Digital PR is more popular than ever, which means those in the industry are trying to come up with unique and newsworthy ideas in a range of niches, making it harder to stand out.

However, due to Digital PR being so saturated, it’s more important than ever to offer journalists relevant, topical, and original content. This blog aims to provide tips on where to find idea inspiration, what to consider when coming up with new ideas, and how to refresh existing campaigns – all of which will help to spark inspiration!

8 Ways to Find Idea Inspiration

It can be difficult to know where to start when producing ideas, and it’s even harder for niche clients who may not necessarily have the most newsworthy product or service! Luckily, there are a range of sources that can help inspire ideas.

1) AI Tools

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has its disadvantages, as it isn’t capable of the same creativity as humans, but it can be great for getting idea inspiration. For example, you could ask AI tools, such as Chat GPT, to provide some potential angles for blogs on a particular topic or for more general marketing campaign ideas.

While the initial results may not be as relevant, you can try a range of prompts to get closer to what you want. A lot of the time, though, AI just provides a useful starting point when your mind has gone blank!

Another tool, idiot.online, was recently created and works similarly to tools such as Chat GPT, but it specifically comes up with Digital PR ideas, making the ideas much more relevant.

It’s also a lot simpler to use and takes minimal effort – you simply enter the website domain, and it will pull out a range of relevant Digital PR campaign idea titles based on the site’s main topics, with the ideas including UK tabloid media content, how-to articles and UK regional media articles.

As with many AI tools, the results are sometimes inconsistent. While both of these tools can provide some great starting points for ideas, they may also provide ideas that aren’t relevant or useable – it may take a few prompts. It’s also worth researching the topic suggestions from AI tools for accuracy.

2) Repurposing Ideas

A lot of Digital PR campaigns, and news stories in general, are based on existing stories and have been updated with something new and original. It’s perfectly okay to take inspiration from competitors and existing campaigns, but it’s important to change it up by adding something unique.

Otherwise, it likely won’t get picked up and copying work directly could give you a bad reputation, putting journalists off sharing any of your future campaigns. A new element to add could include internal data, updating statistics or adding expert comments, for example. 

Looking at what topics and types of content have previously worked for competitors is a great way to figure out what might get results for your clients and help you tailor your strategy accordingly. You can even use Google News to search for stories that have surfaced in the media in the previous year. Even your own campaigns can be repurposed – if you pitched a campaign and it was successful, don’t be afraid to update and repitch it!

3) Keywords

It can be difficult to tie relevant keywords to Digital PR campaigns, especially if it’s within a niche industry. However, keywords can certainly spark inspiration for ideas, as well as support a client’s SEO.

Starting with the keywords you want to rank for can help generate relevant and engaging content. Analysing keyword trends can also uncover popular topics and any industry pain points to explore, leading to relevant and topical campaign themes that can help position clients as thought leaders.

Incorporating keywords into Digital PR content ensures campaigns align with search intent, which in turn can drive traffic and increase visibility.

4) News and Events

Another great starting point for generating campaign ideas is to look at what is going on in the news or your client’s industry – this is key for a campaign to be relevant and topical.

A simple Google search of your client’s product, service or other relevant keywords can easily show you what’s currently being talked about in their industry which can spark inspiration for reactive campaigns.

As well as news stories and events, relevant awareness days and events can be a goldmine for idea inspiration. With there being so many days, weeks or even months dedicated to certain topics, there’s almost bound to be one relevant to your business!

Of course, not all awareness days are relevant or should be used for campaigns – any sensitive awareness days are best to avoid unless your business can contribute something valuable to the conversation.

Ensure to be considerate when producing campaigns off the back of awareness days and certain events depending on the topic and cause. However, many awareness days were created for marketing purposes, like Blue Monday, making it easier to get involved with lighthearted campaigns. 

Tying an idea to an awareness day can make it more topical, as they are often talked about in the news and online. For example, if you have a client or a business that offers pet-related products or services, National Pet Month would be an ideal awareness day to produce a relevant idea or repitch existing content.

We have also put together a calendar of Pop Culture events that you might find useful.

5) Social Media

Social media can be a great source of inspiration for a wide range of creative tasks, including Digital PR campaign ideas. A great starting point is to look at social media platforms for any trends relevant to your client.

Pinterest Trends showcases the topics trending on Pinterest with high search volumes and allows you to search by keywords, too. For example, at the time of writing, ‘spring outfits’ were trending on Pinterest, which could be a starting focus for an online fashion retailer.

X also has a trending section where you can see what people are talking about on the platform, which can inspire a reactive campaign idea. Additionally, Instagram and TikTok trends provide a visual representation of what audiences are engaging with.

Popular hashtags, used across most social media platforms, can also provide insight into what is currently popular on social media. There are also trend analysis tools which analyse historical data to identify any patterns and trends over time, such as Buzzsumo and Exploding Topics.

6) Data Sets

A wide range of datasets are available that can enormously help and inspire a digital PR campaign. For example, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) might release a house price index, and the data itself may show a change since the last statistics, which alone could be a story.

Tying this update to a relevant client and adding expert comments can make it stand out from others reporting on this news.

Some popular data sets include:

• ONS
• YouGov
• Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
• Netflix data
• Google Trends
• Census data
• Social media analytics

Niche databases that are more relevant for specific industries shouldn’t be overlooked! These databases include Crunchbase for business insights, Spotify data for music trends, and IMDB for entertainment data. Showcasing data in a visual or interactive way, such as infographics or interactive maps can also add extra impact.

7) Editorial Calendars

Some publications will share their editorial calendars, which often outline themes, topics, and special features they’ll cover. Looking at these content plans can spark inspiration for new ideas and be a great way to see if any of your previous or planned campaigns could fit with their upcoming stories.

Editorial calendars can also help identify relevant themes you could tie into your campaign and increase the chances of coverage.

For example, if a publication had a feature coming up on ‘sustainable business solutions’ and your client related to this, you could create a campaign focusing on ‘Sustainable Business Trends to Look out for in 2025’. With all campaigns, if there’s a way to add any unique data or quotes on the topic, this can go a long way.

Another benefit of editorial calendars is that they will often provide deadlines – in Digital PR, it can be impossible to know the perfect time to pitch a campaign, especially when it’s a seasonal or reactive pitch as these are often planned into a publications content calendar way ahead of time!

These deadlines can help you plan, create, and pitch the campaign in plenty of time.

8) Online Communities and Forums

A range of forums, such as Reddit and Quora, can inspire campaign ideas based on what the public is talking about and asking. There are also more niche forums, such as parenting forums or creative professional networks.

Social media, such as Facebook, also has various online groups available for users to discuss a wide range of topics. 

To find relevant topics, check groups where your target audience might be looking. For example, if you’re targeting entrepreneurs, you could browse the subreddit ‘r/SmallBusiness’ on Reddit.

When looking into forums, also keep an eye out for trending questions, popular threads and topics, and discussions that occur frequently. Questions are a great way of knowing what information people want to read about.

For example, somebody asking “How can I reduce my business debt?” is a good indicator that a campaign providing tips on this topic, tying in expert comments from your client and any unique data/insights, would be beneficial to the public.

What to Consider When Brainstorming Ideas

When brainstorming ideas, the process should be approached strategically to try and ensure that the ideas will resonate with journalists and their audiences, as well as your own audience. 

Consider the following factors to refine campaign ideas and maximise their impact:

Why would journalists care about this?

Journalists won’t be interested in stories that aren’t relevant to them or their audience. Ask yourself why the journalist might care about a story – does it offer a unique perspective, original data or further information on a trending story?

Asking these questions can help you pivot your idea to help and ensure journalists will be interested.

What would the readers gain from this?

Ideally, Digital PR campaigns should inform, engage, or inspire the public. When thinking of ideas, consider how the readers might engage with the story – does it offer them a solution to a problem,  or evoke an emotional response?

These factors can increase a campaign’s chances of being picked up. It’s also worth bearing in mind how you can make this clear to journalists when pitching.

How is it unique?

According to Muck Rack’s State of Journalism report, journalists get around 50 to 100 emails a day, with high-profile writers receiving much more, so standing out is important! Is there a way to add unique data or statistics to your campaign?

Can you add a new angle to an existing story? Unique data can help make an already covered topic more original and different, which journalists will appreciate.

What assets would the campaign benefit from?

Visual assets can help to get angles and data across in a simple way – they’re particularly useful for data-led campaigns.

For example, an infographic can clearly showcase a campaign’s insights, while an interactive map or table can allow users to filter any data themselves for a better user experience.

Visual assets are also often shared on social media, providing more opportunities for exposure.

Is this evergreen?

Evergreen content is material that remains relevant, useful and valuable over an extended period. Keep in mind whether your idea could be repitched in the future, and if so, how much effort would be required to do so? Would the blog itself need altering, or would it simply just need a new press release or pitch email.

How to Freshen up Ideas for Repitching

In Digital PR, it’s impossible to judge if and when a campaign will be successful. Often, campaigns will be pitched a few times with different angles before they get picked up. To prepare for this outcome, it’s important to look for multiple angles within one campaign idea. 

Some ways to refresh campaigns for repitching can include:

Adding New Data

A campaign may not have been picked up due to the data not being unique or up-to-date, or there may not have been any data at all.

To update content for repitches, try adding in recent data that support the angle you’re pitching – internal data is ideal as this won’t already be available to journalists.

Existing data can be tied to campaigns too, but this could be less effective because it’s already out there. However, tying a few data sets together can make the angle slightly more unique.

Expert Comments

Adding expert comments to any campaign is beneficial as it positions the person providing commentary as an expert, which can make the brand and campaign more trustworthy and authoritative. Expert comments can support data, add further information, or provide opinions.

Adding expert comments into the campaign when repitching, whether it’s because they weren’t included in the original, or you’ve altered the quotes slightly to support a new angle, can go a long way.

Journalists will sometimes just take expert comments and tie them to an existing story rather than the full campaign, so including these in all pitches and repitches is key.

Infographics and Other Materials

If your original campaign didn’t have any visual assets, such as infographics or videos, and you feel it could benefit from this addition, including it in the repitch could make all the difference.

Infographics are a great way to represent data in a clear, concise way, and simply show the range of angles, saving journalists the chore of having to read through the content and find the key information themselves. If creating infographics, ensure to include branding like logos so you know the assets are yours if they get picked up.

Alternative Angles

Of course, as mentioned, using alternative angles is a key tactic for repitching campaigns. For example, if you’ve pitched a story about the best places to live in the world and it hasn’t performed great, try flipping that and pitching the worst places to live.

If you’ve produced and pitched a campaign focusing on the most dangerous roads in the UK, looking at crash data and leading with that angle, perhaps for a repitch you could focus on the local angles within this campaign, targeting local publications and leading with their area’s statistics.

Tying to Relevant News, Events, and Awareness Days

As mentioned above, campaigns relating to any new stories, events, or awareness days can provide a fresh angle to an existing campaign!

If you have pitched a campaign in the past relating to mental health, tying this campaign to a mental health awareness day, such as World Mental Health Day, can make the old campaign instantly topical and relevant again. However, be sure to update any old data or insights before repitching.

With the Digital PR industry being more competitive than ever, fresh insights and relevance are key to campaign success – standing out is key to securing media coverage. By focusing on what journalists and readers care about and adding value through data and expert comments, Digital PR campaigns can deliver maximum impact.

We hope the above tools, techniques and tips will help to provide some inspiration when producing unique, topical and relevant campaign ideas to share with journalists!

Want to build your brand awareness and boost your SEO via our exciting and innovative Digital PR campaigns unique to your sector? Get in touch today!

The post The Importance of Ideation in Digital PR appeared first on The SEO Works.

Timing is everything in the fast-moving world of media, specifically when conducting reactive campaigns. Reactive campaigns consist of quickly responding to breaking news, new trends, or popular topics. They can be extremely valuable for brands seeking online coverage and links back to their websites.

Reactives also allow businesses to show their knowledge, connect with people, and get placements in respected media outlets, building brand awareness.

But here’s the challenge: the time available to produce reactives is limited, and writer’s block often happens at the worst times. When you add in the fact that the news is breaking fast, it is critical to react immediately to beat competitors vying for the pitch.

In this blog, we’ll explain a simple strategy for writing expert opinions that are both timely and effective.

Why reactives are essential for Digital PR

Reactives have become increasingly popular as brands recognise the value of being part of timely conversations. Whether it’s a human resources company reacting to a trending topic like ‘quiet quitting’ or evolving workplace trends post-pandemic such as ‘workcations’, jumping on these conversations allows brands to:

• Demonstrate industry authority.
• Attract media attention.
• Gain valuable backlinks to their website.
• Drive organic traffic and increase brand visibility.

Reactives are also less time-consuming, enabling you to achieve results without the need to invest substantial resources into a campaign that may or may not succeed. Additionally, reactives are an excellent way to build relationships between your brand and journalists.

If journalists appreciate the quotes and effort you contribute to their news stories, they are more likely to reach out to you for future input. This can lead to earning more backlinks over time.

Having a short window to write reactive content can be overwhelming with key topics popping up before you know it. Follow these 5 steps to combat writer’s block and draft up speedy, yet quality, expert commentary!

5 Tips for Writing Expert Commentary

1) Explain why the trending topic is on the rise/decline

In your pitch email, highlight why this topic is gaining traction and explain its current relevance. Addressing these points will resonate with journalists seeking to craft a compelling story based on the information you provide.

It’s important to do this through expert quotes with a spokesperson behind the content you’ve provided as this credibility is what journalists are seeking. 

Example quote introduction:

After introducing the topic you’re covering, include an example quote early in the pitch to make it easily noticeable for journalists. Be sure to introduce your expert clearly, for example: “NAME, JOB TITLE at COMPANY NAME, says…”

“The workcation trend is gaining popularity as employees increasingly seek opportunities to combine work and travel. Since the pandemic, workers have shifted their priorities, valuing experiences like travel and flexibility over traditional work environments.”

You can enhance your introduction by including relevant statistics, such as data from Google Trends, which is excellent for providing fresh insights to support your quotes and reinforce the topic you’re addressing. Other resources like the Office for National Statistics, government data, and Pinterest Trends can also be valuable for building your pitch. Incorporating data strengthens your narrative and offers journalists credible context to enrich their stories.

2) Establish how the trend impacts industry professionals/audiences within the client’s sector

Building on the first stage, where you’ve crafted your introduction and opening quote explaining the rise or decline of the trending topic, the next step is to delve into how this trend affects the industry within your client’s sector.

Example Quote:

Below you will see an example of how this trend of ‘workcations’ will impact the industry. 

“For businesses, giving employees the flexibility to enjoy workcations can lead to significant benefits, such as improved productivity and enhanced employee wellbeing. This trend highlights a shift in workplace culture that organisations can’t afford to ignore.”

Whenever possible, support your point with current statistics from your own internal data or those referenced in step one to add credibility and impact.

3) Address challenges and offer solutions

Anticipate potential objections or challenges around the trend and offer solutions, demonstrating your client’s ability to think critically and provide actionable advice.

Example quote:

“For industries that are more reluctant to embrace flexibility, failing to adapt could lead to higher turnover rates and diminished trust among employees. Studies have shown that 76% of employees are more likely to stay in roles that offer flexibility, underscoring the importance of adapting to modern work expectations.”

Support your client’s insights with research and case studies from both current and past customers to provide real-world examples.

4) Provide examples of how to action these solutions

To help journalists understand the importance of the trend, provide examples that demonstrate the risks businesses face if they fail to adapt. Incorporating case studies and detailed research strengthens your pitch and gives journalists a compelling angle for their stories.

Show examples of companies losing talent due to being reluctant to allow more flexibility for their employees for example offices forcing workers back into the office. Has this had an impact on retention and workers leaving? Showcasing stats and data as examples will help support your pitch. 

5) Highlight both positives and negatives

Round out your commentary by discussing the positives and negatives of the trend. This balanced approach ensures your input is nuanced and valuable to journalists.

Example quote:

“While workcations offer clear benefits for employee morale and retention, they also present challenges, such as potential boundary issues between work and leisure. Companies that find ways to support this trend, like establishing clear remote working policies, will be better positioned to thrive in today’s competitive hiring landscape.”

Final Thoughts

By contributing expert-backed opinions and actionable insights, you enhance the credibility of the journalist’s story and establish your brand as a thought leader.

Reactives are not just about joining a conversation they are about shaping it, providing journalists with valuable resources, and ensuring your brand remains top-of-mind for future opportunities.

Next time a trending topic emerges, follow this step-by-step strategy to produce expert quotes with confidence and secure the media coverage your brand deserves.

How We Can Help

If you’re a business looking to stay relevant in the ever-changing world of digital marketing, but don’t have time to consistently curate reactive campaigns, we’re here to help.

Our Digital PR team can produce a strategy that utilises the power of expert quotes and more, to gain your business high-quality and relevant links.

Get in touch to find out more about our Digital PR services today!

The post How to Use Expert Quotes in Digital PR Reactive Campaigns appeared first on The SEO Works.

Digital PR has changed dramatically in recent years. It first evolved from traditional PR— which originally dealt with offline media—combining it with digital tactics, like SEO.

Earning links has always been a core priority in Digital PR strategies, but their value has changed over time. Previously, gaining a certain number of links, no matter the quality, was the goal, whereas now, the impact of each link is much more significant.

However, there is still a common misconception that securing more links automatically results in SEO success. In this blog post, we’ll explore why quality is king when link building, what caused this shift and how to actually measure a link’s value.

How Digital PR evolved to prioritise quality links

In the earlier years of Digital PR, a high volume of links pointing to a site was a strong indicator of authority. However, many websites began using spammy practices to manipulate their rankings for a quicker result. These black-hat SEO tactics caused irrelevant, poorly written, and low-authority content to rank higher.

As search engine algorithms developed, especially with Google’s 2012 Penguin update, it changed how links were measured. A greater focus on the quality of links was introduced to ensure the most trusted and credible sites reached the top of the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).

It’s also now much harder to gain the same volume of links as previously achieved. As well as changes to Google’s algorithm, Digital PR is much more saturated as an industry, and publications now have a much greater understanding of a link’s value and the damage of a spammy link.

Like Oasis tickets, Birkin bags, and first-edition Beanie Babies, the huge demand and lack of supply drive up the value of quality backlinks.

What happens if you do prioritise quantity over quality?

It’s not to say that lower-quality links will necessarily harm a website, although they can if they have a high spam factor or Google suspects black-hat practices. It’s more likely that Google will ignore these links and, therefore, won’t contribute to your site’s SEO performance.

So, if you’re focusing on a numbered link target regardless of quality, it’ll likely have little SEO impact. Especially considering the difficulty of earning a high number of links, it’s not an effective use of project time.

What elements improve a link’s quality?

Now that we’ve addressed how and why quality became more important than quality, what are the requirements for a quality link?

Relevance of the link

Relevance has always been a factor in Digital PR, but now it’s one of the most important components. Defining relevance for link building is tricky, as there are no set rules, and most people have different opinions.

However, a crucial aspect is how the publication relates to the linked target page. While a gardening website linking to an accounting website wouldn’t make sense, links earned from finance niche sites are clear quality indicators due to their topical relevance.

A relevant niche can also apply to local and regional publications if they report on the area of your business. Links earned from location-specific sites show Google that you’re a trusted source for local users. However, if your content is featured on a regional site with no ties to your company’s location, Google would likely ignore any links included.

Relevance can still apply to general publications covering various topics as long as they have a section specifically devoted to your niche and the content itself is relevant to your company. For example, The Independent is described as an online newspaper, but it does have a fashion section, making a link to a clothing brand still relevant.

As well as signalling to Google that a link is relevant, it reaches an audience that aligns with your target market and is more likely to become customers/clients. Additionally, relevant coverage is excellent for branding, as it can position you as an industry leader.

Links from reputable and trustworthy sites

Links and authority go hand in hand — gaining ‘good’ links can build a site’s authority, but to class a link as ‘good’ it must come from an already trusted site. When link building, you can check a site’s authority with metrics like organic traffic and the domain age. Although it isn’t a failsafe method, the domain rating is also recognised as a way to check authority.

Ideally, the link would come from a high-quality site that is also relevant, but that’s not always possible or the only option. The required sector might have limited niche publications, or the sites may not have a huge audience. Additionally, you may also want to expand your brand exposure to a new demographic.

Many clients and Digital PR executives will have a list of dream publications to aim for, as the association with well-established national news sites and digital magazines can amplify a brand’s credibility. This type of coverage is also a trust signal to both readers and Google.

Does the surrounding text enhance backlink quality?

As well as the publication itself being of high quality, the content featuring the link also needs to offer value to readers. A link is worth much less if it’s included in a poorly written article covering a topic unrelated to your business.

Readers are also unlikely to click on the link if it doesn’t seem to offer them something outside of the article, such as extra information or a product discussed in the piece.

Ideally, the anchor and surrounding text should also help Google understand why a site has linked to your brand. Content mentioning the company name, a brief explainer of the brand and how it relates to the article adds contextual value to Google and the readers to avoid the link seeming irrelevant.

Branded anchor text is often the most valuable, as it increases brand awareness and authority. Anchor text using a keyword can be helpful in terms of offering context, but it can also be an indicator of spam if the keyword is overused. It’s also important not to stuff the anchor text with synonyms of different keywords or phrases and instead be concise, helpful, and relevant.

The inclusion of a spokesperson following a link can provide additional value, as the association with a real person is a sign of trust to readers. If the spokesperson is cited along with their quotes, it also positions the company as an expert in their field, providing further trust signals to Google and readers.

While you often have little control over how a publication displays your content, you can follow these steps in your campaign for them to hopefully mirror.

The type of link

A link’s impact can also depend on the actual link itself. A follow link is most desired as it passes link equity (or link juice) from one site to another, which can increase Google search rankings. However, the authority and value a link possesses will still depend on the quality and relevance of the site.

In comparison, a no-follow link is less valuable as it prevents the precious link juice from passing to your site so it can reap the SEO rewards. However, it still has benefits, as it can bring traffic to your site. Additionally, a more balanced backlink profile with various link types, including no-follow, can look more natural to search engines and increase trust.

The target page of a link will also have different benefits and contribute to the relevance factor. If the site’s content links to a page on your site closely tied in terms of topic, it will be considered more useful to the readers and, as a result, more credible to search engines.

While you can provide journalists with the most helpful hyperlink to use, they might still use the homepage for various reasons. For example, it might be to prevent broken links as the homepage is likely to stay the same or because your content isn’t evergreen.

Another factor in determining the backlink quality is whether it’s marked as affiliated. Often used to track sales and provide commission to marketing partners, affiliated links are classed as a sales marketing tactic rather than SEO, so they don’t transfer link equity. However, they aren’t considered link spam if attributed as rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored”.

Is there a time and a place for quantity over quality links?

Quality links are always preferable, but at times, a higher quantity might be the priority.

These scenarios might include earning a foundation of backlinks on a new website, as a lack of backlinks can make it difficult to improve Google search rankings. Earning a high quantity of diverse links can also help build an online presence and a baseline of authority.

Additionally, only acquiring high-quality links may look unnatural and suspicious. As long as the links don’t indicate spammy practices, a variety of links can look more authentic.

If the target is brand awareness, the SEO impact of links might not be a priority in your current Digital PR strategy. In this case, a high quantity of coverage might be the focus to increase visibility, with brand mentions and links on sites that may be lower quality but with an engaged community.

However, these aren’t long-term practices, and the goal should then gradually move on to acquiring high-quality links for long-term SEO benefits. It’s also still important to avoid extremely low-quality sites that could cause penalties, or that are completely irrelevant.

Why can’t you have quantity and quality links?

In a perfect world, your brand would acquire an abundance of high-quality links that meet each requirement, but this is rarely the case. Gaining authoritative links takes time, resources, and luck.

That’s not to say it can’t happen — stories can go viral and earn numerous great links, but this outcome is almost like winning the lottery. Unfortunately, it’s practically impossible to predict which stories will go viral. Even when campaigns take off, there’s no guarantee that they’ll attract the best links for your brand or even gain links at all.

While it’s great to get your company name in front of more people, if it isn’t the right demographic or on a trusted site, it likely won’t help your SEO.

While more links may sound appealing, in this case, less is more. Rather than trying to hit a number of links, regardless of quality, in your Digital PR strategy, focus on the links that will have the biggest impact and save yourself time, energy, and tears. If your client is intent on volume, ask them why that might be and inform them of the value in quality over quantity.

How we can help

If you’re a business looking to boost your link profile but don’t know where or how to start, we’re here to help. Our Digital PR team can produce a tailored strategy for your site focused on gaining high-quality links from trusted and relevant sources.

Get in touch to find out more about Digital PR and if it’s the best approach for your site.

The post Quantity vs Quality of Links: What’s More Important in Digital PR? appeared first on The SEO Works.

Press releases are vital in Digital PR. Whether they accompany a long-form blog post or are stand-alone, press releases make key findings easily digestible for journalists and convey information quickly.

While traditionally, companies send press releases to announce business news, in Digital PR, press releases are part of a strategy to improve a brand’s awareness and a website’s SEO metrics.

Digital PR campaigns often insert a brand into a relevant and topical conversation to enhance their E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) with brand mentions and links on suitable websites.

While gaining links and coverage has never been harder, the challenge starts with trying to tempt journalists into reading your pitch. So, a striking angle and high-quality article is a campaign must-have.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the basics of writing a press release, including structuring, style guidelines, and our top tips for maximising your campaign results.

What’s the angle?

Before writing a press release, you need to know the angle. Ask yourself, what is the point of view of this article? What is the core message you want to get across? What is the reason behind writing this press release? Why would the target audience be interested in this?

The strongest angle of a piece can depend on the campaign’s format. If you’ve conducted original research, pulling out the most surprising statistic may be the leading angle. If you’ve based content on an expert’s opinions or advice, is there a stand-out quote you can lead with? Perhaps the campaign’s purpose or the person/company involved is the most fascinating aspect.

An easy way to narrow the angle down is to consider how you would describe the story to your friend in a nutshell. What would be the first part you mention? Unless you’re a terrible storyteller (and if so, I urge you to stop describing your dreams in minute detail), you’ll likely start with the most interesting part — this is how you begin writing a press release.

If you think your friend would respond with blank stares and a shrug to your lead angle, maybe go back to the drawing board. An angle should ideally stand out against the huge competition of Digital PR stories out there.

However, let’s be honest, not all campaigns can be jaw-dropping. If the results from your survey are lacklustre, you’re working around branding restrictions, or the topic is just not sexy, all is not lost. Can you rejig the data to make the lead angle more interesting? Can you link the story to a trending issue or news story? Can you alter the perspective of the content?

Angles may also differ depending on the audience you’re pitching. If you could approach your article with different demographics in mind, such as parents and students, you’ll likely benefit from writing a few different versions for the relevant publications.

Whatever your angle, just make sure you can back it up in the press release. We all know journalists are extremely busy, so any time spent considering your pitch should pay off. Your campaign won’t go far if it doesn’t align with the angle in the subject line.

How to Write and Structure a Press Release

Once you’ve determined your angle, ensure it’s front and centre in your press release, not buried and hidden. Lead with the most compelling part of your article, getting straight to the point and revealing the remaining information in order of importance.

Below we summarise a general press release template to stick to, ensuring you’re setting your story up for the best possible chance of success. Please keep in mind that press release structures can vary.

1) Headline

Keep the headline short and snappy to capture the story’s central point in as little detail as possible. For example, ‘Hero Cat Saves Baby Stuck in Tree!’ is enough to keep people scrolling to find more information. Who wouldn’t want to read this!?

Whereas, if the headline read ‘A Ginger Cat in Manchester Spotted Saving a Crying Baby From an Oak Tree’, the core information gets buried underneath filler words and adjectives.

While this strange event did not actually occur (as far as we know), imagine it did, and you’re doing the Digital PR for a pet charity. After some research into popular cat adoption statistics, you have a new story.

Headline example: Hero Cat Sparks Rise in Ginger Kitten Adoptions!

2) Lead sentence

Summarise more of the angle’s core components in the opening paragraph — this is where you could mention more about the miraculous actions of the cat.

The opening sentence isn’t to explain how you conducted the research, who your client is, or that the cat’s rescue mission was on a rainy Tuesday morning, but it’s for the most interesting part of the article. 

It’s for the ‘what’ of the story — what is this story about?

Lead sentence example: A hero cat spotted saving a crying baby stuck in a tree has triggered a rise in ginger kitten adoptions across the UK, research reveals.

3) The Body

The second paragraph is often the most natural section to explain who is telling or involved in the story and why, with an emphasis on the why. Why is this story relevant? The ‘why’ of a story might be a world event, a topical issue, a national awareness day, current weather forecasts, or a pop culture event.

Why is the cat story relevant? It’s responding to a viral news story that everyone’s talking about.

In the following paragraphs or bullet points, explain the ‘when’, ‘how’, and ‘where’ of this story. 

For example: When did the rise in cat adoption occur? How does this information relate to their readers? Where did this cat adoption trend occur?

The body of the press release should also include information that supports the lead angle, such as more research findings and quotes. Including quotes can increase your article’s authority and trust, whether they’re from an expert you’ve sourced, an executive at the company you’re writing for, or a case study from a human interest perspective.

Quote example: Jane Doe, a spokesperson for the animal charity CatsArePawsome, said: “This cat is unlike anything I had ever seen before in my life. Orange cats are known for being unusual, but the way he climbed the tree and picked up the baby like a kitten was miraculous.

“Many people have been in touch to adopt a ginger cat, hoping to find their own hero pet. However, the cat in this story is an anomaly, and everyone should remember that pet ownership is a big responsibility not to take lightly.”

Finally, after concluding your article, provide a call to action (CTA), such as linking to and telling readers where to find more information. However, ensure this CTA offers something to readers rather than just asking journalists to link to your website.

CTA example: Find out the top considerations for cat adoption here.

4) The Footer

The footer is the part where you can indicate the end of the press release and include any further relevant information.

Firstly, make it clear when the article has ended, with an ‘-ENDS-’ or ‘###’.

Then, include a ‘note to editors’ section for any relevant information journalists might need, such as research methodology and contact details.

Also, include a boilerplate — a paragraph of information about the company — underneath the ‘note to editors’ section.

Here is an example of how to write the footer:

Other key elements

Here are some other important aspects to keep in mind when writing a press release:

• Write everything in the third person except for the quotes. This point of view keeps your writing impartial and objective, making it more trustworthy and credible to journalists rather than suggesting the story is motivated by personal opinions.
• Include a dateline underneath the headline for when you released the information.
• Include an embargo date and/or time if necessary or ‘for immediate release’ at the top.
• Aim for around 500–700 words.

Other Tips for Writing a Press Release

Here are some specific writing tips to help your press release stand out to journalists:

DOs

• Prioritise proofreading, as spelling and grammar mistakes can make your content appear untrustworthy to journalists.
• Use active language instead of passive language in most cases to maximise engagement. For example, ‘a baby was saved by a cat’ is passive, while ‘a cat saved a baby’ is active. Active language immerses the reader in what happened, while passive language is often confusing and unclear.
• Mix up your sentence structure to help keep your reader’s attention.
• Provide imagery to save journalists a job but keep the file size small if including it in the body of the email and link to a larger-sized version they can download.

DON’Ts

• Don’t overcomplicate the language. Descriptive, fluffy, or playful language can be effective in a blog post, but when pitching to journalists, keep it simple.
• Avoid clickbait headlines if you can’t back them up.
• Avoid sales language. Unless the press release angle is business news, keep mentions of the brand to a minimum, otherwise, journalists will mistake your content for an advertorial and likely ask for a fee to cover.
• Avoid repeating the same words and phrases throughout as this can distract and disengage readers.

In Summary

After spending hours researching or quickly pulling a reactive story together, carefully consider how your press release can best present the findings. It’s the most important stage to get right if you want to grab the attention of journalists.

A poorly written press release can completely waste the effort and time you’ve already placed into the campaign. However, when structured properly and following best practices, press releases can persuade journalists to cover your story and effectively hit your Digital PR goals!

At The SEO Works, we offer professional Digital PR services and have worked with a wide range of businesses across different industries to deliver creative campaigns that get brands noticed online. To find out more or enquire, get in touch with our friendly team.

The post How to Write a Press Release for Digital PR appeared first on The SEO Works.

Many digital marketers know how important high-quality links are for a website’s SEO — they tell Google that a site is authoritative, trustworthy and credible. Links are also an important factor Google uses to assess the quality of content.

But how do we gain high-quality links? A range of link-building techniques have been developed over the years, but today, perhaps the most popular and effective method is Digital PR.

What is Digital PR?

Digital PR, short for Digital Public Relations, is a marketing strategy that aims to increase a brand’s online presence by driving brand awareness, links and traffic to a website, therefore increasing visibility and boosting organic rankings.

Digital PR supports the SEO of a website (more on this later), but it is also part of many businesses’ wider marketing strategy. As well as being a great link-building tool, Digital PR is also a key way to get content seen by a wider audience and find new customers, as well as present a business as an expert and create more interest in company news. 

Link building is still important and widely practised — Digital PR is not only just an aid for this, it also considers the brand and audience, and supports SEO efforts.

How is Digital PR different to traditional PR?

Digital PR has become more popular in recent years, but traditional PR methods have been practised for a long time. While both can cross over with the aims of increasing brand awareness, the main differences are the methods and communication. 

Traditional PR tends to focus on more traditional media channels, including billboard advertisements, print publications, and broadcasting, whereas Digital PR focuses on online media channels, like online publications and social media. Digital PR also comes with the benefit of directly improving a brand’s website visibility via links and traffic.

How does Digital PR work?

There are a range of tactics involved in Digital PR, such as sharing data, promoting content and stories, and distributing expert quotes. Another key aspect of Digital PR is creating and sharing linkable assets, such as blog posts, data-led campaigns, press releases, and/or infographics, in the hope that relevant publications will cover the campaign on their website with a link. 

Reactive campaigns are another technique often used within Digital PR — content that reacts to a topical news story or trend. This tactic could entail sharing new relevant data, providing a suitable expert comment, or simply offering journalists alternative angles on the trending topic.

These campaigns are much more difficult to plan as they heavily depend on the news cycle and, because current events change quickly, the stories require a quick turnaround. Reactives are a risky technique, but can massively pay off.

Digital PR and SEO

Not only is Digital PR beneficial to a website on its own, but it can also make SEO shine! Digital PR is often referred to as a “white hat” form of link building. While it is a type of link-building, it is a stand-alone marketing strategy that should be done alongside SEO — Google expert John Mueler even considered it more important than other SEO aspects, such as technical SEO. 

In the past, people often approached link building with a quantity-over-quality mindset, focusing on acquiring as many links as possible, with a lack of consideration for the relevance or credibility of these links. However, these tactics are no longer effective.

Organic search has become much more competitive, and these old practices struggle to produce any substantial results. Google has become considerably smarter and now determines links by quality — ensuring a referral link is authoritative, relevant, and useful. 

These gained links, alongside solid technical SEO and on-site content, can boost search visibility for non-branded key terms, too. SEO is the channel that gets the sales and traffic, and Digital PR is an essential contributing element.

Benefits of Digital PR

We have already touched on some advantages that come with Digital PR as a link-building tool — below are some further details on how Digital PR can support your brand, and SEO more broadly.

Improve brand authority

Digital PR can build a brand’s online presence by gaining exposure. Achieving coverage in relevant, quality publications can ensure your brand name is seen by hundreds of thousands of people, potentially millions, who are interested in your business. Google is also increasingly able to identify brand mentions and factor these into its algorithms when trying to understand a brand’s credibility. 
An authoritative brand with a recognisable name can help a business stand out from the competition. According to a study, consumers are 2.5 times more likely to choose a brand they recognise over a lesser-known competitor.

Expand backlink profile

As discussed, the linkable assets and content created for Digital PR are pitched with the aim of securing valuable backlinks from respected publications and websites. 

Campaigns that are picked up and linked to will improve the site’s backlink profile, which helps to improve domain authority and ranking positions, as well as driving traffic. Also, any coverage on relevant websites can convert to sales if it’s reaching a brand’s target audience.

As well as gaining links via campaigns, these linkable assets can help to gain even more natural links over time, improving the backlink profile further.

Improve overall Google rankings

Usually, links to a website come off the back of high-quality content, which complements SEO efforts by improving the experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of a brand (E-E-A-T). These relevant, authoritative links signify to Google that the website is a trusted, authoritative source and a credible expert within the niche, which will help to improve a site’s Google ranking. 

A trusted domain with a strong backlink profile will make it easier for individual pages and keywords to rank, even if those pages don’t have direct links to them. This happens as Google will look at an overall domain, so some of the ‘link juice’ gained from those pages that have links will spread across the whole site.

Increase referral traffic

As well as improving overall search visibility, the links gained from Digital PR assets will contribute to further referral traffic, thanks to users who read about your brand on other sites, and then click through to find out more.

Often, a piece of PR content can naturally gain links over time via citations, which shows your brand is an authoritative voice on the subject. With these natural links comes further organic referral traffic from relevant websites – benefitting your SEO, brand awareness, and backlink profile.

Increase visibility for specific keywords

SEO and Digital PR work hand-in-hand, and the two can cross over and support one another. The content produced in Digital PR can often tie to the relevant keywords and topics being focused on within SEO.
Sometimes, content written for SEO may have an angle that works for Digital PR and is worth pitching in the hope of gaining links. Both of these tactics can help build visibility for target keywords.

Sales and leads

Digital PR can get your business, service, or product in front of the right audience. Gaining links or coverage in a publication that has the same target audience as your company can massively increase the possibility of converting customers, compared to gaining coverage on sites that have no relevancy. This could bring an influx of qualified, relevant leads. 

As well as reaching a more relevant audience with a higher chance of becoming customers, Digital PR can influence your business sales by increasing your brand awareness and trust.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Digital PR is one of the most powerful link-building tools available to businesses today — it can take time, as most link-building tactics can, but the payoff can be significant! The benefits discussed above – such as a quality backlink profile, increasing visibility and rankings, and improving brand authority – can enormously increase both your organic visibility and brand value. If you are interested in Digital PR for your company, whether it is to increase links, brand awareness, or support SEO, get in touch!

The post The Benefits of Digital PR for Link Building and Beyond appeared first on The SEO Works.

The beauty of digital marketing is that everything can be measured.

With SEO, you can measure organic search rankings and the resulting organic traffic and conversions. With PPC, you can measure cost per click, cost per conversion, and return on investment. With email marketing you can measure open rates, click through, and revenue.

Almost every digital marketing channel allows you to accurately measure results. And, vitally, digital marketing makes it possible to measure the last click revenue (and assisted conversions) that each channel generates. For data-driven marketers, that’s extremely powerful as it removes the guesswork. It provides data from which you can draw insights to make your business grow.

Unfortunately, measurement in the world of digital PR, up to this point, has not been quite so elegant. Many of the measurements used in digital PR are vague, helping neither clients nor agencies. Many digital PR reports comprise a mishmash of metrics, combining everything from social media ‘engagement’ to ‘average DA’ to ‘audience.’ These commonly used measurements tell you very little about measurable ROI (return on investment).

In this blog post, we propose a more rigorous framework for measuring digital PR metrics. This framework promotes meaningful, transparent reporting, enabling you to get a far more accurate measurement of long term ROI. This is achieved by bringing digital PR KPIs under the umbrella of SEO KPIs, which is where digital PR belongs. 

The Origins of Digital PR

The reason digital PR evolved from traditional PR was to solve an SEO problem. Recent years have seen digital PR develop as a discrete service and specialism. But it exists because the SEO industry needs it.

Digital PR grew because the SEO industry needed a scalable, repeatable method of building high-quality backlinks. As Google got smarter, SEO practitioners needed to get smarter. As search engines increasingly learned how to disregard or even penalise paid-for links, SEO practitioners realised that they had to earn links. Thus the rise of ‘earned’ media (another name for digital PR).

From around the 2010s, the embryonic digital PR community started to learn from traditional PR. They learned that journalists have certain needs, and that digital PRs can help them meet those needs. First and foremost, journalists need stories. So digital PRs started to get better at providing those stories. And, more importantly, digital PRs got good at providing stories which encourage journalists to link back to a client’s site.

That’s how the relatively young digital marketing discipline of digital PR got to where it is today. The story of its evolution also explains why It looks a little bizarre at times. Today, it is not unusual to see metal garage retailers publishing infographics about the life expectancy of animals, or bingo companies publishing blog posts about sexual fetishes, all in the name of link building. It’s certainly more creative than old-school link building tactics, such as spamming the comment section with backlinks to your client’s site. But the end goal is the same: get links.

Vanity metrics?

Nobody doubts that getting links is the raison d’être of digital PR. The question is, why do so many digital PRs dress it up as something different? All too often a wide spread of loosely relevant campaign metrics are thrown into the measurement mix. For the most part, these metrics have managed to escape scrutiny. But one thing is certain – these numbers cannot be translated into any accurate, data-driven measurement of ROI. Here are some examples of such metrics.

Social engagement

Social engagement metrics typically comprise likes, comments, social shares, and even social mentions, all rolled into one. The value of each of these types of social engagement is so far from measurable. This metric doesn’t even factor in the sentiment behind the engagement – whether it’s positive or negative.

If you really want a social metric related to ROI, log into Google Analytics and measure conversions resulting from social channels. In most cases, you’ll see next to no impact from digital PR. Why? Because digital PR exists to support SEO and brand awareness, not social media.

Audience

Audience has been a key metric in traditional Public Relations. But now we can actually measure things in the digital world, the case for this metric is shaky. The ‘audience’ metric typically supplies an estimate of the number of eyeballs that could have conceivably glossed over any of the websites that link to you. If the Daily Mail links to you, your ‘audience’ metric goes through the roof. Why? Because the Daily Mail is a popular website. Did you sell anything as a direct consequence of it? Did it have any traceable commercial impact on your business? 

In the case of getting expert comments featured in the media, this metric may still mean something. But this metric is mainly irrelevant in many digital PR cases where the story is only tangentially related to the business.

Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) or Domain Rating (DR) metrics purport to bring clarity to the murky world of link building. Besides the fact that these figures do not account for relevancy of links, and the fact that they are merely indicators to be taken with a broader context, this metric tells you nothing about ROI.

If you get a link from the BBC, that’s probably great news for you in the long term, and something to be celebrated. But how are you going to measure the value of it? The Domain Authority metric is unable to provide a meaningful answer. The ‘Average Domain Authority’ metric is even more bizarre. By the logic of Average Domain Authority, a campaign is apparently less successful if it has a range of natural low DA links in addition to high DA links. In this respect, the metric runs counter to reality.

Short term spikes

Short term traffic spikes can be beneficial, but should not generally be treated as a goal of digital PR. A digital PR campaign might drive traffic to your website in the short term, but what is the intent of those users? 

A small number of well-executed, product-focused digital PR campaigns do generate relevant conversions. Such campaigns are great, but they are rare. 

In the majority of cases, referral traffic off the back of digital PR is low-intent traffic. You don’t need a data expert to tell you that a 300% traffic spike that lasts a day and leads to no conversions probably isn’t providing measurable ROI.

Increased search demand

Another metric that has made its way into digital PR measurement is ‘increased search demand.’ This metric looks at the search volume for a keyword related to the campaign in a time period before the campaign, and a time period after the campaign. If the search volume happens to be higher at a convenient point after the campaign – voila! – the increase is attributed to the success of the campaign itself.

It should go without saying that a massive range of factors can influence fluctuations in search volume, such as seasonality, above the line marketing campaigns, social media and market demand. It is difficult to measure with any accuracy if the PR campaign caused the uplift.

Metrics that Matter

The solution is simple. Whilst the metrics above may give some sense of a campaign’s performance, Digital PR should focus more on solid metrics that matter. We do that by bringing digital PR KPIs under the umbrella of SEO. Why? Because digital PR and SEO serve the same master: organic traffic, conversions, and revenue.

Too many digital PR campaigns burn bright and fizzle fast. The glitzy promises of being featured in Forbes are flattering for everyone. But if all you’re motivated by is a cool campaign that gets you a mention in Marie Claire, you’re looking in the wrong places for measurable impact. Digital PR works best when it’s integrated as part of a long-term SEO strategy and measured against SEO KPIs: organic traffic, conversions, and revenue.

The Way Forward

Quirky concepts that generate a lot of noise can help get links, but they can also make people lose sight of the goal. What most businesses need is a steady trickle of quality, relevant links that support a rigorous content and technical SEO strategy. By focusing on SEO KPIs over the long term, digital PR can play a key role in growth. Detached from its SEO foundations, it can become little more than a vanity project.

To be effective, and to be measurable, digital PR has to be a part of SEO. Of course, digital PRs are accountable for getting links. That’s their job. But it must never be detached from the bigger picture of SEO KPIs.

So this is the proposal – focus on the metrics that matter. Digital PR success is best measured against exactly the same long-term KPIs as SEO. If you’re committed to growing organically online, it’s the only measurable way to do it.

Want to grow your business with digital PR? Get in touch with The SEO Works today.

The post How to Measure Digital PR: A Data-Driven Approach appeared first on The SEO Works.