In this talk, Jane shares a strategy for link building activity at scale, the value of a flexible and blended approach, and tips to help you make the most of your clients or your brands PR opportunities.

1. How to create an
opportunity-first approach
to digital PR for more
consistent results
Jane Hunt | JBH - The Digital PR Agency
SLIDESHARE.NET/USERNAME
@jbh_jane

2. Let me take you back to the moment
the pandemic started...
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3. Like other agencies
and brands we had the
‘oh shit’ moment
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4. When we realised many of our scheduled
campaigns weren’t appropriate
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5. Overnight the media landscape
and news agenda changed
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6. Many journalists lost their jobs
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7. Journalists still employed had more
work to cover and needed stories
FAST
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8. So we switched
our approach up
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9. We paused many hero campaigns
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10. Concentrated on reactive and
proactive pitching
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11. And this strategy worked -
it worked really well
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12. So much so, that we
won’t be going back to
the way we did things
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13. And why would we?
The landscape has changed
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14. The industry is booming
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15. PRs are competing for
attention like never before
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16. And journalists
inboxes are
bursting
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17. Tier 1 journalists can receive
between 200-400 emails per day -
Mostly from PRs.
- Muck Rack, 2021
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18. We needed an approach that better
fit the news agenda AND would
get cut-through
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19. We now have a more fluid
approach to digital PR
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20. Let’s look at the
components of a
blended digital PR
approach and their
relationship to the
news agenda..
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21. Proactive
PR
Reactive
PR
Hero
Campaigns
JBH Blended
digital PR approach
Opportunity
x3
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22. Reactive PR =
newsjacking
a trending story
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1

23. A true newsjack is when you can add a
line to your pitch email referencing the
news story and your campaign adds
value to the story
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24. @jbh_jane
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25. Proactive PR =
suggesting a story
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2

26. @jbh_jane
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27. We use both approaches separately
AND to boost a hero campaign
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28. If a hero campaign is under-performing,
newsjacking trending stories can help
gain more links
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3

29. Last year we valued the homes
of 20 world leaders for our estate
agent client
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30. To generate extra coverage
Buckingham Palace was
up for sale.
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31. @jbh_jane
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32. So what are the benefits
of a blended approach?
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33. 1
One year on:
links are more consistent
and there’s more of them!
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34. 2
On average links are more
authoritative and relevant
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35. Compared to 2020 the average DA
of links built was about 60
- now it’s around 70
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36. 3
Links point to the right pages -
more category/product page links
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37. 40% of all links built go to product pages
e.g. a story about allergies in dogs will link to
the hypoallergenic dog food page
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38. 20% of links go to RELEVANT category pages
e.g. for a newsjack for cocaine issues, we’ll link
to the cocaine addiction landing page
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39. 4
More NEW referring domains for the
client (we aim for 30%)
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40. 50% of newsjacking generates links on
new domains
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41. 5
More opportunities to position our
clients as ‘experts’
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42. So how did we achieve these results?
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43. We had to become a much more
flexible agency
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44. We set up a newsroom - a team
dedicated to newsjacking
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45. We make reactive content relevant to hero
campaigns, rather than creating brand new
content or pulling new data sets
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46. Newsjacks don’t have to be comments
- you can use existing angles and data
you already have in your campaign
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47. It really can
make your campaign
work much harder
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48. Keeping our noses to the ground means
we exceed KPI’s 50% faster than if we
outreached a campaign the ‘usual’ way
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49. For successful newsjacking
you need to react fast
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50. (by David Meerman Scott)
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51. How do we do this?
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52. 1
Set up alerts for each client
their brand, campaigns, keywords
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53. 2
Consume all the news
■ Ask Alexa to read the headlines
■ Get daily international briefings
■ Listen to industry podcasts
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54. Global News Business / Money Lifestyle / Quirk Health & Beauty
Top news and industry podcasts
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55. 3
Have a bank of ideas ready
■ Quotes, stats & tips
■ Already signed off by the
client or management
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56. The 5 S’s of newsjacking:
1. Story - what can you add to the conversation?
2. Search - has anyone beat you to it?
3. Sentiment - how do people really feel?
4. Stats - what data can help back it up?
5. Speed - what can you get out quickly?
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57. However, there won’t always be
relevant stories to newsjack
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58. How can you make news out of
nothing?
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59. That’s when proactive PR
comes in very handy
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60. You can create
short-form content
to engineer a story
proactively
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61. @jbh_jane
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62. OR you can repurpose existing
evergreen content
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63. Proactive PR =
product page links
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64. Get to know the brand’s content
inside out
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65. We also fuse proactive
and reactive PR with
hero campaigns
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66. Because 95% of our campaigns are
data-led they all have multiple angles
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67. Perfect for
newsjacking
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68. Generating even more opportunities
for earning coverage and links
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69. However, some
campaigns will
have a shelf life..
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70. @jbh_jane
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71. Relationships play a big part in
making this strategy successful
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72. Firstly with your clients
(or in-house management)
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73. Get to know their site content
inside out e.g blogs, news, data,
FAQs, tools etc
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74. and what topic experts they have
internally who can provide tips /
data / quotes?
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75. Find out what topics they are
comfortable or uncomfortable with
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76. and who is best placed to sign
newsjacking content off quickly
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77. And with journalists?
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78. Which journalists regularly cover
relevant topics?
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79. Introduce yourself, the brand and
their topic expertise
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80. Ask what pitches they want
to receive (they are usually
happy to say)
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81. Research which stories get
most comments and shares and
pitch similar ideas
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82. Key Takeaways!
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83. Don’t bank on one
approach working,
be flexible and
use a blend of
techniques
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84. @jbh_jane
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Have content ready to
go to make newsjacking
quicker and easier!

85. @jbh_jane
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Repurpose existing content in a
dry spell and pitch proactive
stories

86. Revisit hero campaigns by tapping
into stories / national days &
events
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87. Out of ideas?
Consume different content - ideas
can come from unlikely sources
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88. I hope the insight and tips offered today
provide extra opportunities to scale your
digital PR and make your life easier in the
process!
@jbh_jane
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89. slideshare.net/
@jbh_jane
Jane Hunt
Cofounder
JBH
THANKS FOR LISTENING!
For more digital PR tips & tricks follow me: @jane_hunt
jbh.co.uk