webnode is one of the more popular website builder tools for a good reason. It’s affordable, easy to use, and supports multilingual websites — up to 20 different languages.

Webnode is perfect for personal, professional, and small business websites, as it supports e-commerce stores.

Features:

  • Pre-designed templates
  • Ecommerce support
  • Mobile-ready

Advantages: 

  • Multilingual support
  • Mobile-responsive pages
  • Backup and restore features

Disadvantages:

  • Webnode doesn’t come with a built-in app store, making it more complicated to add extra functionality to the website
  • Limited customization options
  • Limited blog and e-commerce functionality

Pricing:Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $3.90/month when billed annually.

Brands using Webnode:

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6. Jimdo

Jimdo’s free website builder homepage.Founded in 2007, Jimdo is a German-based company that provides AI-powered website builder tools for independent small businesses. The builder, Dolphin, asks users questions and suggests designs based on their answers. If you’re curious about what these AI-powered designs look like, Jimdo showcases a few examples on its page.

With 500 MB of space, you’ll likely have more than enough space to build your site, and it even provides HTTPS/SSL encryption, meaning your visitor’s information will be kept safe. Plus, you can integrate your site seamlessly with social media accounts. 

Jimdo is also an excellent option for international companies because it lets you create mobile-optimized websites in over nine languages. 

Features:

  • AI-powered website builder
  • SSL encryption
  • GDPR-compliant
  • Mobile app available

Advantages:

  • Easy to use
  • Mobile-responsive
  • Fast load speeds

Disadvantages:

  • Limited range of available features
  • Few design options

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $9/month when billed annually.

Brands using Jimdo:

7. Mozello

Mozello’s free website builder homepage.

Mozello has all the basic features you need to build a website: a drag-and-drop editor, template library, and even supports ecommerce functionality. One of the biggest selling points for Mozello is that the builder allows you to create a multilingual site for free.

You can check samples of websites built on Mozello on its portfolio page.

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Features:

  • Drag-and-drop website builder
  • Template library

Advantages: 

  • Easy to use
  • Support for multilingual websites
  • Ecommerce functionality

Disadvantages:

  • The drag-and-drop builder isn’t as intuitive as some others on this list.
  • Limited design customization
  • The free version displays ads

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $8/month when billed annually.

Brands using Mozello:

8. Yola

Yola’s free website builder homepage.

Founded in 2007, Yola is a free website builder built to eliminate the hassle of creating a website. 

It comes with a drag-and-drop builder, hundreds of customizable and mobile-optimized templates, and pre-designed blocks that allow you to create all kinds of websites — even online shops. 

Features:

  • Drag-and-drop website builder
  • Free customizable templates
  • Support for multilingual websites

Advantages: 

  • Ecommerce features available
  • Social selling features
  • Mobile-optimized

Disadvantages:

  • No blogging feature
  • The free version displays ads
  • Navigation and design limitations

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $4/month when billed annually.

Brands using Yola:

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9. Weebly

Weebly’s free website builder homepage.

Weebly is an open-source software-as-a-service (SaaS) that offers web hosting, domain registration, web design, and e-commerce functions, making it suitable for businesses and startups. For a free website builder, Weebly’s particularly flexible — it’s compatible with every device and platform and easy to use.

Like Wix, Weebly has drag-and-drop functionality, an integrated CMS solution, and hand-coded HTML files. The in-house editor comes with SEO tools and Google Analytics. 

Features:

  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Integrated CMS solution
  • Free SSL certificate
  • SEO tools
  • Analytics and reporting

Advantages: 

  • Helpful SEO resource tools
  • Good selection of paid and free apps in the app center
  • The free plan has e-commerce functionality

Disadvantages:

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $6/month when billed annually.

Brands using Weebly:

10. Webflow

Webflow’s free website builder homepage.

While most of the other builders in this list are for people without a ton of coding knowledge, Webflow specifically targets advanced users, designers, and agencies that require a solution that gives them more design freedom than traditional website builder tools.

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Although it’s a complex tool, Webflow tries to make it as easy as possible to get your business online. Webflow has a robust set of resources to help you — blog posts, forums, FAQ sections, and a library of websites built on Webflow that you can check for reference.

Features:

  • Drag-and-drop website builder
  • Widgets to add features like maps and media
  • Third-party integrations

Advantages:

  • Offers complete control over your site’s design
  • Drag-and-drop what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) builder
  • Responsive interface

Disadvantages:

  • Purely a website builder. After building a website on Webflow, you need to transfer it to a content management system.
  • Requires some knowledge of HTML and CSS to access full features
  • It has a complex free and paid plan structure. You need to sign up for both a Site and Workspace plan.

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $12/month when billed annually.

Brands using Webflow:

11. Ucraft

Ucraft’s free website builder homepage.

Ucraft is one of the more advanced and generous website builders on the list. Like the others, it’s got a drag-and-drop editor, a good selection of templates, and supports e-commerce functionality. 

However, Ucraft stands out because it lets you connect an existing custom domain name with its free plan. It also comes with an SSL certificate and unlimited storage. Ucraft’s portfolio page shows sample websites built by its clients.

Features:

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  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Free hosting
  • Ecommerce functionality

Advantages: 

  • Allows you to connect an existing domain name for free
  • Decent selection of free templates
  • Includes SSL and unlimited storage on free plans

Disadvantages:

  • Sporadic loading issues and bugs. 
  • It has a steeper learning curve than most website builders on this list. 

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $10/month when billed annually.

Brands using Ucraft:

12. SITE123

SITE123’s free website builder homepage.

True to its name, SITE123 lets you build a website in as easy as one, two, and three steps. After setting it up with a one-click installation wizard, you can customize your SITE123 website with a free library of images, graphics, and templates.

Moreover, SITE123 offers web hosting, domain registration, and 250 MB of storage space, so you won’t feel pressured to switch to a paid plan.

Features:

  • Free hosting and domain
  • Mobile-responsive design
  • Free image and icons library

Advantages: 

  • Easy to use
  • Multilingual support
  • 24/7 tech support

Disadvantages:

  • No drag-and-drop function
  • Limited storage on the free plan
  • Lacks advanced customization features

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $5.80/month when billed annually.

Brands using SITE123:

13. Strikingly

Strikingly’s website builder tool homepage.

Launched in 2012, Strikingly is one of the newer website builder tools on the list. It helps users build websites with no programming skills required and sets itself apart from competitors by specializing in single-page websites such as portfolios, event pages, or landing pages.

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The free plan includes unlimited free sites, a modest 5 GB monthly bandwidth, 500MB storage, and a branded domain.

Features:

  • Library of mobile-optimized templates
  • Ecommerce tools
  • Analytics

Advantages: 

  • An affordable option for those who want to create multiple sites
  • Best for creating single-page websites
  • Responsive support team

Disadvantages:

  • No drag-and-drop function
  • Limited SEO functionality

Pricing: Limited free plan available. Premium plans start at $8/month when billed annually. 

Brands using Strikingly:

14. GoDaddy

GoDaddy’s free website builder homepage.

While GoDaddy is a brand synonymous with affordable web hosting and domains, it’s expanded its offerings to include an all-in-one website builder tool for beginners and small business owners that have purchased hosting and domains. 

The website builder is basic, but it has everything you need to build a functional website, including a drag-and-drop editor, simple and clean templates, an SSL certificate, and social media tools.

Features:

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  • Drag-and-drop website builder
  • Marketing and analytics dashboard
  • 24/7 customer support

Advantages: 

  • All-in-one solution
  • Easy to use
  • Mobile-optimized
  • Fast page load speeds

Disadvantages: 

  • Limited SEO features
  • Limited app store features
  • Having your own web hosting and domain carries an initial cost

Pricing: Limited free plan — upgrade features at your own pace. Premium plans start at $9.99/month when billed annually.

Brands using GoDaddy:

15. Appy Pie Website

appy pie website builder

Appy Pie’s website builder has a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to create well-designed, highly functional, and professional websites without any coding skills or programming knowledge. With Appy Pie’s Website Builder, you can create many websites for any purpose, including social media, salons, or real estate. 

All the websites created using Appy Pie website builder are lightweight, fast, and secure to ensure a better user experience and complete customer satisfaction. And since they consume low data, all Appy Pie websites can deliver content without any internet connectivity. 

Appy Pie has a ton of ready-to-use templates, design themes, and a visual library to make it easy for users to develop websites at competitive prices. In addition, the Appy Pie Website Builder also provides a rich library of frequently asked questions and video tutorials so that you can easily tackle most of the issues without them having to call customer support.

Features:

  • No code website development tool
  • Thousands of pre-built templates and designs
  • Cross-platform accessibility

Advantages: 

  • Scalability
  • Reusability
  • Integrability

Disadvantages: 

  • No advanced settings for pro users
  • Dependence on external services
  • Closed development code

Pricing: Limited free plan. Premium plans start at $18/month

Brands using Appy Pie Website:

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Website Builder Features You Need

Choosing a website builder tool is easier when you know what you’re looking for. Here are 14 features to look out for:

1. Themes and Templates

Having an assortment of fully customizable website themes and templates on the website builder’s theme marketplaces makes it easier for users to change their site’s look.

In that sense, website builders should have theme options that cater to specific niches so users don’t waste time creating new templates from scratch. For example, the website builders on our list have options for blogs, portfolio websites, e-commerce websites, and more. 

Templates should be pre-structured and pre-populated with images, text, and other elements commonly found on pages like the Homepage, About page, or Contact page. All you need to do is pick one and replace the sample content with your own.

Themes and templates should be easy to customize — with multiple options for backgrounds, layouts, fonts, and colors.

2. Media (Video, Photo, Audio, Graphics)

Solely having text on your website can be monotonous, so including different forms of media helps break up text and can help information stick because not everyone learns the same way. A website with no visual content is like walking into a vacant restaurant. Fill out your website with highly engaging multimedia content and graphics to support vital information, engage users and drive traffic. 

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You can easily bring your website to life using visual aids and mediums like stock photos, vector images, background images, stock video footage, sound effects, and video editing templates. There are tons of websites that provide media resources that are free to use for content. Freepik is a well-known website that provides illustrations and images. Many sites also incorporate icons into their sites like within the call-to-actions and resources sections. Flaticon is a great source of icons. Using these resources will transform your website into something memorable and visually appealing while also providing a user-friendly experience.

Some website builders offer more robust media capabilities, with multiple gallery layouts, customization options, and editing features.

3. WYSIWYG Editor

Besides an assortment of themes and templates, the best website builder tools make it easy for users to customize their websites with drag-and-drop tools and what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editors.

There’s no need to learn how to code when you can update your site in a few clicks. Simply drag-and-drop elements to the page and see the changes implemented to your website immediately.

4. Malware Scanning

Security is a top consideration when choosing a website builder.

Security features vary depending on the website builder tool you select, but consider it a keeper if it offers malware scanning. Automated malware scanning allows you to address threats before it progresses into something catastrophic proactively.

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5. Web Application Firewall (WAF)

A web application firewall (WAF) is another must-have security feature.

It often sits between your web server and the internet to protect your website from common attacks like SQL injections and cross-site scripting (XSS) by filtering, monitoring, and blocking malicious traffic from entering the network. 

WAFs can come in the form of software-as-a-service (SaaS), and you can customize them to meet your website’s unique needs. 

6. Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Besides site security, you should also consider optimizing for page speed. After all, it affects everything from customer experience to conversions and revenue.

According to Portent, a site that loads in one second has a conversion rate 5x higher than a site that loads in 10 seconds.

There are many ways to improve page speed, and a content delivery network (CDN) is one way to do it. CDNs store heavy and static content on distributed servers located worldwide and load the cached content from a location nearest to the user to speed up its delivery.

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7. Web Hosting

What good are website builders when they can’t get your website online?

Some solutions only offer website builder tools to build your site — you have to pay separately for web hosting services to get your site online.

The best website builders make it convenient to start websites by offering web hosting. Free website builders offer limited bandwidth and storage — just for personal use. You can upgrade to shared, dedicated, or managed hosting for an additional fee.

8. Storage

Web hosting works by providing two services: bandwidth and disk space (or storage).

Most free website builders offer ample (limited) storage for a beginner site but require you to purchase additional storage should you need it.

9. Blogs

People often confuse websites and blogs with each other — they’re similar but not the same. 

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A blog is a type of website that contains information about different topics. They’re often updated with new articles or posts, while websites only receive updates when needed. In a nutshell, all blogs are websites, but not all websites are or have blogs.

Organizations build websites for different reasons: to sell, showcase a portfolio, or inform — and for those reasons, a blog can be helpful.

Blogs can help your website by:

  • Increasing visibility through SEO
  • Generating new leads
  • Building trust and loyalty
  • Creating brand awareness

Most free website builders come with basic blogging tools and post creation and comment management features.

10. SEO Capabilities

According to BrightEdge, 53% of traffic comes from organic search.

If you want to bring in more traffic and views, your website needs to be search engine-optimized.

Most website builders help with technical SEO by offering free SSL certificates and supporting schema markup and XML sitemaps. They also support on-page SEO by allowing you to enter and modify URLs, meta tags, and image alt attributes. 

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11. Customer Support

While using website builder tools, you’ll likely run into a problem you can’t troubleshoot. That is where customer support comes in.

Customer support assists you with anything you need help with — technical, sales, billing, payments, or experiences. Depending on the website builder, assistance can come in any (or a mix) of the following channels:

The best website builders keep a mix of channels and answer inquiries promptly.

12. E-commerce Capabilities

Are you planning on selling physical or digital products in the future? Consider choosing a website builder tool with e-commerce capabilities.

There are dedicated e-commerce website builders, but these are often paid solutions with robust functionality such as apps for payment and shipping. 

Free website builders often integrate with a third-party e-commerce application or support a simple built-in store.

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13. Third-party Integrations

There’s nothing worse than realizing your existing tech stack doesn’t work with the website builder you chose. Thus, it’s crucial to consider whether a website builder allows third-party integrations.

Your website builder should integrate with external tools, such as email marketing, e-commerce, and social software.

14. Analytics and Reporting

Your website builder should also have an analytics and reporting function to measure important metrics like the site’s popular pages, bounce rate, average duration per visit, and more.

Alternatively, you can track your website metrics in an analytics and reporting tool. When you bring your web analytics together with other key funnel metrics like trials or activation rate onto a dashboard, you give everyone on your team the ability to explore your data and uncover insights.

Picking Your Website Builder

There you have it! Since most of these website builders are free, try out a couple if you’re unsure of the best fit. In particular, take note of what you really want to get out of your site to ensure your needs will be met by one of these builders.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2018 but was updated in October 2019 for comprehensiveness.

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MARKETING

How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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