In this talk, I challenge the desire for virality over consistency when it comes to digital PR and link building campaigns, whilst exploring the impact this is having on the industry and team morale, client expectations and distorting reality. By honestly sharing my own shortcomings, I hope to push you to learn from your own campaign failures using tried and tested frameworks that’ll mean you can face any creative campaign or outreach struggle head-on.

1. outREACHOnlineGETTINGYOUNOTICEDONLINE
Great Expectations
The Truth About Digital PR Campaigns

2. outREACH Online
We’ve got a problem.

3. outREACH Online
Here’s what Twitter has to say about
digital PR campaigns.

4. “Digital PR Twitter is getting
f**king ridiculous.”

5. “Attention seeking.”

6. “The #DigitalPR community
shouldn’t feel pressured to post
their best work and highlights...”

7. outREACH Online
You know what?
I’m guilty too.

8. outREACH Online

9. outREACH Online

10. outREACH Online

11. outREACH Online
It didn’t stop there.

12. outREACH Online

13. outREACHOnline
468Pieces of Coverage
324Linking domains
Results

14. 150Pieces of Coverage
66Linking domains
Results
outREACHOnline

15. 68Pieces of Coverage
45Linking domains
Results
outREACHOnline

16. outREACH Online
Here is one of those successful campaigns...
Coverage
Month

17. outREACH Online
And in context...
Month
Coverage

18. Today, I want to show you
the full picture.

19. outREACH Online
The full picture covers these
three pillars with creative
campaigns...

20. Huge wins Steady
performers
Huge fails

21. Huge
wins
Steady
Performers
Huge
fails

22. Huge
wins
Steady
Performers
Huge
fails
Huge
wins

23. outREACH Online
We are giving the impression that
we don’t have campaign fails.

24. outREACH Online
We are putting too much pressure
on ourselves and newbies in
the industry.

25. outREACH Online
As an industry, we are normalising
the idea that each campaign
launched must get 100+ links.

26. outREACH Online
We’re setting unrealistic
expectations and KPIs.

27. outREACH Online
We’re making others think that
5, 10 or 20 links can’t be effective.

28. outREACH Online
We know ‘steady performers’ can be
effective, we should celebrate the
impact and learn from them.

29. outREACH Online
We can do better.

30. Rinse & repeat
Why do we focus on the wins?

31. Let’s go back to our first ‘Aira
viral’ campaign...

32. 68Pieces of Coverage
45Linking domains
Results
outREACHOnline

33. outREACH Online
It was at this point we focused
on the wins, only the wins.

34. outREACH Online
Guess how many maps we
launched that year for one client?

35. 12 / 18CAMPAIGNS

36. Huge wins Steady
Performers
Huge fails

37. Hmm, this sounds
familiar...

38. outREACH Online
Again.
We’re not showing the full picture...

39. The truth about digital PR
Let’s talk about failure….

40. outREACH Online
The first step in telling the full
picture is talking about failure.

41. outREACH Online
Who’s had a campaign fail?

42. outREACH Online
CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

43. Where have you
been the past
four years?
The Daily Mirror

44. outREACH Online
Launch = 0 links

45. outREACH Online
Why?

46. outREACH Online
We launched our campaign here…

48. outREACH Online
It was not wise to launch a
campaign to press during the US
presidential election.

49. outREACH Online
I kept that one quiet on Twitter.

50. Failures come in all
shapes and sizes.

51. outREACH Online

52. outREACH Online

53. outREACH Online

54. outREACH Online

55. outREACH Online
‘Honk Kong’ will be a country that
forever haunts me.

56. Failure’s don’t stop there...

57. outREACH Online
Who’s had to report on a
campaign fail?

58. outREACH Online

59. outREACH Online
Who’s had to pull their team
through a campaign failure?

60. outREACH Online
The reality...

61. outREACH Online
You have to have each others
backs through thick and thin.

62. outREACH Online
Sometimes it really hurts when
things don’t go to plan but it’s
reality with link building.

63. The truth about digital PR
What is normal?

64. outREACH Online

65. outREACH Online
Have you ever had a campaign that received the following
number of links?

66. outREACH Online
Have you ever had a campaign that received the following
number of links?

67. outREACH Online
So, I’m a bit suspicious that only a
third have experienced 0 links.

68. outREACH Online
Despite what Twitter shows, not
every campaign is going ‘viral’.

69. outREACH Online
The research shows the majority of
campaigns are getting 1-20 links.

70. outREACH Online
AND THAT IS GOOD!!!

71. What’s ‘normal’ for Aira?

72. 138 campaigns in a year

73. 2,381 followed links

74. Avg. 17 links

75. Huge
wins
Steady
Performers
Huge
fails

76. outREACH Online
The link numbers are almost
irrelevant if they’re not having an
impact on bigger KPIs.

77. outREACH Online
You don’t always need loads of
links to get real business results.

78. outREACH Online
47 links across 5 campaigns
with technical SEO and
keyword research.

79. outREACH Online

80. outREACH Online
“[Aira have] consistently provided great
guidance on setting targets, communicating
their progress and helping us grow as a
company”.

81. ‘Steady
performers’ can make a big
difference to the bottom line.

82. The truth about Digital PR
Learning from ‘steady performers’

83. outREACH Online
Remember this?

84. outREACH Online
We turned it into this...

85. outREACH Online
We have a number of processes in
place that help us learn and develop
as a team.

86. Content Evaluation Matrix

87. outREACH Online
Where this
all started...
Mark Johnstone

88. outREACH Online

89. outREACH Online
Focusing on wins...

90. outREACH Online
Trend:
Maps are great for link building.

91. outREACH Online

92. outREACH Online
Learning from ‘fails’...

93. outREACH Online

94. outREACH Online

95. outREACH Online
What should we have learnt
from those campaigns?

96. outREACH Online
Trend:
We can complicate things too much.

97. outREACH Online
Not learning from these produces
inconsistent digital PR results.

98. outREACH Online
Whereas ‘steady performers’ can
produce consistent results...

99. outREACH Online
Looking at ‘steady
performers’...

100. outREACH Online

101. outREACH Online
Trend:
Campaigns with multiple data points
and are evergreen work well for
consistent results.

102. outREACH Online
Looking at ‘steady performers’
helped us get a 95% increase in
organic traffic and 63% increase in
organic revenue.

103. outREACH Online
You should be reviewing your work
every quarter to find these trends
and implement them.

104. outREACH Online
Here’s a template for you
to review your work.

105. In summary...
Let’s circle back around

106. The full picture =
Digital PR is hard.

107. outREACH Online
You will experience a campaign fail
(or a two). It’s going to happen.

108. outREACH Online
#1
Take the ‘viral’ pressure off and
start talking more about ‘steady
performers’ and fails.

109. outREACH Online
#2
Realise that ‘steady performers’ can
consistently impact weighty SEO
KPIs.

110. outREACH Online
#3
Use the Success Matrix to review
campaigns and catch trends early.

111. Today,
I’ve told you the full picture.
Thank you.

112. outREACHconference