Working in a tightly regulated industry, a really competitive industry, B2B, a superbly boring industry or a country where link building's really really hard? Learn how we tackled each of these challenges and how you can get top tier linking coverage from national and international media consistently.

1. Getting the Biggest Linking Coverage
In the Hardest Markets
@JamesFinlayson

2. In the past year we’ve built 5k links

3. on sites like these

4. Greenpeace
WWF
NASA
Our work has been featured by some awesome organizations

5. …and shared by well known celebrities

6. Washington PostThe Mirror
Daily MailThe Mirror
Detroit Free Press
The Herald
out The National Post
We regularly achieve coverage in newspapers

7. …and on radio

8. TV3 (Denmark) NBC (US) ITV (UK)
TV2 (Denmark)
…and sometimes TV

9. In the past, we’ve shown campaigns, like this one,
where we created the world’s first gigapixel interactive timelapse

10. And this, a virtual-reality tour of the world’s steepest train journey

11. And this piece, in which we ‘proved’ that
Emilio Estevez is one of the best actors of all time

12. Wouldn’t work in my industry
“ ”
Yet, the most consistent feedback we receive is:
The four most common reasons given are

13. It wouldn’t work in my industry because
I work in a boring industry

14. It wouldn’t work in my
industry because we’re
so tightly regulated

15. It wouldn’t work in my
industry because we’re
B2B

16. It wouldn’t work in my industry because
my industry’s so competitive

17. We’re not calling bullshit,
these each make it harder

18. We’re just saying
that it’s still possible

19. …and not in an inspirational poster anything-is-possible way

20. We’re saying it because we got Newsweek to link to an online casino,

21. we got the BBC to link to an online pharmacy… with this headline

22. and we got Wired to link to a company that sells UPVC doors

23. …how?

24. In the past we’ve talked about the
importance of grit.
It’s one of the most important factors
that we interview for.

25. …and we could end there
But, I suspect, as you’re reading this, you’re
probably quite gritty to start with

26. So let’s talk through each pain-point in turn

27. It wouldn’t work in my industry because
I work in a boring industry

28. Unless you sell premium products, or are a media company,
your products are likely boring to the majority of people

29. People buy solutions, not products

30. People buy because it makes them look or feel good

31. People care about looking and feeling good
…so identify that and base your campaign around it

32. It gained traction; 250 Linking sites including The BBC, Forbes,The Telegraph,
Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur.com, Inc and Business Insider.

33. It generated 250 links including
The BBC, Forbes,The Telegraph,Wall Street Journal,
entrepreneur.com, Inc and Business Insider

34. For GoCompare’s Home Insurance comparison, instead of talking about the
product, we created a simple yet beautiful piece showcasing modernism.

35. People didn’t share it because they care about modernism, though, they shared it
because it made them look cultured and intelligent.

36. It generated 201 links including
The Guardian,The Independent The Telegraph,Wall Street Journal,
entrepreneur.com, Inc and Business Insider

37. Base your research on customers’ motives,
not their declared needs.

38. It wouldn’t work in my
industry because we’re
so tightly regulated

39. This most often comes up in
finance, medicine, gambling

40. The ASA rules are extremely strict, and they’re enforced.
Two healthcare companies have been found in breach in the last three
months alone.

41. That means companies in these niches have internal compliance people
who are, rightly, petrified of breaching the rules.
Those officers, rather than the ASA,
are what really stop a campaign in its tracks

42. We work with BabylonHealth, a
healthcare provider that gives you
access to a doctor, from your phone,
24/7, within a couple of hours.
They’ve been described by the BBC as
“a game changer in the world of on-
demand healthcare”

43. Let’s talk through the real slides we
used to successfully sell in a creative
concept.

44. Rush hour in any city in the UK. People jostle each other as they rush not to be
late, even the smallest delay can spiral. In summer its hot and sweaty, in winter
wet and slippery.We all know quite how stressful modern cities can be.

45. Wouldn’t it be better to be outside, in the serene quiet of the countryside?

46. but, at at the end of the day, most of us head back into not out of town.
So, maybe stress is really more a function of time than location?

47. So,
What time of day are we most stressed?
What day of the week is the most stressful?
WHERE are we most – and least- stressed?
Does living in the countryside actually lead to a less stressed life?

48. How do we prove any of that, though?

49. We could do a survey
Wont’ give us local angles unless it’s huge

50. We could do a survey
We could mine the patient data
Even in a world with no bad ideas, this is a bad idea

51. We could do a survey
We could mine the patient data
We could use government data
Unlikely to have all the angles we want and
will be old data

52. We could do a survey
We could mine the patient data
We could use government data
or…

53. We could mine millions of tweets
If we’re just pulling out references to emotions, this wont exactly be scientific though

54. Introducing…
Professor Mike Thelwall
Professor of Information Science
Wolverhampton University
Inventor of TensiStrength
TensiStrength is an algorithm that
takes short snippets of text and
estimates the stress level of the
person that wrote it

55. and so, it got made.What made this possible, though?

56. It uses public data, completely anonymized. (so no PID concern)

57. It uses public data, completely anonymized. (so no PID concern)
We’re not making any claims, Mike is.

58. It uses public data, completely anonymized. (so no PID concern)
We’re not making any claims, Mike is.
Mike’s quite credible.

59. It uses public data, completely anonymized. (so no PID concern)
We’re not making any claims, Mike is.
Mike’s quite credible.
We’re not talking about the app or healthcare provision.

60. It uses public data, completely anonymized. (so no PID concern)
We’re not making any claims, Mike is.
Mike’s quite credible.
We’re not talking about the app or healthcare provision.
We’re not saying ‘if you feel stressed you should speak to a doctor easily, on your
phone, through this radical new service that’s so easy and quick it’ll change your life’

61. Build your strategy around customer, rather than product, insights

62. It went on to achieve over100 links from sites including:

63. December January February
March April May
Because we were able to get campaigns out, we were able to generate links consistently: over 200
from sites including:
In industries where people are struggling to launch anything and you’re able to consistently get
links each month, remarkable things can happen.

64. 0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
08/06/2017 08/09/2017 08/12/2017 08/03/2018 08/06/2018 08/09/2018 08/12/2018 08/03/2019
SearchmetricsVisibility
8x increase in 10 months

65. A further tip on this…
Annual Reports are a goldmine

66. We’re going to build a site that shows users how insecure their computer is
by showing semi-private data that their browser’s leaking
and checking to see if their computer is secure to common, already patched, hacks.
Imagine you want to pitch Microsoft this:
Pretty unlikely to get agreed, right?

67. But if you check the recent earnings call, you’ll find these quotes:

68. So let’s add that context:
Because your CEO recently said that ‘cybersecurity is a central challenge’ we plan to help you tackle it head on.
We’re going to build a site that shows users how insecure their computer is
Not in a generic sense, but in a very personalized way because, as your CEO says ‘personalization is increasingly key to
every… marketing strategy’
so we’ll show each user the semi-private data that their browser’s leaking
and check to see if their computer is secure to common, already patched, hacks.
We’ll then tell them exactly what to do to have best-in-class security.
By doing so, much like Microsoft 365, we’ll empower everyone to take control of their security.
Way less scary now, right?

69. Build your strategy around customer, rather than product, insights

70. It wouldn’t work in my
industry because we’re
B2B

71. This man really loves Inventory Management Software

72. and so he visits leading B2B site SupplyChain247

73. Inventory Management Software
It’s these kind of sites that people traditionally think of when they think about B2B

74. Gera
(one of our developers)
(he’s awesome)
But even the staunchest inventory management software lover
must take a tea break eventually

75. …and, SimilarWeb tells us, when he does, he visits these sites:

76. …and, Searchmetrics tells us that often, when he searches,
he goes to these sites instead:

77. Inventory Management Software
…so if I want my brand to be in front of him, I should probably concentrate on Inc,
Bloomberg and Forbes instead.

78. Inventory Management Software
Especially considering that, if I get coverage there,
all the B2B sites will likely see it on the them and report on it in any case

79. Inventory Management Software
And I’m unlikely to get meaningful social traction without the big hitters

80. When the BBC asked us to make a campaign for them…

81. We were sure to ask for credit on the page because the big sites also provide
a ton of credibility

82. B2B isn’t real, it’s all still human-to-human

83. B2B is a C-level challenge
B2B is an audience targeting justification challenge

84. Use Similarweb to show what other sites your audience read

85. Use Searchmetrics to show who those sites compete for traffic with

86. Use Buzzsumo to show where content related to your industry actually gets shared

87. https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/

88. It wouldn’t work in my industry because
my industry’s so competitive

89. An industry is only competitive if you let it be.

90. The travel industry is home to some of the world’s best listicles

91. …truly amazing photo journals

92. And the occasional, highly practical travel guide

93. 20172016 2018
A street-view tour, with audio guide, of Malmo Castle
A playlist generator of the best songs, by the most loved artists, at any festival in the last 30 years.

94. 20172016 2018
Adding motion, to bring life, to Edward Hoppers art
A 360-degree virtual ride on the world’s steepest railway

95. 20172016 2018
The fastest way (as proven by an algorithm) to visit the all the best restaurants in America
Mined from an amazing data source, the most memorable movie locations from all around the world

96. None of those pieces compete with the other travel content we showed you.
They’re so radically different that they’re non-competitive

97. Why compete on who can have the best survey?

98. Is it really important that your photoshopped images
are 10% better than your competition?

99. If an industry is competitive, use it as an opportunity to change the game

100. It wouldn’t work in my country

101. Many ideas simply don’t translate well

103. In the UK, this achieved 1 million views in the first 15 days of launch

104. It almost certainly wouldn’t have gained traction in Germany

105. We know this, because last year we built over 100 links in Germany

106. That’s way less links than we’d expect to build for a UK client though.

107. 0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
17/02/2018 17/05/2018 17/08/2018 17/11/2018 17/02/2019
SearchmetricsVisibility
It still moved them from not ranking, to the first page, for their target term with 74k monthly searches, in 9 months

108. You simply don’t need as many links, as you need in the UK, to rank in most countries.

109. 115,661
67,699
44,330
27,465
5,589
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000
UK
DE
FR
IT
FI
Median Linking Domains
Median Linking Root Domains For Top 20 Ranking Sites In Each Country
Understanding this is important in setting expectations for how many links you’ll be able to build each month

110. There’s something else going on in the background

111. Anyone can have one successful campaign
But we’ve seen almost nobody see rankings increases as a result

112. Last year, for GoCompare’s car insurance comparison product, we took a look at
how different countries around the world are embracing the electric car revolution

113. Including countries where the people are embracing the tech (by buying the cars),
but their governments aren’t (by not installing charge points)

114. 100 Links
5,289 Link Score

115. It was covered on Australia’s largest news site

116. And led to a Senate committee to investigate why Australia was so far behind.

117. 195 sites 182 sites 176 sites
170 sites 168 sites
Whilst this may seem impressive, what we’re prouder of is that the next five
campaigns, in a row, all achieved over 150 linking root domains:
…because that’s hard.

118. Anyone can have one successful campaign

119. Anyone can have one successful campaign

120. We could talk all day about how amazing Gera’s coding skills are, or how Barnes can
achieve almost any link anywhere, but the truth is…

121. We’re an agency of 50 people now and…

123. I know that sounds like a cheesy card… it
is.
It’s also true – there’s something very
tangible about being able to speak to
someone who’s had real-life experience
around the topic you’re discussing, being
able to bounce ideas around a whole
group of people, to swapping that perfect
contact for your campaign and to a whole
group of people getting stuck in when a
journo says they’ll cover your piece today
if you can get them a piece of data that
doesn’t yet exist.

124. Telling you to hire 50 people is not good advice.

125. So here are some ways you can stay inspired

126. tinyletter.com/data-is-plural

127. http://bit.ly/content-curated

128. BigSEO: http://bit.ly/bigseoslack

129. outREACH Community: http://bit.ly/outreach-community

130. We’d love for you to share where and what
inspires you in the Slack channel.
Let’s all be better, together.

131. So, in addition to being your grittiest self,
remember to…

132. Set expectations and understand
what success means in your industry

133. Almost all products are boring.
Understand, better, the problems the purchase solves

134. Build your strategy around customer, rather than product, insights

135. Repeatedly quote C-Level staff to achieve buy-in

136. Compete on your own terms
or just
don’t compete at all

137. Join the community to continue the conversation
http://bit.ly/outreach-community