Are you interested in a job in digital PR but have no idea how to get your foot in the door?
Then this guide is for you
In a nutshell, digital PR is all about increasing brand awareness and engagement through online channels such as websites, blogs, social media, and online news. This is done by creating relevant and newsworthy content that is then sent out to the media.
For digital PRs, the main goal is to achieve high-quality backlinks from these campaigns which helps signal to Google that your website is reputable, and ideally improves their rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
At the moment, there are many agencies hiring for digital PRs…
Like any other job, you should do basic preparation including researching the organisation, reviewing the job description, going over your CV and tailoring it to the company and role, and prepping your questions and answers. If your interview is in-person, then it’s also wise to plan your route there and back in advance as well as deciding what to wear.
It can be tricky to prep for interview questions as you really don’t know what you’re going to be asked. However, it’s always worth having some answers at the ready in case a question does come up, which should help you to feel more confident going in.
Here are some example questions an interviewer might ask:
At the moment, there are many agencies hiring for digital PRs…
To help get your head around some of the different industry tools you might come across, we want to give some insights into the most popular and useful tools* that we typically use day in, day out as digital PRs.
Buzzstream is an outreach platform that you can use to launch and monitor your campaigns. No longer do you have to manually send each individual email, instead, you can build and upload media lists to the platform, create and edit different templates to get them distributed with ease.
Vuelio is a key tool when building media lists and during outreach because it is essentially a contact database where you can find all sorts of media contacts from around the world. This is particularly useful when the journalist’s email isn’t within their recent articles or in their Twitter bio.
A great tool for reactive PR is ResponseSource which is an email subscription service that helps to connect experts, PRs, and journalists who need help or information. Not only can you respond to requests to get your client’s name out there, but PRs can also use this tool to send out their own requests for campaign support, for instance, expert commentary.
You can use Google Trends to research and analyse search trends of a given term or keyword over a period of time. In PR, this can be used as its own data source (something we’ll touch on in more detail later), or to add relevance to an existing piece.
One well-known piece of software is Ahrefs which classes itself as an all-in-one SEO toolset, and here at c3 this is used across a few of our different teams including PR. Some of the tools you can find on Ahrefs include their site explorer, content explorer, keywords explorer, rank tracker, and link intersect.
Moz is another tool that allows you to gain SEO insights such as page authority, domain authority, site rankings, keyword research, and auditing. There is also a free google chrome extension you can get called MozBar which is useful as it provides a quick overview of some of these metrics.
Keyword.io is a free keyword research tool that helps you find autocomplete keyword suggestions from various sources including Google, Amazon, and YouTube. This is a versatile tool that can be used across various digital marketing teams, including PR.
Working in digital PR means you always need to keep up to date with what is going on in the news including what topics are currently trending, Buzzsumo lets you do just that, and you can filter or search a certain category. This tool is pretty versatile and can be used for ideation, finding results, and competitor analysis, amongst other things.
We’re pretty sure you’ll have heard of Google Analytics before as it provides all sorts of SEO and marketing insights and can even help you find results for your campaigns. Google Analytics is free to use but the client will have to give you access to their account in order to analyse the website traffic.
HypeAuditor is an AI-power analytics and discovery tool which allows you to manage and monitor influencer marketing campaigns. You can also use it to gather useful data and metrics about influencers from across various social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch.
Linkfluence is a social listening tool that can help PRs to take a deep dive into consumer insights via a live feed of global social data. Some ways PRs can use Linkfluence include monitoring brand reputation, finding results, understanding competitors and data collection.
AnswerThePublic is a keyword and search listening tool and, in short, it provides automated autocomplete results. All you need to do is ask a question related to whatever topic you’re interested in and then you’ll be able to see what Google would predict you to ask based on the most common searches.
It’s no secret that the digital PR community is huge on Twitter, and you’ll always see people shouting out one another and just generally being super supportive.
Of course, if you’re new to the world of digital PR you don’t have to worry about being super active online but there are some great accounts and hashtags to follow for all sorts of tips and tricks.
Below are a few of our personal favourites:
Of course, these are just a few examples and there are so many other great people and industry leaders out there offering invaluable advice.
One of the best parts about working in PR is how creative it is but campaign ideation isn’t always planning.
In order to spark inspiration, sometimes all it takes is looking at other sites for inspiration. If you’ve recently joined the industry and aren’t sure where to start, here are a few of our favourites:
The Grapevine is a monthly newsletter set up by Iona Townsley (@IonaJTownsley), a creative at NeoMam Studios. Each month Iona sends out an email which rounds up all the PR campaigns that she can find for a particular month, even sorting them into categories such as travel, lifestyle, and food to name a few.
Another news outlet that is worth looking at if you’re new to the industry is PR Week as it covers all aspects of the PR and communications industry. The only caveat with this one is that some things are hidden behind a paywall, although you can register for free and access a limited number of articles a month.
The Drum is a media and news outlet sharing the latest industry news and insights on marketing and media industries from around the world. This includes stories, job search resources, event listings, and features.
Famous Campaigns is an independent blog that covers all sorts of PR and marketing stunts and campaigns. On the blog you can find posts that cover the different stunts and campaigns, split out by sector, explaining them in a bit more detail.
Mark Porter (@markcporter) the head of marketing at Screaming Frog runs Content, Curated which is a monthly newsletter looking at his top picks for campaigns that month. In his posts, Mark gives a quick overview of his selected campaigns and why he likes them as well as some other honourable mentions, PR stunts, must-read marketing articles, and a must-follow marketer. You can either sign up for the Content, Curated email newsletter or head over to the blog.
Root Digital, a digital marketing agency, has its very own The BEST Digital PR & Link Building Campaigns list of what they deem the best digital PR and link building campaigns which you can go to for campaign inspiration. You can even go as far as filtering the campaigns by format (e.g., competition, interactive, and map), industry (e.g., automotive, beauty, and hone), market (e.g., UK and US), and year. Plus, they also tell you how many links each campaign secured.
Now you know where to find campaign inspiration it’s time to put that to use during an ideation session.
Productive brainstorms are crucial in PR as this is where the campaign ideas come from and are the base of future work.
Of course, you’ll be attending brainstorms for your own clients but it’s likely that you’ll support those for clients too. It can be hard to think of innovative ideas all the time so if you ever find yourself in a bit of a rut these are our ideation tips and tricks:
Typically, you’ll receive a brief prior to the brainstorm which will include key information such as an overview, previous campaigns, industry news, competitor insights, inspiration, and some initial ideas so other people can see where to start.
Not everybody thinks the same way, so the same approach won’t work for everyone, and that’s fine. There are all sorts of ideation styles including brainwriting, figure storming, round the room, and change of scenery.
This can be easy to do when you work on multiple clients and are constantly having to come up with new and exciting ideas. However, one of the most important things to bear in mind when heading into a brainstorm is relevancy and the purpose behind whatever campaign you’re suggesting – constantly question yourself and ask ‘why’.
And last but not least, no idea is a bad idea. Sometimes we might randomly think of the wackiest things but there’s always something to take from it. Even if it’s not a developed concept you can still put it forward and potentially spark something from somebody else. After all, PR is all about creativity and standing out.
Helpful data sources really are the bread and butter of our PR work, especially as they form the basis of our campaigns.
Below we’ve listed just some of the data sources we tend to use here at c3, although you will need to check the terms before using them as some require attribution and/or permission first:
Being able to combine PR and SEO will see you achieve better results and supports a wider strategy.
Below are some important pieces of SEO knowledge to have if you’re going to be working in PR:
A major part of PR is link-building and getting quality links can have a big impact on SEO, so it’s important to know the difference between each type and their value.
Followed links are seen to be the most ‘valuable’ as they pass link equity and help boost the page rank of the linked-to site which in turn see them go higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
No-follow links are slightly different, and you can spot them as they have a rel=”nofollow” tag and are invisible meaning it doesn’t pass link equity, but that’s not to say they don’t hold value, depending on what your clients’ goals are.
There is also content syndication, which is when a journalist, in particular someone who writes for an umbrella media business, publishes the same content over multiple news websites. While Google is not a fan of duplicate content, syndication won’t negatively impact SEO, but it also only tends to count as one link so doesn’t help massively either.
Domain rating (DR) is a metric created by Ahrefs that shows the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. They determine strength by comparing the given site to others in their database on a 100-point ‘logarithmic’ scale with higher numbers being stronger.
Domain authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score used to see how likely a website is to rank on SERPs, aka how authoritative it is. DA scoring was developed by Moz and you can use their website, or the handy chrome extension MozBar, to find this out. The scoring is ranked from one to 100, with higher scores correlating to being more likely to rank and is based on multiple factors such as linking root domains and total number of links.
If you’re not sure what referral traffic means, essentially it is any time that someone clicks on a link to go to a website from another source. This is pretty much the core of digital PR strategy where you create and outreach content with the aim of getting a link on another site that someone else might click.
Ultimately, good digital PR will result in a diverse backlink profile including links from authoritative websites with a high DA which should see your site move up in the rankings, improve visibility, and lead to more clicks and conversions.
Depending upon which clients you work with and the types of campaigns you can do, the main areas you’ll probably end up composing briefs for are brainstorms, design and development, content, and potentially video.
Here at C3, we really believe in the power of teams working together. To do so effectively, your brief needs to convey your campaign and client’s message.
Some tips for writing a comprehensive brief include:
Share it within enough time. Every business or team will work to their own timeframes, and it’s important to ensure that you’re meeting those, so that those who will be digesting the brief have time to ask questions and prepare.
A press release is your way of communicating your campaign to the media, which will then be transformed into a story to share with the public.
Not only is your press release your ticket to sharing your asset and securing results, but it’s also your opportunity to build credibility for your client and highlight that they are the experts in their field.
Given that it’s so important to get your press release right and grab the reader’s attention we’ve come up with some top tips:
Don’t forget to add additional value with insight from your client, after all, that’s what is going to make your campaign stand out.
Newsjacking, aka reactive PR, means reacting to current events and the ever-changing news agenda allowing you to position your client as an expert in their field. It’s also a great way to build extra links.
There are two main types of newsjacking in PR which are using press releases (either new or old) along with expert commentary.
Getting the most out of your newsjacking is crucial, here are some of our top tips on what to do, and what not to do:
When you spot an upcoming opportunity, it’s always worth seeing if you have any previous campaigns you can use or quickly reangle first. For example, maybe you have a campaign on the UK’s favourite pets that you can quickly edit to reflect National Pet Month. However, if not then you might consider quickly creating an entirely new release. An example of this might be revealing the most popular houseplants in light of Houseplant Week.
Expert comments are probably the most common form of newsjacking and, in theory, take less time. There are different sorts of comments, for instance, you could be talking about a breaking news story or reacting to a planned event or release like car registrations and house price indexes. These tend to be more unplanned than using press releases, so you need to be ready to get a comment out to the media fast.
It might seem obvious, but you should be monitoring your campaign constantly and unfortunately, there are occasions when things don’t always go to plan.
Perhaps you’ve launched and followed up but you’re still not seeing an open rate that you’re happy with or haven’t had any feedback… now is the time to act!
But what do you do? Here are some of our tips on how to save a failing campaign:
If you’re working on something that isn’t yet in outreach but you’re having difficulty with the data or making it newsworthy enough, don’t be afraid to switch it out for something you have more confidence in.
Outreach is a key skill to master early on in your digital PR career, and this involves building relationships with journalists and earning yourself a reputation as a reliable and helpful PR at the earliest opportunity.
There are several different publications you can target during outreach, with the most common sectors being:
Here are some of other top tips for getting the most out of outreach:
The thrill of launching a campaign never goes away and we still find ourselves looking for results right after the campaign is live and launched, but where are the best places to check?
If you can’t see anything straight away, don’t panic, sometimes you just need to dig a little bit deeper.
Try these tips and see if you can spot something you missed the first time around:
Google Analytics is another great way to find links, but you’ll need to have access to your client’s Google profile in order to do so. All you need to do is navigate to All Traffic and then select Referrals, and Source which will allow you to check all the linking domains.
There you have it, a full digital PR starter pack, to help you feel confident when applying to your next role in PR even if you don’t have any previous experience.
As you can see, digital PR isn’t just about building links, it encompasses so much more than that and holds a lot of value for your clients. It plays a key role in increasing brand awareness and if you can establish a solid workstream alongside SEO and content then it can be game changing!
Here at c3 we’re constantly growing so if you’re ready to start a career in digital PR then head over to our careers page, or you can find even more digital marketing advice on our blog.
Let’s get started
There’s often a lack of understanding around the importance of creative briefs. You’ll sometimes find, particularly in agencies, that there’s a limited relationship between the people creating the product and the people who manage the marketing. Messages become skewed and unnecessary problems arise.
A clear and concise creative brief can be fundamental to avoiding these issues and the success of a campaign; more often than not, without a brief, your design team could experience a total lack of insight into the message being put across and the audience being spoken to, or lack knowledge of the things that have and haven’t worked well in past campaigns.
A poor brief can waste valuable time and money, which, when working in a fast-paced agency, is something you need to be avoiding wherever possible.
Developing an effective creative brief template might seem daunting, and to some people pointless at first, but once a brief has been perfected, it serves as the bedrock for a never-ending reward of successful campaigns over and over again.
A creative brief is a document that ensures everyone has the same understanding of a campaign’s ultimate goals. It ensures all involved are on the same page about the brand in question, their competitors, their audiences, what their behaviours are, and most importantly, what the key message for the campaign is and how it’s going to be achieved.
Having knowledge of all this allows everyone involved to come together to deliver the best possible cohesion between marketing strategy and creative execution, and create something really impactful.
A good place to start when constructing a creative brief is building a template. This template can be used as the starting point for all future briefs, making the process simple and easy by prompting the creator of the document to gather all necessary materials to ensure designers have all the things they need.
For example, is the designer equipped with all the correct and up-to-date brand guidelines, asset copy, and data they need to create your digital PR campaign assets? This will change depending on the type of campaign you’re running, especially if they’re designing for social media, so you should ensure that all required materials are attached alongside the brief.
Secondly, clear communication is key when constructing a creative brief. The brief need to get across the objectives of the campaign and what the end goal is, so you should include detail about each specific design asset. This doesn’t mean writing lengthy paragraphs of information copied and pasted from ‘brand guidelines’ or ‘tone of voice’ documents, though; bullet points covering the fundamental facts and insight will do just fine. It is called a brief after all.
Other things you might want to add to a creative brief template include:
If you’re unsure how to construct your first brief, seeking inspiration from similar creative briefs can really help to get you going. So put in some time to see what other people are doing with similar campaigns.
Whether it’s the concept, the layout, the functionality, the styling, the colours, the icons, or the UX, you can use other creative brief examples to help you work out what to include in your own.
And if you like something, add it in via a link; “Here is a link to a cool campaign I have seen. I like *this*, *this*, and *this*, and I think something similar could work really well for our campaign”. This doesn’t mean you’re asking the designer to copy it colour by colour; it simply provides context to your way of thinking in a more visual manner. Websites such as Dribbble, Designspiration, and Awwwards can be a great starting point for visual research.
Another very simple-yet-effective way of getting ideas across is through sketches. These can be as basic as stickmen or scribbles, but, if you’re struggling to explain your visions, sketch it, scan it, annotate it, and attach it to your brief. All of these tasks are simple but extremely effective in guiding your designer.
The process of learning how to write a creative brief is also a great way of identifying the things that you may not know, pushing you to do more research to fill the gaps and create a better campaign.
Ultimately, a great brief will go a long way in aiding your creative processes again and again. To ensure you can confidently hand over a creative brief, always remember to ask yourself this:
Answering yes to these questions is vital, and will help you to reap the rewards of an exceptional campaign.
If you’re interested in seeing some of our own successful creative campaigns, why not look through some of the client work we’ve done. And if you want more insight into the world of content marketing, digital PR, and SEO, check out what our experts have to say over on the connective3 blog.
Germany is so much more than just Bundesliga and cars. With vibrant cities like Munich and Berlin, as well as beautiful landscapes along the alpine and black forest region, the country offers a wide range of opportunities to jump on for your Digital PR campaigns.
Similar to most European countries, awareness days as we know them in the UK and US are rarely heard of. There are however a few important ones for your diaries which we’ve highlighted below. Religious celebrations play a much bigger role, although people leaving the church community was at a record high1 in 2021.
During all bank holidays and Sundays, it’s important to note that in Germany, people aren’t allowed to mow their lawn or have loud renovation work done and most shops will be closed, apart from a small number of supermarkets with reduced opening hours.
The main days to keep in mind for your Digital PR campaigns are:
One of the most popular bank holidays to celebrate the end of fast, with people focusing on getting together with their family, having a typical Easter brunch and don’t forget the Easter egg hunt! The preparation leading up to Easter is often based around family activities such as Easter egg painting or planning a trip away for the long weekend.
The Easter period is great for any campaigns around family and food. If the weather forecast is looking good, then this is a good time to start outreaching outdoorsy campaigns, such as Ikea’s Seedballs campaign. You can make use of people’s time off work during this period to motivate them to spend time improving their garden or maybe simply having a picnic at a nearby park!
Alongside many northern European countries, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th of December, not the 25th. Presents are typically opened in the evening of the 24th, with most families having a simple meal, such as sausages and potato salad, traditionally to remember the sparse meal Mary and Joseph would have had. The two days after most families will then have a beautiful traditional roast. Offices are usually closed between Christmas and the new year.
The lead up to Christmas is used for all types of campaigns and the period after Christmas is often disregarded with the thought that people have simply consumed too much over the past few weeks, however, this does not have to be true! With a lot of people spending large amounts of money during the Christmas period, the time before and after Christmas can be ideal to run campaigns on finance and money-saving tips as well as tips on how to track spending can work a treat.
This is one of the few awareness days widely celebrated all over Germany and in Berlin this is even an official bank holiday. Gender inequality is a huge topic in Germany with people all over the country using this day to raise awareness, which can be used to get people to talk about your brand. One brilliant campaign that looked at gender stereotypes was “Wir haben nie gesagt, dass es einfach ist” (English: We never said it was easy) by Hornbach, a German home improvement store.
The summer holidays differentiate between the 16 federal states to ensure not everyone is off school at the same time, but all Bundesländer will have around six weeks off school. Often families will plan a longer holiday, teens may go on so-called “Zeltlager” trips, where a large group goes camping, usually accompanied by younger adults who will plan their activities and tasks.
This is the perfect time to run campaigns on outdoor-related topics, kids’ activities, and travel. Deutsche Bahn ran a campaign (“Spar dir den Flug”) comparing different famous landmarks from all over the world with similar-looking spots in Germany, comparing the train fares to the cost of flying abroad.
Last but not least, Oktoberfest! Although primarily celebrated in Bavaria, most other parts of Germany have taken on the tradition and even in smaller towns, you’ll find Oktoberfest celebrations. But don’t be fooled, even though the name indicates it may be in October, it’s actually celebrated in September.
Oktoberfest can be used for different types of campaigns – anything garden or party related and even travel. You could for example share tips on how to prepare your own Oktoberfest at home for friends and family.
Now that you know which days you want to use for your upcoming PR activities, it’s time to look at how best to reach out to German press. Getting in contact with people in Germany is much more formal compared to the UK, especially if you haven’t been in contact with the person before. Don’t ask how someone is doing or how their day has been, it’s often seen as too invasive and therefore rude.
Most people still prefer being approached as Mr or Mrs and it’s important to think about what type of topic you’re looking to cover – if it’s a serious one you should consider using a more formal way to approach someone. In-person or even in an email, you may ask a person if they’re happy for you to use their first name instead of last, but don’t be discouraged if they say no – it’s simply a formality.
When you’re contacting someone ensure to mention why you’re contacting them and often it’s best to explain in what way they can help, rather than simply sending over a press release or comment. The more clarity the better. Also, don’t hesitate to contact outlets and ask for the best person to get in touch with, most journalists will be happy to redirect you.
You’re now ready to start your PR campaign in Germany – happy link building and viel Erfolg!
For more digital PR tips head over to our blog and you can find out about connective3’s international growth here.
Sources
As our media landscapes rapidly evolve to keep up with the volume and breadth of information being shared around the world, organisations are trying to find new ways to keep their audience engaged and attract new ones.
Understanding the media ecosystem of the countries you want to target with campaigns is vital to international PR teams, as without this information you may find campaigns that you thought would take off remaining grounded.
Our series on the different media landscapes you might encounter is designed to help you get a clearer picture of the angles you should be taking in different countries, the media targets to keep in range, and the major players you should keep on your radar.
With a population of 83 million people, Germany is one of the top 10 largest countries in Europe. And with German speakers in Austria, Switzerland, parts of Belgium, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg, German media extends even beyond the borders of Germany itself.
German history has played a huge part in how the media landscape has formed. Until 1990, the country was divided into East and West Germany, each with its own media outlets. The Eastern German media was tightly controlled until the country was unified, under which the broadcasting system became centralised.
As a result, Germany’s media ecosystem remains one of the most traditional in Europe, with most of the country’s media trust being held by newspapers and radio. In 2021, 69% of Germans were using TV as their main source of news, however, online media, including social media, is quickly catching up to this, with a 13% rise in popularity since 2016.
The five most popular online news sites in Germany include:
Internet coverage is 96% across the country, meaning that the vast majority of the country has access to these platforms. The most popular device to access the news is mobile phones (61%), followed by computers and laptops (49%). But how much trust do the German population put in their media outlets, either traditional or online?
Over half of the people in Germany consuming news (53%) claim to trust the news that they consume. The highest trust rate for the media lies in their public service broadcasters (PSBs) and local news outlets, such as ‘ARD Tagesschau’ (70%) and ‘ZDF Heute (68%).
The most well-known ‘yellow press’ or tabloid newspaper, ‘Bild’, on the other hand, only has a trust rating of 19% from the German public. In fact, between 2013 and 2021, print media lost 40% of readers, but 26% of those interested in the news still rely on print.
A lot of this decline could be due to the rise in interest in social media as a news outlet, specifically amongst the youth of the population. The country has over 28 million active social media accounts, meaning there is a penetration of 35% of the population through this route.
As a result, PSMs have tried to keep up with the growing interest by making their content accessible through multiple social media platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. (1)
Now that we have a better view of the lay of the land, it’s time to take a look at how we would recommend preparing an international PR campaign for the German market.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, especially when it comes to international PR campaigns. Before starting your outreach, it’s really important to ensure that you know that your campaign is going to be successful when you outreach, and that means doing some research and preparation beforehand.
You will need to know:
Now that you have an idea of what to look out for and you’ve got a solid base of ideas and concepts, you can begin to build out your campaign further.
Whether it’s for one of your clients or your own brand that you’d like to introduce in Germany, picking the right tone is vital to ensuring that a campaign lands well in a country that you may be less familiar with.
Culturally, there are formal and informal ways to address people in Germany, so making sure that you find the culturally correct form of address will be essential. Speak to your team to find out if a more formal approach would be better suitable for your topic.
For example, if you’re covering finance or business-related topics, consider using the address ‘höfliche Anrede’. To address someone directly when using more formal speech, you’d use ‘Sehr geehrte/r Frau/Herr (last name)’ or ‘Guten Tag Herr/Frau (last name)’. That translates to ‘Dear Mr/Mrs…’ Using correct terminology in your content, is essential. If you are using a translator, include this in your brief.
In general, Germans are more interested in more serious topics or topics that they can personally relate to, such as finance and business, current and traditional lifestyle topics, and particularly sustainability. Here are some angles you could consider:
Finding the correct journalists can be critical to your international campaigns. Finding exactly the right journalist will help your campaign and content to land in exactly the right inbox, so doing the research beforehand will help you immensely.
Don’t shy away from emailing or even calling one journalist from a certain publication and asking for the contact details of the person who may be interested in your content! If you’re not sure what publications to reach out to, see who has previously covered similar topics.
A little tip – if you’re not located in Germany, change your location in your Google setting and more relevant results will show in your search feed.
Finally, find creative ways to include your statistics from your release, either with a well-organised table or a creative illustration. This ensures that the journalists you reach out to are entertained by your content and not overwhelmed by a page of numbers.
Ensure you introduce your content and explain in a short sentence why you are contacting the journalists. Some journalists may have further questions, so offer your help and assistance in your pitch so they know who to get in touch with to keep your campaign in the running for outreach.
Understanding the culture, traditions, and landscape of the country you want to target for international PR campaigns is crucial for success. For further insights into the media landscapes of various countries around the world, check out the international section of the c3 website.
You can also find insights into different industries and PR campaign concepts here, as well as contact details for our native in-house speakers.
When working in digital PR, we all know that feeling of seeing a piece of coverage with a link… only to find out it’s an affiliate link.
An affiliate link is essentially a tag that allows publications to make a commission from any sales made through that link.
To check whether an affiliate link has been added, right-click on the page > select view page source > ctrl+f to search for your URL, and then check to see if anything has been added to the front of it. For example, the highlighted part of the link here shows the affiliate:
Although affiliate links can still drive traffic and awareness, they don’t pass any SEO value from the linking site. Google ‘neutralises’ the link, which means they won’t be recognised from an SEO perspective and therefore won’t have any effect on SERP positioning or brand visibility.
Affiliate links also tend to go through a series of redirects which devalues them even further so if your KPIs are to build links to increase site authority, affiliates aren’t going to do what you need them to do in the long run.
Building links when your brand has a list of affiliate programmes with news sites can feel frustrating, but the good news is that there are multiple tactics you can implement to help get around them, so you can still diversify your backlink profile and broaden your visibility scope against competitors.
Try the following strategies to avoid affiliate links in your outreach:
Have a list of all the titles that you are in an affiliate programme with, and make sure this is regularly updated, so you know exactly where to focus your time when it comes to pitching stories.
Whether affiliate links are added or not can depend on the journalist so try and find other journalists from different news teams. For instance, if the consumer news team is giving affiliates, is there a story you can shape that might be more suited to lifestyle journalists at the same publication?
Broaden out your stories so you can reach out to niche publications that won’t typically give you affiliate links. For example, if you’re an e-commerce brand that sells anything from food and drinks to home furnishings, create media lists and ideas that target publications in those sectors. Diversifying your backlink profile will also have a positive effect on your SEO strategy, just make sure the sites are still relevant.
Think of other sites outside of the news publishing world that you can target. Can you share internal business achievements with business, HR, and relevant industry sites? Or interview expert members of your team and send the commentary to industry publications to give them the latest insights on fresh news.
If you’re running a story on the best cities for students, could you look to send the top areas to corresponding university blogs? Or if you have a study on cooking, you could look to send this to local cookery schools or bakers that have news sections on site.
It’s important to remember that any page on the internet can provide a link, not just publications. So, for example, if you work with a list of brands, try link reclamation on their sites, asking them if they will include a link back to your website so customers can get more information about the brand.
For further information, check out our guide to technical link reclamation.
Affiliate links aren’t all doom and gloom. Yes, they don’t pass the SEO authority from one site to another, but they can still bring in other results for your brand. If you find you’re building a lot of affiliate links but want to show the value they have, here are some things to look out for:
Ultimately, affiliate links can be frustrating but there are multiple tweaks we make to PR strategies to try to get around them and although they’re not passing value, affiliate links do still contribute to increasing brand awareness and viewership of PR content.
c3’s Content Marketing Director, David White, shares his top three tips for building affiliate links:
For more of our digital marketing insight, check out the rest of our blog, or get in touch with any questions.
We may be living through turbulent times, but one thing that has remained a top priority to UK consumers is staying on top of the latest interior trends.
Image source: Unsplash
Now that spring has officially sprung, many people across the nation will be embracing the longer days and warmer weather as a sign to start refreshing their homes. In fact, Google Trends data shows a spike in searches for the term ‘decorating’ during the months of March and April each year – so it’s clear that we’re ready to start the season with décor tweaks, and a touch of feng shui to transform your space for spring.
With this in mind, our PR team experts have pulled together their insight on the tactics and strategies we’re seeing work particularly well in the interior space right now.
It’s never been quite as difficult to cut through the noise in the media, and being able to offer useful insight that’s interesting, unique, and actionable is really going to help to elevate your story.
We’re seeing more and more demand for an authoritative voice, in both proactive and reactive content, so being able to offer this first-hand is so important. This is particularly sought-after in an industry such as home interiors, where we know journalists and content creators are always on the lookout for emerging trends and interesting cost-saving hacks.
Whether you have an expert voice in-house already, or you need to look at bringing on board an external stylist or interior designer, it’s worth considering how you can make use of their insider knowledge as part of your content and outreach and add authority to your expertise.
Whether you’re an old-school PR or a newbie, you’ll know that media monitoring and staying on top of the news agenda is vital in this fast-paced digital world. However, knowing how and when to react can be a real game changer.
You need to know your industry. Whether it’s bedrooms, kitchens, or flooring, being able to identify the key trends within your niche is so important. Do your research, consider whether you have any interesting sales data or strong imagery available to match a trending topic and, as always with reactive PR, make sure you’re quick to jump on the topic with something unique to offer.
In particular, we’re seeing a spotlight on celebrity homes. With many famous faces sharing their luxurious abodes on social media, journalists are looking for interior experts to share their take on the specific décor used and reveal how to recreate a similar look in your own home. This tactic is key to ensure your experts stay relevant in the industry.
Of course, not every piece of content can be evergreen, especially if you’re working with emerging trends, or constructing a newsjacking piece. However, we’ve had some great success stories from content being picked up weeks or months after initial outreach and it’s likely due to journalists being busier than ever before.
If you’re not getting the pick-up you expected but you’re confident that you’re pitching to the most appropriate, relevant contact and have something unique and interesting to offer – fear not! Your story may have been stored away to be used later down the line, especially common for tip round-ups from numerous experts in one article.
We’re finding that content featuring unusual cleaning hacks, budget-friendly jobs, storage solutions or trend predictions – longer-term rather than immediate trends – tend to perform particularly well in this context.
There has been a lot of debate of late in the PR industry about whether creative campaigns have ‘had their day’, and this seems particularly significant in the interiors space in which journalists favour quick content. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion, one thing we’re finding is that being creative can absolutely work and can be a great way of generating results in the interior space. However, we need to be tactical about how and when we launch these types of campaigns.
Creative can come in a range of formats that help tell your story; it could be creating video or photo content to accompany your story, using mood boards to visualise and bring ideas to life, or even developing a new product or range as part of a bigger, brand building tactic.
With many looking at social media as a means of interior inspiration, using customers as case studies is a powerful way to visualise your brand. Using creative videos and images, utilise renovations or installations to showcase your unique offering, accompanied by expert quotes from interior experts.
It might not be feasible or appropriate to launch a ‘creative’ campaign every quarter, but when done correctly and alongside other tactics, these campaigns can be hugely successful and beneficial.
The cost of living is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and that includes the media. From large-scale renovations to quick and easy decorating hacks and budget-friendly DIY jobs, if there’s potential to add a monetary value to your content, it’s worth putting some time into working out the numbers.
If you’re able to share tangible budgeting tips or money-saving advice, such as tactics to reduce your heating bills, as part of your campaign, it can really help to enhance your story and will provide you with additional angles when it comes to outreach.
Home interior content and advice should be useful, inspirational, and practical. It might sound simple, but always make sure your press release has strong imagery and, where possible, features bespoke shots that highlight your key product area, with the relevant captions and prices included.
Try to feature additional brands or voices too so that the story isn’t too promotional or one-sided. If you feel like you’re trying to shoe-horn a brand into the story, it probably isn’t going to work, but creating a naturally flowing piece with helpful advice, case studies and stunning aesthetics is the ultimate goal.
Hopefully this piece has provided you with some helpful insight and tips to consider when planning PR activity in the home interiors industry.
One thing that’s important to take into consideration is that no two strategies should ever really be the same; you should always take your brand’s goals, aspirations, and priorities into consideration when planning, and be sure to work closely with your SEO team too. As always, remember to keep ideas and content relevant to the brand too.
Remember to revisit your strategy regularly, and be honest about what is or isn’t working and what is helping to drive organic performance. If you’re finding that reactive commentary is proving to be hugely successful in driving results, it may be worth putting more time into this tactic as opposed to creative-led campaigns.
There’s nothing we PRs love more than a good newsjacking opportunity and to keep on top of all the upcoming national days, weeks, and months, we’ve created C3 Newsroom – sharing all the latest opportunities across a range of sectors with our ‘always on’ approach.
Keeping on top of digital PR trends can be tricky, especially in such a dynamic industry as marketing. Still, there are moments throughout each season when digital and traditional PRs truly put on their thinking caps to create campaigns that will land well in the media, and Christmas is the ultimate, trickiest, season of all for media coverage.
If you work in PR, you know coming up with an idea for a Christmas PR campaign is never easy. Designing a campaign perfect enough to get snapped up from the slush pile and published with a link is what most PRs want for Christmas, but there are ways to increase the chance of success.
Have you run a digital PR campaign in the past around Christmas that performed well? Or perhaps it underperformed, and the campaign ended up being a flop? It can be hard to understand what makes a campaign stand out to journalists and what doesn’t, but taking learnings from it is important. Some things you can do are:
Do you need some campaign inspiration? Why not check out the previous PR campaigns we’ve run at connective3?
PRs know that different strategies are required for different sectors. It isn’t easy to create a one-size-fits-all strategy for multiple markets. Instead, break down your understanding of each sector and do market research to better inform your strategies.
Luckily, there are some tell-tale signs of what will be trending during Christmas for the retail sector. With the competition being impossibly hard, big brands such as John Lewis and M&S will be trying to secure themselves coverage early, ahead of the crowd.
John Lewis has already revealed their Christmas decorations for this year, with the themes being Rainbow Time Capsule, Winter Fairytale, Polar Planet, Beyond Christmas, Royal Fairytale and Christmas Cottage. John Lewis has already secured coverage, particularly for their ‘Christmas shop’ and ‘Christmas tree decorations’. Taking a reactive approach and jumping on trends the big brands set can benefit your strategy in the lead-up to Christmas.
Thinking about the core Christmas values such as kindness, generosity and spending time with your family can also be a good way of starting your ideation. Can you flip anything on its head, and create a new story?
Publishing Christmas content early can also help brands in the run-up to Christmas as their content has had time to make an impact on the SERPs and Google has had time to index, validate, and push the content.
Source: John Lewis
For travel brands interested in running a Christmas campaign, being influenced and inspired by other sectors can prove beneficial. An example of this is travel brands being inspired by the retail brand John Lewis, and their Christmas Cottage theme, an indication that this is a theme that might become trendy in the months leading up to Christmas.
Keeping yourself up to date on recent reports and articles, such as Conde Nast Traveller’s ‘The best Christmas holiday destinations for 2024‘, can help you better understand what is trending from a news perspective.
It’s also smart to keep yourself updated on reports. PWC, for example, has released a full report on Christmas consumerism and what shoppers want. Reports like these can help you predict what consumers want, and how they will be getting it. These kinds of statistics can inform your upcoming ideations and campaigns.
Source: Unsplash.com
Coming up with a great campaign can be tricky in the finance and insurance sectors. It’s important to evaluate previous campaigns and the media landscapes around Christmas in the years before to determine what is the best approach for your insurance or finance brand.
You might want to consider keeping a loose tie to the two sectors with the influence of lifestyle topics, such as parenting, weddings, or big lifestyle decisions, like purchasing a house or a car.
Think; are there common denominators causing arguments in families over Christmas? Can you survey parents to see if they spend more, or less on gifts for their children and partners than before? Does Christmas influence people to buy more? Are there ways to ensure you have the best Christmas with your family, without feeling external pressures?
Regardless of which sector you work in, it’s important to be fluid in your approach depending on the emerging trends. Keeping yourself up to date on big industry news from market leaders and checking out what’s previously worked can help form your Christmas campaign and secure great coverage.
If you’re interested in seeing how the PR team at c3 works, please visit our digital PR page or head over to LinkedIn to keep yourself updated on industry news from our team.
Digital public relations, often shortened to digital PR, is all about showcasing your expertise, trust, and authority to Google by creating relevant news, stories, and information that the media will cover which in turn, improves your online presence and visibility.
But exactly what makes it such a crucial part of your overall strategy? Well, we’re here to tell you why your brand should be investing in digital PR and help answer any potential questions you may have!
In this guide, we will be covering:
Digital PR is a digital marketing strategy that utilises many tools and tactics to prove to your audience and Google that your brand is authoritative and trustworthy.
While it tends to be mostly associated with ‘link building’, digital PR is so much more than that. Yes, sending outreach and gaining links to improve a website’s authority still plays a role, but that’s just one part of a bigger strategy.
If implemented correctly, Digital PR is an effective way to boost your brand awareness, social engagement, online presence and so much more.
Below are some examples of the types of tactics that digital PR specialists use:
Digital PR vs traditional PR
To sum it up, traditional and digital PR strategies are both all about improving and sustaining a brand’s reputation.
However, when it comes to specific strategies, traditional PR often focuses on crisis and reputation management and promotes brand awareness through stories or events that gain social media, print, and online coverage, as well as other disciplines that will showcase brands in a positive light.
Meanwhile, digital PR strategies are informed by SEO recommendations and goals, with the focus being on gaining online coverage (links) from relevant, authoritative sources. This, in turn, increases online brand awareness and supports further SEO goals such as bringing traffic to a website, improving visibility, and ultimately, driving leads and conversions.
Maybe you’re wondering how digital PR could benefit you and your business? Well, when used effectively, some of the benefits of digital PR to your brand can include:
Backlinks, which are inbound links coming from another website, are an important ranking factor for search engines like Google. Therefore, the more high-quality backlinks you have pointing to your brand’s website, the more likely it is that you’re going to rank higher for relevant search terms. We’ll touch more on how digital supports SEO in the next section.
Securing positive media coverage will help to position your brand as an authority. Not only that but getting your name out there and mentioned in a variety of sources will raise brand awareness and ultimately build trust with potential customers.
Securing positive media coverage will help to position your brand as an authority. Not only that but getting your name out there and mentioned in a variety of sources will raise brand awareness and ultimately build trust with potential customers.
So, as you can see, if you’re a brand hoping to grow your online presence, you should be running digital PR activity as part of your organic and marketing strategies.
In fact, according to a recent blog post, various experts in the industry believe that link building is the third most important ranking factor when it comes to SEO. Back in 2021, Google’s very own John Mueller also acknowledged the importance of this when he said, “[digital PR is] just as critical as tech SEO, probably more so in many cases.”
Building links is like acquiring social proof, with digital PR helping to boost wider SEO performance. But why is this?
Well, when search engines crawl a website, having strong, authoritative backlinks pointing to your domain is a great signal that you’re trustworthy and know what you’re talking about. It’s also one of the factors that allows you to rank higher on Google when people search for relevant terms associated with your brand.
Other key benefits that PR can have on SEO performance include increased site visibility, traffic, leads, and improved keyword rankings. Through digital PR tactics, you’re also able to feature your internal experts and products, which boosts brand awareness, loyalty, and credibility.
So, whilst both on-site SEO and PR are separate practices, the benefits of marrying the two together is obvious! For more information, be sure to check out our blog on why PR and SEO are better connected.
Here at connective3, our digital PR experts have extensive experience creating and executing digital PR strategies for a range of brands across different sectors. Working collaboratively with the organic team, we’ve delivered results that have driven clear business growth.
If you’re interested in even more examples of digital PR that have proven results, be sure to check out our case studies.
So, whilst both on-site SEO and PR are separate practices, the benefits of marrying the two together is obvious! For more information, be sure to check out our blog on why PR and SEO are better connected.
The entire digital marketing industry is ever-changing thanks to new trends and tools emerging, so it’s only natural that the world of digital PR is also going to evolve and change over time.
But what exactly does this mean for your business?
Given the ever-changing digital marketing landscape, it’s obvious that the world of digital PR is going to continue to evolve and change over time. But what exactly does this mean for you and your business?
Below are some thoughts we’ve gathered from our expert PR team here at connective3.
A lot of brands that have specific products to push or want to get in front of their audience will run more large-scale, creative campaigns/stunts that’ll deliver both offline and online results that support PR, organic, and social. However, to cut through, these tactics will need to be relevant, have a strong key message, and entice audiences to take action.
If you’re curious about how we bring creative campaigns to life, we’ve got a whole case study on launching an Avon fragrance with the help of our c360 services.
Reactive PR will continue to increase in popularity, especially for sectors with quicker news cycles such as finance, travel, and fashion. This strategy continues to build impressive results, and we’ve seen huge successes across our c3 newsroom team for this.
Brands need to utilise their internal expertise on these strategies to showcase themselves as authoritative leaders in order to build trust among their audience. The content you produce also needs to be helpful; answering the questions we know audiences are seeking advice on.
This is especially important considering Google’s ‘Helpful Content Update’ which aims to promote informational content with the user in mind rather than that which has been written to rank well in the SERPs. There has actually been a number of updates to the algorithm that claim to boost helpful information and reduce the appearance of low-quality or unoriginal content.
As the world of digital PR becomes more competitive, it only makes sense that more and more brands are running PR strategies. However, this does mean that finding niche ways to build results to support overall SEO objectives has never been more crucial.
From link reclamation and partnerships to broken backlinks and employer news, there are a number of ways to achieve this, and we expect that there’s going to be a huge focus on this type of technical link building in the future. If you’re wanting to get ahead but not sure where to start, we’ve got a whole guide to technical link reclamation that goes through some of the different tactics you might want to employ.
The biggest factor which remains is relevancy. Basically, you need to ensure that all your PR content is relevant to your brand and audience/interests, relevant to keywords you want to rank for, and relevant to your target media and the general news agenda.
PR strategies should be guided by organic insights, so it’s important that you speak with your SEO teams to determine where you should be directing your backlinks on your site to have the biggest growth impact.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what our team get up to, and how we can enhance your brand’s online presence and reputation, be sure to check out all of the digital PR services we offer.
How to build a PR strategy for your brand
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Over the last decade, the rise of digital PR has revolutionised how brands communicate with their audience online, both in the UK and the US.
However, in recent years, more and more countries are catching on to this wave of marketing, and now France has become a fertile ground for global brands keen on earning or diversifying their backlink profiles and boosting SEO through European PR strategies.
With that being said, the French market presents several unique challenges and opportunities that are distinct from the UK, US, and other European practices, but they can be overcome.
From our experience of working in the French market, we’ve pooled our knowledge together to compile a useful guide that explores the key differences in the French media landscape, including consumption habits, popular news outlets, and social media usage.
Additionally, we’ll offer a few invaluable tips for brands seeking to navigate the French market and how to craft successful digital PR campaigns in this region.
Despite the worldwide digitisation of news, the consumption of traditional media remains imperative throughout France, with much of the population getting their news via TV, radio, or print newspapers.
Currently, television reigns supreme as the most popular medium for consuming news and entertainment in France. Thanks to flagship networks like TF1, and public broadcasters like France Televisions, television channels play a pivotal role in shaping public discourse and disseminating information.
But alongside TV, newspapers also maintain a significant presence in the French media landscape. With over 100 daily newspapers available across the country, including respected publications like Le Monde and Liberation, print media continues to serve as trusted sources of news and information for French readers.
However, recently, many digital media platforms have emerged as pivotal players in shaping news consumption behaviours in France. ‘Ouest-france.fr’ was the most visited news site in France in June 2023, with online publications like Bfmtv.com and LeFigaro.fr rounding out the top three, highlighting the increasing digitalisation of news consumption in France.
Social media has also become an integral part of the French media landscape, with platforms like Facebook, YouTube, X, and Instagram commanding a large user base. So much so that a 2023 report revealed that 80.5% of French people are active on social media1.
In fact, competition from social media influencers has become quite a contentious issue for traditional media outlets, who are increasingly seeing many of their readers move to more readily accessible content.
Based on our experience in executing PR campaigns across France, it’s important to understand there are several key differences between the French and UK media landscapes.
From differing consumption habits, content preferences, and media practices, here are some distinct characteristics that set the two media landscapes apart:
One notable difference between the UK and French markets lies in their media preferences. While UK audiences may gravitate towards tabloid-style content, the French media landscape differs significantly.
Case and point, in France, the coverage of lighter lifestyle articles commonly found in UK tabloids like The Daily Mail or The Sun, is not typically featured in mainstream media.
And while there are some French platforms dedicated to celebrity gossip, they tend to focus on different aspects of news and entertainment compared to their UK counterparts.
As a result, PR campaigns tailored to the UK tabloid audience may not resonate with many French media outlets.
In France, media stories are typically favoured when they are backed up with data, interviews, and reports from credible sources. This contrasts sharply with the UK media landscape, where shorter, less substantiated, ‘fluffy’ stories often feature heavily.
Part of this difference is due to the challenge of French media in the past years trying to promote itself as a trusted source of information that fights against fake news. So, before covering a topic, French journalists usually ask themselves three questions:
Therefore, to capture the interest of French audiences and journalists, PR campaigns should emphasise authenticity and relevance, incorporating elements such as surveys, national data, or expert interviews.
Central to effective PR in France is an understanding of the many different cultural norms, values, and communication styles present across the country. For example, French people have a different sense of humour to Brits, which could impact the success of your PR campaign.
This means that, if your PR campaign is only suited for Brit’s self-mockery and dark humour, it would not make sense to a French audience as they tend to favour irony, second-degree jokes, and cynical humour.
Surprisingly, the famous #journorequests hashtag doesn’t exist in France, so any PR professional thinking of using X as a pitching and sourcing platform should refocus their outreach efforts towards using media databases or searching manually for similar stories via search engines.
Unlike the quick turnarounds often seen in the UK, PR efforts in France typically require patience, with lead times stretching anywhere from 2 to 3 days, or even months in some cases.
This delay is influenced by various factors, including the meticulous attention to detail prevalent in French business culture and the emphasis on building relationships before transactions.
Considering this, prioritising evergreen campaigns is recommended to ensure your campaign topic is relevant not just in the present moment, but in the weeks and months to come.
Understanding and accounting for these longer lead times is essential for crafting effective PR campaigns tailored to the French market.
From data-led studies to regional campaigns with a nod to individual cultures, below are some actionable tips for crafting high-quality PR campaigns that will resonate with French audiences and most importantly, land relevant French links.
French journalists value the use of robust statistics to add credibility to their stories and will most likely conduct thorough fact-checking procedures before publication.
If you choose to implement data-driven campaigns within your French Digital PR strategy, be sure to obtain the information from reputable sources and include detailed methodologies.
Additionally, incorporating quotes from relevant industry figures can add further legitimacy and interest to your client’s data-based campaign, increasing the likelihood of coverage.
France has many regional differences which can spark creativity for crafting regionally focused PR campaigns. French culture often involves playful criticism among regions, ranging from culinary preferences to linguistic differences in describing everyday actions and objects.
A great example of a cultural debate that gets French people talking is the “Pain au Chocolat” versus “Chocolatine”2. This long-standing dispute over what to call a chocolate pastry sums up the differences in regional identity and linguistic diversity in France.
Whether it’s enjoying a “Pain au Chocolat” in the North or indulging in a “Chocolatine” in the South, this culinary debate continues to unite and divide communities across the country and could be the perfect idea for a PR campaign to settle the debate once and for all.
Having on-site content is important when developing campaigns targeting the French market.
Providing journalists with easily accessible, comprehensive resources not only increases the likelihood of media coverage but also aligns with the meticulous attention to detail valued in French culture.
Furthermore, having well-crafted on-site content adds a layer of credibility and trust, both of which are essential elements in building relationships with French journalists and audiences.
By prioritising having on-site content tailored to French audiences, brands can establish themselves as trusted sources of information, fostering stronger connections and driving greater engagement in the French market.
Properly introducing and selling your story to journalists is crucial for PR success, especially in France, where building relationships and maintaining professionalism are highly valued.
When reaching out to journalists, it’s essential to personalise your communication by using formal language, such as “Vous” instead of “Tu”. Using “Bonjour [First Name]” is becoming increasingly common, mostly when contacting journalists in their 20s or 30s. For a more experienced journalist, use “Dear Mr/Ms. [Last Name]”.
Another key point is that journalists like to see interest in their work. When outreaching a similar story they may have covered in the past, make sure to compliment them on their work. It will provide a rationale for you emailing them.
It’s recommended that, before you begin outreaching to French media, you accurately translate all infographics and landing pages into French. This will help ensure you maximise communication efforts and resonate with a broader French audience, enhancing the success of PR efforts in the region.
We have developed and executed campaigns in France for some of our clients who have already witnessed promising results.
Here are a few standout examples of our PR campaigns from a range of different sectors featured in the French media:
Sumup’s best cities to open a business
Our global financial tech client, SumUp, landed links in the popular regional publication, Nice Presse, for their best cities to open a business campaign.
The study was based on a ranking of 14 criteria, including the number of bakeries and average customer reviews on Google Maps in January 2024.
The study was also picked up by other key regional publications, including ActuMarseille, which boasts a high domain ranking of 90.
The headline followed an English PR style, beginning with ‘According to this ranking, ‘Selon ce classement, Marseille est une ville en vogue pour les commerces indépendants’ which translates as ‘According to this ranking, Marseille is a popular city for independent businesses’.
According to Buzzsumo data from the past 6 months, French media outlets have published over 100 articles featuring the headline “Selon ce classement” (according to this ranking), indicating a clear preference among French journalists for study-based content.
By leveraging robust regional data and conducting a comprehensive analysis of business-friendly factors, SumUp strategically positioned themselves to secure follow links across France, effectively amplifying their campaign’s visibility and credibility to a wider European audience.
José Mourinho interview
It’s not just study-based campaigns that land in France; our financial trading platform client, XTB, collaborated with football manager, José Mourinho, to expand their partnership and achieved high-quality links in France.
By identifying shared traits between traders and football managers, such as emotional control and handling pressure, we crafted a PR strategy targeting audiences across France.
Through interviewing José Mourinho, tips-based content was hosted onsite and segmented into courses featuring José’s tips, translated and tailored for each target market.
In France, the campaign garnered attention from sports-focused publications like goal.com and national news site lepoint.com, leveraging the interview-style strategy to bridge the gap between sports and trading, thus securing links in relevant sports media outlets.
And there you have it; by consistently following the insights and strategies outlined in this blog, you should be able to set yourself up for success in the French market and drive impactful results for your brand.
Of course, if you’d like more information on French digital PR and to see the amazing work the connective3 international team are currently doing, you can visit our c3 international page or get in touch directly!
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With a population of 329 million people, it is no surprise the US is one of the most important countries to take into consideration when expanding your business or running a digital PR campaign.
From 50 states to incredibly unique cultural nuances, the US is a vast country with its quirks and preferences. But how do UK and European-based businesses begin to find their niche amongst American journalists and publications? And what kind of content performs well?
This blog will go through the main considerations on how to angle business and PR campaigns to get the biggest impact in US publications, diving into some top tips when pitching to journalists and explaining the importance of crafting a campaign which feeds into news agendas and general content that performs well in the US.
With such a highly demanding and competitive landscape in which to contend, with thousands of publications and journalists across the states, not only is it imperative to come up with unique ideas but the construction and sell-in of these ideas need to resonate with journalists. To better understand the timing and tone needed for idea pitches, and to understand key target demographics and the publications that can help to reach those audiences, here are some top tips to help pull in links from the US.
Knowing the best journalist or publication to pitch your campaigns to is a must. Receiving an email that isn’t relevant (or of any interest) can be very frustrating, therefore, it’s essential to do some initial research into each person to understand what they do and don’t cover.
Whilst it might take a bit more time, pitching to someone who doesn’t cover that topic makes it not only unlikely that they will cover your campaign, but could also be damaging to any possible future relationship. Always make sure it’s relevant and exciting.
It’s also important in the United States to understand what the publications/journalists’ views, opinions, and tone of voice are. With the US having essentially 50 different countries, what lands in one part of the country might not have the same effect elsewhere. And whilst a friendly and informal pitch works for some, it certainly won’t work for all. Each state is different, and it can even be as granular as a city-by-city approach in some states, so it’s best practice to adapt pitches to reflect these subtle nuances to ensure that they land in the right inboxes.
It’s also important to understand the best ways to contact specific journalists. For the most part, it’s over email, but some US journalists have their direct messages open on Twitter, welcoming story ideas. Never be afraid to reach out through these methods, as response rates have been found to be extremely strong using these mediums.
To ensure that campaigns perform well, make sure that your media lists are updated with current journalist information and contact details. When targeting those publications and journalists, spend some time diving into Google to find more niche contacts to improve those media lists. Make sure to use sites like Feedspot to find more journalists that work in your desired target area/topic/demographic.
When creating a US-targeted PR campaign, creating a story which can be broken down by state (at the very least) is incredibly important. Breaking it down even further to regions or even cities can add much more content to the campaign and can also win more regional links too.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists and publications which are specific to one local area – so make sure to create specific and targeted angles which are highly relevant. For example, if there’s data for multiple cities in California, like San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, then dig into those finer details and get a campaign that can work for multiple outlets on both a regional and state level.
With these specific angles, it’s important to ensure that all email subject lines are relevant. Aim to target journalists with what they want to hear and make them know that the material being pitched aligns with their coverage. Keep it short, mention what the pitch is about, what it’s regarding, and how it fits them.
When pitching, ensure the journalist has all relevant data upfront with links added to any further assets (and avoid adding these as attachments). This allows the journalist to jump straight into the piece with confidence and limits back and forth.
According to Muck Rack, 90% of US journalists are happy to receive one follow-up email, so allow the email to settle, but ensure to follow up on all pitches. US journalists are (unsurprisingly) busy, so respect their time/choice.
As stated previously, campaigns that perform best in the USA are those that have unique data specific by state/city/region. This is because the data can be broken down into individual content pieces which can be targeted to specific journalists with what is highly relevant to them.
This approach was utilised for Blacktower’s retirement index, which revealed the best (and worst) places to live out your ‘golden years’ across the states. The campaign analysed several key retirement metrics, pulling out state specific data which allowed for the creation of a ranking. This ranking could then be outreached with many different news hooks, adapted to fit the news agenda in the state in which is being pitched to. To check out the full campaign, you can visit the site here.
Touching on relevance, the story also needs to align with something topical with the current news agenda, or perhaps an awareness day, to illustrate to the journalist or publication why the piece is significant and worth publishing.
An example of where this was relevant was Pickswise’s ‘Cost of Being a Fan’ campaign. With growing concerns surrounding the increasing costs for fans across the NFL, there were worries of many fans being priced out of the experience. Therefore, the team at Pickswise revealed which NFL teams offer their fans the most cost-effective experience, ranking them from best to worst. The report aligned well with the news agenda at the time and brought in some highly relevant coverage.
When collecting unique data for the states, surveys can be a really powerful tool as they allow for the discovery of something new which can be used as a strong news hook. However, it’s important to remember that survey sample sizes must be far greater than that of the UK, as a sample size of 1500 people is often too small to make generalised statements regarding the US population.
As well as practices and processes that should be ingrained into all US-based PR campaigns and pitches, there are certain actions that should be avoided to ensure that there’s a maximum opportunity for success.
It’s best to avoid a mass outreach approach – sending one generic email to every journalist in a list will not only ensure that your email gets ignored by the vast majority of recipients, but it could also potentially limit future relationships with journalists and publications that are key to unlocking big audiences in the states.
It’s also important not to schedule emails to send all at once from your account, as the States have different time zones, and this could mean missing key time periods when news should ideally be hitting journalists’ inboxes. Additional research into the location and time zone of the journalists and publications you’re targeting will help to eliminate the chances of sending an email out of hours or at a time when it could get missed. This information can be found on large media databases such as Vuelio and Roxhill, but also explore make sure to explore Twitter and LinkedIn profiles if needed.
Finally, avoid pitches that are excessively long. It’s tried and tested that American journalists respond better to shorter pitches that are to the point and with all the key details noted right at the top. Remember to include, succinctly, what the campaign is about, why it’s relevant to their publication, and the top takeaways to lead with – this is a great place to put content that relates specifically to the city, region, or state that they report within.
From key pitching tips to understanding what content performs well and knowing what to avoid, we hope this guide gives you a taster of the Digital PR space over in the states, and some knowledge on how to build killer link building campaigns which will get results.
If you’d like any more information on digital PR and to see the amazing work the connective3 international team are currently doing, just drop us a or visit our ‘US Digital PR’ page.
David White
Digital PR in the US is a fantastic opportunity for any UK/European company to expand their brands presence. Building killer links across the states can result in higher rankings, greater awareness and new leads.
Chloe Keys
It’s key to remember, when pitching across America, one thing which works in one state might not have the same affect in another. Ensure you A/B email outreach to see what performs well (and what doesn’t).
Cameron Black
The US is home to thousands of unique publications. Don’t be limited to news sites, explore the likes of local radio stations. There are numerous across each US state, often with strong domain authorities.
Allen White
The US is home to thousands of unique publications. Don’t be limited to news sites, explore the likes of local radio stations. There are numerous across each US state, often with strong domain authorities.
Eirini Theodoridou
Make it personable. Remember, you’re sending the email to real people and PR it’s all about creating connections. Yes, you won’t be best friends with the journalists but being polite and actually putting in the extra effort will help you in the long run.
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