This talk will cover the complete process behind running successful and creative digital PR campaigns, from generating ideas to measuring impact. Sarah will be delving into the key tactics around tailoring your PR strategy to achieve the best results – whether or not you engage with an agency or want to keep efforts in-house.

1. Maximising your brand's
digital PR impact:
Strategies for success and
creativity on a budget
Sarah Fleming
Founder and Director at First Create

2. A bit about me
Started out in
traditional PR for
brands across
Fashion and F&B in
Singapore

3. A bit about me
6 years ago I
moved to the UK
with my family and
have been working
in Digital PR ever
since.

4. A bit about me
In my last role, I
was the Head of
Creative for Kaizen
and worked with
some of the
biggest brands
across EMEA.

5. Proving the value of nofollow links

6. A bit about me
In January, I
launched First
Create, my Digital
PR freelance
company based in
London!

7. Today I’m going to
run through the
process behind
successful and
creative digital PR
campaigns

8. 1. Nailing PR Ideation
How do I develop a
digital PR strategy that
aligns with my
company/client and
performs successfully?
We’ll be covering…

9. We’ll be covering…
2. Outreach Strategy
How do I create an
outreach strategy
that's informed by key
angles and hooks?

10. We’ll be covering…
3. Measuring Impact
How do I successfully
report on the impact of
my PR campaigns?

11. Nailing Ideation
01
How to write ideation briefs and
communicate expectations to
ideation attendees 📣

12. Nailing Ideation
02
Diversifying tactics: different
ideation formats to trial when
running sessions 📊

13. Nailing Ideation
03
Scoping out ideas - 10 creative
‘commandments’ ✅

14. “Creativity is intelligence
having fun.”
—Einstein

15. There are a few vital
questions you must
answer before
beginning a successful
ideation session

16. 1. What is our business
model?
A. How do we generate
revenue, and what kinds
of leads do we need to
create? 💵
B. What is our company
mission and vision? 👁

17. 2. Who is our target
audience?📱
A. What publications are
they reading?💵
B. What types of
awareness and research
stage keywords are they
searching? 👁

18. 3. Who are our key
competitors?
Ie. SEO vs. ‘traditional’
competitors

19. 4. What are our key
products and/or
services? 🔑
Ie. What keywords should
we be targeting?

20. 5. What is our tone of
voice?
A. Do we have a brand
playbook or equivalent?
B. What editorial do's
and don'ts do we have?
🎤

21. 6. What reputation /
news is there about our
company currently?
Ie. Can we leverage new
products or our
spokespeople in our PR
campaigns?

22. 7. What questions are
our target audience
asking?
(Use answer the public
or google's 'people ask'
section to determine
key questions)

23. 8. What are
competitors doing in
terms of PR?
(Make sure to link out to
some examples of
competitor content🔗)

24. 9. What publications
should we be targeting
based on running a link
gap analysis?
Ie. where competitors
have links that we do
not ⛳

25. 10. What campaign
inspiration can we take
from similar campaigns
done in the digital PR
space?
Check sources like
digital pr examples
twitter. 🌈

26. 11. What content have
we created in the past?
Ie. What internal data
can we leverage to
create new stories?

27. Ultimately, a great ideation brief
sparks ideas as you’re pulling it
together.
Ideation template:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15rt6Kj
DGcWTRManE-1X3B5QdqvpjJHu5XQFP1Aoe
xgk/edit?usp=sharing

28. Last year, I ran an
ideation survey:

29. Only 1 in 10 of us feel
feel the MOST creative
during an ideation

30. 70% of us feel the most
creative outside the
office

31. 30% of us feel most
creative when:
➔ taking a break
➔ playing on the
internet
➔ listening to music
➔ when out with
friends
➔ exercising...

32. With this in mind,
diversifying
ideation tactics is
crucial to suit the
needs of your team

35. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/195Dofyg9kNWR9MBuzpeedFwQbiDLKbOQHfkYVE6aYr8/
edit#gid=0

36. While ideating, it’s
important to vet
key factors that
determine a great
PR concept…

37. Here are my top
10 creative PR
commandments

38. 1. You have full
confidence that the
story informs or
entertains a
well-defined audience
on a topic they would
care about.

39. *Ideas must not be
passed off without
having a real
data-driven, concrete
understanding of
opportunities i.e. avoid
making assumptions
without doing research

40. 2. The story is both
on-brand and relevant
to your target audience

41. 3. The story has
evergreen potential
and won't be irrelevant
once a particular event
passes

42. 4. The story leverages
an expert (in-house,
client-side or a person)
when it adds value

43. 5. If the story makes
use of published data, it
has been analysed in a
way that offers a new
story

44. 6. The story triggers an
emotion and creates
obvious discussion
points

45. 7. The visuals used are
the simplest, most
effective way the story
could be told and
doesn’t require written
explanation

46. 8. The story could be
published by both local
and international
journalists (where
possible)

47. 9. The story offers a
unique perspective that
differentiates it from
previous coverage on a
similar/same concept

48. 10. The story has to be
on a hot topic that
journalists are talking
about right now

49. Follow these ideation tips to get results like:

50. Outreach Strategy
01
How to prolong outreach and
create a strategy that's informed
by key angles and hooks 📨

51. Ideation is a hugely
important part of the
Digital PR process, but
a strong outreach
strategy is the most
important step.

52. What is an outreach
strategy?
An outreach strategy is a
document used to
outline and explore all
of the key angles ahead
a PR campaign going
live - to ensure all key
outreach opportunities
are explored.

53. When do you create
an outreach strategy?
An outreach strategy
should be filled out at
least one week before a
campaign goes live, to
ensure you have enough
time to prospect and
create email templates.

54. So what’s
included in an
outreach
document?

55. 1. The Angles
What are the overall
themes for the angles
you want to focus on? ie
'Personal Finance' angle

56. 2. The Story
What is the one thing this
angle shows? ie. 'This
angle will reveal X'

57. 3. The Resonante
What leads us to
believe this angle is
a relevant topic of
conversation? (Why
will anyone care?)

58. 4. The Relevance
How does this story fit in
with the brand, our
customers, or our
campaign piece?
ie. 'A personal finance angle
directly ties in with our
target audience’

59. 5. The Sell-in
Provide 3 x headlines for
split testing and 3 x
publishers ie.
➔ New study reveals…
➔ X crowned most X…
➔ This is how much X are
really spending in 2023
➔ DailyMail
➔ LadBible
➔ Metro

60. 6. The Data
What research or
data points will you
use?

61. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YQFXqujw7R6PvrX9iBpMR0e72W1VkWgqVb169BmJHLc/edit#gid=0

62. Measuring Impact
01
How to impress stakeholders
with link and coverage results 📊

63. Aside from the basic
reporting of no. of links,
coverage and domain
rating, here are a few
ways to represent the
value of your PR
coverage

64. Competitor Competitor Competitor Competitor Brand

65. Competitor Competitor Competitor Brand Competitor

67. Competitor
Competitor
Competitor
Brand
Competitor

68. No matter your PR
budget, hopefully this
talk has provided
some useful tips to
implement within
your digital PR
strategies!

69. Here are a few key
takeaways from
today…

70. Key takeaways:
➔ Use a variety of data to create pre-ideation briefs
💡
➔ Ensure you’re diversifying your ideation tactics 🆕
➔ Utilise an outreach strategy document to plan key
angles 1 week before launch 📩
➔ Ensure you’re representing results smartly to key
stakeholders 📊

71. ➔ Links:
◆ Pre-ideation brief template
◆ Ideation template
◆ Outreach strategy document

72. Thanks for listening!
Any questions?
@sarahhflemingpr
sarah@firstcreate.co.uk