The world of marketing is rapidly changing. With the advent of digital communication and the explosion of social media, it is no surprise that things have gone through such a drastic metamorphosis.

With these changes, two segments are joining forces like never before. The world of SEO and PR are now actively working together on joint projects with shared goals and visions. This is due to the astounding success compounding these two segments has produced. Below are seven ways in which SEO and PR successfully complement each other.

Most businesses think that marketing is the best way to target customers. However, PR is one of the best tools to target your shoppers and jump-start your sales. Here are just a few ways you can use public relations to drive more traffic to your store.

Public relations takes a lot of time, effort, and persistence. In marketing terms, this is known as “earned media,” which holds more weight than other types of media. Putting in the energy, however, is worth it at the end of the day and can put your business on equal footing with companies that have big marketing budgets.

There are many tried and true ways of getting any product out there and shared by the media, but a lot of it first has to do with consistently providing good information to those who work with your kind of information and products. Beyond that, here are some ideas to get the word out about a toy or child’s product.

Remember, your product ultimately is for kids and for them to have fun with it – so first, know your product and who is the target user and the target buyer – since products for young children will usually be bought by adults or teens, so user and buyer may be different. Once you have that information, come up with some fun ways to look at how a product can be used.

The power of the hashtag (#) has taken the social media world by storm.

Once known as the “pound sign” or being synonymous with a game of tic tac toe, the hashtag has been morphed into a global symbol that links unique communities together through the use of a single word or phrase.

In developing your public relations program, if you fail to include sentiment analysis, you have denied yourself a vital, dynamic metric to define and promote success.

Sean Penn’s interview with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is a stark, albeit bizarre reminder about the power of “citizen journalism”—and getting your message out through unconventional means.

Penn, the Oscar-winning actor and part-time activist, pulled off what can best be described as a media coup when he interviewed the drug lord in October in the Mexican jungle after Guzman’s jail break.

Any marketing director will admit that their primary focus is to consistently create content that will achieve viral status; however, far too many marketing campaigns are using “hit or miss” content strategies that may or may not produce viral content. There is a proven method that when appropriately applied can produce consistent and measurable results on a regular basis.

Apologies to George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward for refuting lyrics to “Summertime,” the show tune from Broadway’s “Porgy and Bess.”