It is my belief that all PR campaigns need to have clear and defined KPI’s before being launched.
The main KPI our PR team at connective3 gets set is for high-quality backlinks, but others can include social shares, press coverage, traffic to the campaign page, or similar metrics.
When we started out in 2019 our clients were mainly all UK brands looking for UK links and placements, so setting KPI’s was easy (as I have worked in this market for over 9 years)
During 2020 and 2021 the business (and certainly the PR team) grew rapidly, expanding from just the UK to the states, Australia and across Europe.
This international growth has been extremely successful for connective3 and our clients but taught me (as a director or a PR team) an invaluable lesson when it comes to setting campaign KPI’s.
With international PR or link building, a common misconception is that just because a campaign works in one country, that it will work in them all! Or furthermore, another common misconception is that the results you receive will be the same in each and every country you target.
This is not always the case!
It makes sense when you think about it. If you’re running a campaign in a country where there are fewer sites/ journalists, then coverage and links will naturally be harder to come by so KPIs will need to be lower. The same is true the other way round, more sites and journalists should mean more links!
There are other points you will need to consider such as the public attitude to the topic you’re pushing, any regulations which may impact your outreach as well as how the brand is perceived in the country you’re targeting.
Understanding the above will allow you to set realistic KPI’s, which is crucial to building long-term relationships and letting the client know exactly what you believe you can deliver.
With brand perception, regulations and cultural attitudes, you will need to do your research but when it comes to the media opportunity (number of sites and journalists) I have created a tool that may be able to help.
I have pulled together an interactive map that shows the number of journalists and sites, per country across Europe (I will expand it to other areas shortly)
Please note: This data was taken from the media database Vuelio and accounts for sites and journalists covering all niches. This is just to give you a topline idea and if you are planning an international campaign you will want to make sure you are checking sites that are relevant to the campaign you are running.
Check it out below:
If you ever want to talk about international KIP’s or just want to chat link building in general, reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn and I would love to chat!
