The last few months have been the most fraught of my career, dealing with budget cuts, campaign pauses and a media that seemingly only wants to talk about one thing – coronavirus. My role at Propellernet is to secure our clients links through digital PR, and myself and the team have had to adapt pretty quickly but our change in tact has led to us build over 400 links. My talk will go into how great digital PR campaigns don’t need to cost the world and how you can maximise the amount of links you secure with each story. Louise Parker - Digital PR Director, Properllnet Louise has worked in Digital PR for 5 years, securing coverage and links for brands like Premier Inn, Kuoni, carwow and PureGym. She specialises in creating link building strategies that both excite journalists and connect with a brand's audience. She also makes incredibly niche TikTok videos about digital PR (@louise_digitalpr).

1. I build links through digital PR at Propellernet
(creating content and stories that the media will
cover and link to)
Hello!

2. Media
upheaval
The last few months have
been….interesting.
Cut
budgets
Nervous
clients

3. But despite the ~unprecedented~ times,
we’ve built 100s of links

4. Three things in common
1 Quick turn-around
No fancy assets
Low cost
2
3

5. When you think ‘PR’ you
might think celebrities,
videos, events expensive
surveys…

7. When you think ‘digital PR’
you might think huge data
sets, developers,
interactive pages and
designs…

8. When you think ‘PR’ you
might think celebrities,
videos, events expensive
surveys…

9. But the last couple
of months it’s all
been about the
humble blog post
Some text
Few images
Couple of
tables of data

10. It’s all about having a
killer story media want to
cover
(and content they’re happy to link to)

11. What journalist has ever been
excited to link to something?
They’re
excited/intrigued/interested by
the story

12. And you can find a great story in lots of
places, and it can cost (nearly) nothing

13. 1. Find your
resource…

14. Do you
have a
brand
expert?

15. It helps if you’re saying
something surprising,
shocking or unusual
…but being timely also
works

16. (the expert can be you)

17. Has your brand
seen any
spikes in sales?

18. Again, has to be surprising and/or
tied to recent news or pop culture
(more on that later)

19. Use search
data that ties to
your brand

20. Search data is basically the
best free survey out there –
it reflects people’s
preferences and
current trends

21. “Most searched for [something
connected to your brand]”
“Every countries’ most popular
[something connected to your
brand]”
“Increase in searches for
[something connected to your
brand]”

22. Analyse
social media
data

23. Social Blade: views, subscribers and earnings
stats for YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, TikTok
etc
Google for latest earning data
Instagram: use number of hashtags for ‘most
photographed’
Instagram: look at a good sample of images to
discover trends

24. Run a free
survey

25. (it doesn’t have
to be +1,000
respondents)

26. FOIs take ages,
use someone
else’s

27. Exam boards
Local councils
Ofcom
Transport for London

28. Use any free
published data

29. DVLA NumbeoWaste Flow

30. (ctrl + F ‘methodology’ on
your fav digital PR
campaigns)

31. 2. Pick a ‘safe’ topic

32. Topical

33. Evergreen

34. 3. Go global

35. Nationals
Regionals
Lifestyle
Celebrity
Music
America
Canada
South Africa
Kenya
Nigeria
Australia
Middle East
New Zealand
India
“Most
listened to
songs
during sex”

36. 4. Make a link-able
blog post

37. Simply write up your story with
a little extra info

38. Expert tips
More assets
Further data
<snappy title>
nice image nice image
<full results>
<bonus assets>
<extra trips>

39. “Please include a credit the
original research”
“More information can be
found here…”

40. Free resource
Topical or
evergree
n topic
International
appeal
Blog post
with
further
info
Link Gold

41. Ability to be reactive
Bonus benefits
Allows for consistency
More adventurous
Less pressure

42. Happy link
building!
I’m on Twitter @louisevparker
(and Tik Tok @louise_digitalpr)