In today’s competitive digital landscape, content is no longer optional. It is the foundation of every successful digital marketing strategy. Whether you’re investing in SEO, PPC, or Digital PR, high-quality content plays a crucial role in attracting, engaging, and converting your audience. At its core, content connects your brand with the right people at the right time.
Content and SEO: driving organic growth
Search engines prioritise content that is relevant, valuable, and authoritative. Well-structured blog posts, landing pages, and on-site content help search engines understand what your business offers and who it serves. When content is optimised with strategic keywords, clear headings, and user intent in mind, it improves visibility and rankings.
However, SEO content is no longer just about keywords. Search engines reward content that demonstrates expertise and answers real user questions. Long-form guides, thought leadership articles, and regularly updated blogs help build trust with both users and search engines, leading to sustained organic growth over time.
Content and PPC: Maximising paid performance
PPC campaigns rely heavily on content to convert clicks into customers. From ad copy and extensions to landing pages and call-to-action messaging, content determines how effectively your paid traffic performs.
Strong PPC content is clear, concise, and aligned with user intent. When ad messaging matches the landing page content, it improves Quality Score, reduces cost-per-click, and increases conversion rates. Without compelling content, even the most well-targeted PPC campaigns can struggle to deliver ROI.
Content and Digital PR: Building Authority and Trust
Digital PR thrives on content that tells a story. Data-led campaigns, expert insights, and engaging narratives help brands earn high-quality backlinks and media coverage. Journalists and publishers are far more likely to feature brands that provide original, valuable, and newsworthy content.
By combining strong content with strategic outreach, Digital PR enhances brand credibility and domain authority. Both of which directly support SEO performance. A well-executed DPR campaign doesn’t just generate links; it positions your brand as a trusted voice within your industry.
A unified content strategy
The most effective digital marketing strategies treat content as a unifying force. SEO informs what topics people are searching for, PPC tests what messaging converts best, and Digital PR amplifies content to wider audiences. When these channels work together, content becomes a powerful growth engine.
Final thoughts
Content is not just words on a page, it’s the backbone of SEO success, PPC performance, and Digital PR impact. Brands that invest in high-quality, strategic content are better positioned to attract attention, build trust, and drive measurable results. In an ever-evolving digital world, content remains the one constant that fuels long-term success.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a future trend in Digital PR; it’s already reshaping how campaigns are planned, executed, and measured. From media monitoring to content ideation, AI tools are helping PR teams work faster, smarter, and more strategically. But as adoption grows, a key question remains: how do we embrace AI without sacrificing creativity, authenticity, and human insight?
At its best, AI doesn’t replace Digital PR professionals; it enhances them.
AI as a strategic PR accelerator
One of AI’s biggest impacts on Digital PR is efficiency. Tasks that once took hours, such as analysing media coverage, identifying journalist opportunities, or monitoring brand sentiment, can now be completed in minutes. AI-powered tools can scan thousands of articles, social posts, and online conversations to uncover patterns and insights that would be impossible to spot manually.
For agencies, this means less time spent on admin-heavy work and more time focused on strategy. Campaigns can be built on stronger data, backed by real-time insights into what audiences and journalists actually care about. AI can even help predict which angles are more likely to earn coverage, making outreach smarter and more targeted.
Smarter content, not shortcut content
AI is also transforming content creation in Digital PR, but this is where caution is needed. Tools can help generate headlines, refine press releases, or suggest story angles, but creativity shouldn’t be outsourced entirely.
The real value of AI lies in ideation support, not automation for automation’s sake. Used properly, it can act as a creative springboard: analysing trending topics, identifying content gaps, or suggesting alternative angles based on audience interest. What it can’t do is replicate brand voice, cultural nuance, or emotional storytelling, the very elements that make PR campaigns resonate.
Personalisation at scale
AI has also elevated personalisation in Digital PR. Journalists expect relevant, timely pitches, and AI can help analyse individual preferences, past coverage, and engagement patterns to inform outreach. This allows agencies to tailor pitches at scale without losing relevance.
However, the pitch still needs a human touch. Relationships remain the backbone of PR, and no algorithm can replace genuine connection, trust, and understanding. AI should inform outreach decisions, not automate relationships.
Protecting creativity and credibility
As AI becomes more embedded in PR workflows, transparency and ethics matter more than ever. Over-reliance on AI-generated content risks sounding generic, inauthentic, or misaligned with brand values. Agencies that lead the space will be those that combine AI-driven insights with human judgement, creativity, and editorial rigour.
The future of Digital PR isn’t about choosing between AI and creativity; it’s about integrating the two intelligently.
The takeaway
AI is transforming Digital PR by making campaigns more data-driven, efficient, and targeted. But its true power lies in how it supports human creativity, not replaces it. For digital marketing agencies, the opportunity is clear: use AI as a strategic tool, keep creativity at the core, and lead with insight, originality, and trust.
Thought leadership is a term that gets used a lot in PR, but it often lacks clarity when it comes to how it should actually work. At its core, thought leadership is not about being the loudest voice in the room or chasing attention. It is about consistently offering informed perspectives that help people better understand an industry, a challenge, or a shift that is happening around them.
When it is integrated properly, thought leadership becomes a powerful part of a PR strategy. It builds credibility, strengthens media relationships, and helps brands earn trust over time rather than relying on one off moments of coverage.
Start with genuine expertise
The strongest thought leadership starts with real knowledge and experience. This might come from hands on work with clients, insight from internal data, or a clear understanding of how your industry operates. Before pitching commentary to the media, it is worth asking what your brand can offer that others cannot.
Journalists are far more likely to engage with insight that adds context or clarity rather than repeating what is already being said elsewhere. Original thinking does not have to be controversial, but it does need to be useful.
Focus on relevance, not self promotion
Thought leadership works best when it serves the audience rather than the brand ego. Commentary should connect to what is already happening in the news and help move the conversation forward.
This means paying attention to the topics journalists are covering and identifying where your perspective genuinely adds value. Insight that explains a complex issue, challenges assumptions with evidence, or offers a fresh way of thinking is far more effective than content that exists purely to promote a product or service.
Make your experts easy to work with
For thought leadership to work in PR, journalists need to know who to speak to and why. This involves clearly positioning spokespeople and defining the areas they are qualified to comment on.
Being selective is important. Experts who comment on everything can quickly lose credibility. Focusing on specific themes helps build recognition and trust over time. Clear communication also matters. The most effective thought leaders are able to explain complex ideas in simple, accessible language.
Build thought leadership into your PR planning
Thought leadership should not be treated as a one off activity. It is most effective when it is built into your wider PR calendar.
Planning around key industry moments, seasonal trends, and predictable news events allows you to prepare insight in advance and respond quickly when stories break. This proactive approach makes it easier to stay consistent and relevant throughout the year.
Support insight with strong content
Supporting assets such as blogs, reports, or data led content strengthen PR commentary by giving journalists something tangible to reference. They also help extend the life of your insight beyond the initial coverage.
When PR and content work together, thought leadership becomes a long term asset that can be reused across owned channels and used to support wider business objectives.
Measure impact over time
While coverage is an important outcome, it should not be the only measure of success. Repeat media requests, increased engagement with leadership content, and growth in branded search demand are strong indicators that thought leadership is working.
These signals often reflect trust and influence rather than short term visibility.
Play the long game
Thought leadership takes time to build. It relies on consistency, credibility, and a willingness to contribute insight without expecting immediate returns.
When integrated properly into a PR strategy, thought leadership becomes more than commentary. It helps build trust, strengthens relationships, and positions a brand as a voice worth listening to over the long term.
Digital PR is often judged by headlines, coverage volume, or brand visibility, but its real value is revealed over time through SEO impact. While a PR mention might deliver an initial spike in traffic, the long-term benefits lie in authority, rankings, and sustained organic growth. The challenge for marketers is knowing how to track that impact properly.
This guide breaks down how to measure the long-term SEO value of PR mentions beyond surface-level metrics.
Understand what a PR mention delivers for SEO
A high-quality PR mention can provide several SEO benefits:
Authoritative backlinks
Brand mentions (linked or unlinked)
Increased crawl discovery
Improved topical authority
Growth in branded and non-branded search demand
Not all mentions are equal. A single link from a trusted, high-authority publication can have more long-term value than dozens of low-quality placements. Before tracking performance, it’s important to understand the quality of the coverage you’re earning.
Track backlinks but look beyond volume
Backlinks remain one of the clearest SEO signals from Digital PR, but volume alone doesn’t tell the full story. Instead, focus on:
Link placement (editorial content vs footer/sidebar)
Link type (follow vs nofollow)
Link destination (homepage vs key commercial or informational pages)
Use tools such as Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or similar platforms to monitor when links are discovered and whether they remain live over time. Long-lasting links from reputable sites are far more valuable than short-lived coverage.
Monitor keyword performance over time
One of the strongest indicators of long-term SEO impact is keyword movement. PR-driven links often support rankings indirectly rather than causing immediate jumps.
Track:
Target keyword rankings for linked pages
Supporting keywords within the same topic cluster
New keyword visibility emerging after campaigns
It’s important to measure this over weeks and months, not days. PR often strengthens a page’s authority, which can improve rankings gradually as Google re-evaluates relevance and trust.
Measure organic traffic trends
PR mentions can introduce new users to your brand and content, but the real SEO value appears in sustained organic traffic growth. Use Google Analytics or similar platforms to monitor:
Organic sessions to linked pages
Overall site-wide organic growth
Changes in traffic to related content
Rather than attributing traffic to a single mention, look for patterns following major campaigns. A steady upward trend often indicates authority building rather than short-term referral spikes.
Track brand search demand
Digital PR doesn’t just earn links, it builds brand awareness. One of the clearest long-term signals of this is growth in branded search queries.
In Google Search Console, track:
Impressions and clicks for branded terms
New variations of branded searches
Increases in brand + product or service keywords
Rising brand demand often correlates with stronger trust signals, which can indirectly improve performance across non-branded keywords too.
Monitor indexation and crawl behaviour
High-authority PR links can improve how quickly and frequently Google crawls your site. Over time, this can lead to:
Faster indexation of new pages
More consistent crawling of deeper content
Improved discovery of supporting pages
In Google Search Console, review crawl stats and indexing reports to identify improvements following major PR campaigns.
Measure link longevity and mentions over time
Not all PR coverage stays live forever. Tracking link retention is crucial for long-term analysis. Regularly audit your links to see:
Which placements remain live
Which have been removed or updated
Whether unlinked brand mentions can be reclaimed
Unlinked mentions, when converted into links, can extend the lifespan and SEO value of a campaign well beyond its original launch.
Attribute PR impact realistically
SEO impact from PR is rarely immediate or isolated. It often works alongside content improvements, technical SEO, and internal linking. Rather than aiming for perfect attribution, focus on contribution.
Ask:
Did rankings improve after sustained coverage?
Did organic traffic trend upward post-campaign?
Did authority metrics strengthen over time?
Final thoughts
Tracking the long-term SEO impact of PR mentions requires patience, consistency, and the right metrics. While headlines and referral traffic matter, the true value of Digital PR lies in authority building, discoverability, and sustained organic growth.
By focusing on backlink quality, keyword performance, organic traffic trends, and brand demand, marketers can move beyond vanity metrics and demonstrate the lasting SEO power of well-executed PR campaigns.
In Digital PR, the best campaigns don’t just happen; they’re carefully engineered to capture attention, spark conversation, and secure high-quality media coverage that resonates with audiences and boosts SEO authority. For inspiration, look no further than one of the most talked-about campaigns of 2026 so far: the so-called “Beckham clause.”
When travel brand On the Beach launched a tongue-in-cheek holiday refund perk dubbed the Beckham clause, it wasn’t just clever wordplay; it was strategic Digital PR genius. The idea? If a family holiday suddenly unravels due to a family feud, the brand will refund one person’s share of the accommodation as long as the fallout happens at least 60 days before departure.
What made this campaign so effective wasn’t just the offer itself; it was the context and timing.
1. Tap into a trending narrative
The Beckham family has been the subject of global media coverage due to their widely reported family tensions, particularly between David and Brooklyn Beckham. The personal drama has dominated news cycles, social feeds, and search behaviour, creating a cultural moment everyone’s talking about.
On the Beach didn’t create the story, but it inserted itselfinto it cleverly. They took a high-visibility trend and played off it in a way that felt light-hearted, relevant, and perfectly pitched for travel audiences.
Lesson: Your next DPR campaign doesn’t always need a massive original dataset or multi-tier assets. Sometimes the smartest idea is to tap into what people are already searching for and talking about.
2. Use humour and human insight
Family holidays are emotional. People have been there: one person argues, tempers flare, and suddenly plans change. By framing this universal experience with a cultural hook, the campaign struck a chord with audiences, and crucially, with journalists. Clever PR isn’t just about facts; it’s about feelings and relatability.
Lesson: Look for angles with emotional pull, humour, nostalgia, frustration, fear of missing out, to give your pitches an extra layer of resonance.
3. Create newsworthy criteria
On the Beach didn’t just launch a refund offer; they defined clear criteria (like a 60-day notice), making the announcement newsworthy and quotable. Journalists love specifics; it makes writing easier and lends authority to the story.
Lesson: When conceptualising your campaign, ensure there are clear takeaways that reporters can quote and explain in headlines and sub-headlines.
4. Earn media and SEO results
The result? Coverage in major outlets like the Daily Mail and beyond, a perfect blend of reach and backlink potential that boosts branded search and domain authority. For agencies specialising in SEO and Digital PR, that combo is gold.
Digital PR shouldn’t be an afterthought or a bolt-on. The Beckham clause campaign shows how a strong cultural hook, mixed with strategic positioning, can deliver coverage that supports SEO performance, elevates brand presence, and generates engagement. Save this idea for your next DPR brainstorming session. It’s a reminder that sometimes the best inspiration comes not from reinvention, but from reaction and relevance.
Digital PR teams face a constant tension between two priorities. On one hand, there’s creativity: developing innovative campaigns, crafting compelling stories, designing shareable assets, and capturing attention in ways that resonate emotionally. On the other hand, there’s linkability: ensuring every campaign or asset has the potential to earn high-quality, authoritative links that boost SEO and measurable business outcomes.
Both are critical, but finding the right balance is often challenging. Lean too far into creativity, and campaigns may fail to generate measurable impact. Focus solely on linkability, and your content risks being bland or forgettable.
This tension is intensified by limited resources. Many teams are small, and marketers are expected to deliver both standout ideas and measurable results simultaneously. The question becomes: how do you create PR that is both memorable and link-worthy?
The role of creativity in digital PR
At its core, PR is about connection. It’s people talking to people, telling stories that resonate, and creating moments that inspire coverage and engagement. Creativity drives this connection.
Creative campaigns spark media interest, evoke emotion, and encourage sharing. Whether it’s a clever interactive infographic, a thought-provoking survey, or a timely cultural campaign, creativity makes your content stand out from the noise. It’s what turns a press release into a story journalists want to cover, and what encourages audiences to engage with your brand.
However, creativity alone doesn’t guarantee links. A campaign can be visually stunning or entertaining, but if it lacks SEO-friendly hooks or shareable components, it may never earn the organic visibility needed to amplify its impact.
Why linkability matters
Linkability ensures your creative campaigns drive measurable results. It’s the combination of strategic thinking, audience understanding, and SEO awareness that transforms great ideas into tangible business outcomes.
Earned media: High-quality links from reputable publications enhance your site’s authority and visibility.
SEO impact: Links are a key ranking factor; campaigns that naturally attract them can improve search performance.
Sustainable results: Unlike one-off social posts, linkable campaigns create content that continues to generate value over time.
Linkability doesn’t mean stifling creativity; it means designing campaigns with built-in opportunities for journalists and influencers to cover, cite, and share your work.
Finding the balance
The most successful digital PR campaigns strike a harmony between creativity and linkability. Here’s how to achieve it:
Plan with purpose: Start every campaign with both creative and SEO objectives in mind. Ask: How will this idea earn coverage? Which audiences will amplify it?
Use data to guide creativity: Audience insights, competitor analysis, and trend monitoring help shape ideas that resonate and attract links.
Design for shareability: Interactive tools, infographics, and visually compelling assets increase the likelihood of coverage.
Test and iterate: Analyse which campaigns earned links, traffic, or media attention. Use these insights to refine future initiatives.
Collaborate across teams: SEO, content, and PR teams working together ensure campaigns are both imaginative and link-focused.
Why it matters
Balancing creativity with linkability is no longer optional—it’s a business imperative. A campaign that earns coverage but fails to create backlinks may not impact SEO or revenue. Conversely, a campaign designed solely for links may be forgotten by audiences and journalists alike.
When done right, digital PR becomes a dual engine: it builds brand awareness, engages audiences, and drives lasting SEO value. The key is treating creativity and linkability as complementary, not competing forces.
Instant Data Scraper is an automated data extraction tool. It uses AI to predict which data is the most relevant on your page, and allows you to save it to Excel or as a CSV file. The extension is great for scraping lists of data, perfect for data-led campaigns where you are looking to utilise search volumes for a number of keywords.
The Glimpse extensionenhances Google Trends datawith absolute search volumes, in real-time, allowing you to discover trending topics. It can help to provide you with valuable data, such as spikes in search volumes, which can be really useful in demonstrating the ‘why now’ to journalists.
Whilst you can manually inspect for “no follow” links by viewing the page source, there are tools out there, such as the NoFollow tool, which will highlight no follow links in a red box, with those not highlighted in the box determined to be a follow link. The tool can help you to quickly confirm whether a link is a follow link or not, which helps with reporting on client coverage.
When working with international clients, you will need to visit websites that you may be blocked from accessing. Downloading a VPN, such as NordVPN, will allow you to access foreign publications, helping you to find the right targets and build media lists for journalists outside of the UK.
If you’re unable to locate a journalist’s email on databases, their author profile or social media, Hunter can help by identifying the most common email pattern for the website.
Every year, brands battle for a spot in the holiday hall of fame by creating Christmas campaigns that tug at our heartstrings, make us laugh, or impress us with their creativity. Some fade quickly, others become iconic cultural moments replayed for years to come.
Here’s a look back at some of the best Christmas campaigns ever produced, and why they’ve earned a place in festive marketing history.
1) Coca-Cola – “Holidays Are Coming” (1995–Present)
The red Coca-Cola Christmas trucks have arguably become more iconic than many traditional holiday symbols. First launched in the mid-90s, the “Holidays Are Coming” campaign created such strong festive nostalgia that people still anticipate its return each year.
Why it worked: A consistent brand message, unforgettable music, and imagery that triggers instant holiday nostalgia.
2. Sainsbury’s – “1914” (2014)
This cinematic ad recreated the legendary Christmas Truce of World War I, in partnership with the Royal British Legion. The emotional power of British and German soldiers sharing food and football on Christmas Eve created one of the most moving ads ever produced.
Why it worked: A beautifully executed retelling of a historical moment that highlights humanity, unity, and peace.
3. Apple – “Misunderstood” (2013)
Apple took a relatable and modern approach with a story about a teenager who appears glued to his phone instead of engaging with family festivities, only to reveal he was secretly creating a heartfelt holiday video for them.
Why it worked: Modern storytelling that flipped expectations and reinforced Apple’s message about technology bringing people together.
4. Marks & Spencer – “Mrs. Claus” (2016)
Marks & Spencer’s 2016 “Mrs Claus” campaign reimagined the often-overlooked Christmas figure as a modern, stylish, and capable heroine. Played by Janet McTeer, Mrs Claus secretly steps in to help a young boy make amends with his sister by delivering the perfect gift on Christmas Eve. With cinematic visuals, warmth, and a touch of humour, the ad offered a fresh perspective on festive storytelling. It stood out by celebrating empathy, family bonds, and subtle female empowerment, quickly becoming one of M&S’s most memorable holiday campaigns.
Why it worked: A fresh twist on traditional Christmas characters combined with humour, warmth, and strong female representation.
5. John Lewis – “The Bear and the Hare” (2013)
No list of iconic Christmas campaigns is complete without the UK retailer John Lewis. While they’ve delivered several brilliant holiday ads, “The Bear and the Hare” stands out as a masterpiece. Using hand-drawn animation combined with 3D sets, the story of a hare giving his best friend, the hibernating bear, a chance to experience Christmas melted hearts everywhere. Add Lily Allen’s emotional cover of “Somewhere Only We Know,” and you get a campaign that set a whole new standard for holiday storytelling.
Why it worked: Emotional storytelling, cinematic production, and a narrative that celebrates friendship and giving.
Working in a B2B environment requires a different mindset from traditional consumer marketing. Decisions take longer, multiple stakeholders get involved, and the path to conversion is rarely linear. To succeed, your marketing strategy needs to be precise, value-driven, and built around the needs of real businesses, not just individual buyers. In this blog, we’ll break down three essential tips that can help you generate stronger leads, create more meaningful engagements, and ultimately drive higher-quality conversions in any B2B setting. Let’s dive in.
Create Relevant, Conversion-Focused Landing Pages
Make sure your landing page matches the tone and message of your ad. That way, visitors feel like they’re in the right place the moment they click through.
Focus on what really matters to your audience: the business benefits, ROI, and your unique selling points. Show them real proof of your value with testimonials, case studies, or even client logos to build credibility and trust.
Use clear, action-driven CTAs like “Schedule a Demo” or “Get a Quote.” Keep your forms short and simple, but include a few key qualifying questions (like company size or basic criteria) to help ensure you’re getting the right leads.
Track Quality Leads & Support Long B2B Cycles
B2B sales cycles are longer than B2C and involve multiple decision-makers, so focus on lead quality over immediate sales.
Integrate CRM data and offline conversions into Google Ads to track qualified leads and opportunities.
This ensures campaigns optimise for high-value leads and provide accurate performance data.
High-Intent Audience Targeting & Ad Scheduling
Reach people by job title, industry (e.g., healthcare, tech, finance), company size, and location (region, country, city) to ensure the right businesses see your ads.
Use ad scheduling to reduce spend on weekends or outside business hours if target companies operate mainly on weekdays.
This maximises efficiency and minimises budget waste.
Creating content takes time, so it makes sense to get the most mileage out of each piece. One well-crafted blog, video, guide, or report can be broken down into several different marketing assets. Here’s how to do it, step by step.
1. Pick a pillar piece
Start with something substantial: a blog, video, webinar, or guide that’s packed with insights your target audience will care about and is relevant to your service/product. This is your main piece, the one you’ll repurpose into smaller formats.
2. Social media assets
From your pillar piece, you can create:
Quote cards with key stats or tips
Carousel posts breaking down step-by-step advice
Short video clips highlighting key points
“Did you know?” posts with interesting facts
Polls or questions inspired by the content
Each post links back to the main piece (the most detailed one), driving traffic and engagement.
3. Visual assets
Turn insights into visual formats:
Infographics or charts summarising data
Slide decks for LinkedIn or presentations
Custom graphics for Instagram or Twitter
Visuals are shareable, easy to digest, and help your content reach more people.
4. PR and thought leadership
Extract data or insights to create press angles or thought leadership pieces. Journalists love stats, trends, or expert commentary; your pillar content can supply all three.
5. Extra Formats
Think creatively:
Turn blogs into podcasts or audio snippets
Create downloadable checklists or templates
Build mini-guides or educational content from sections of the pillar piece
By breaking down one piece of content across these channels, you can easily create several distinct assets. Each asset reinforces the original message, reaches a different audience, and increases your content ROI.
Repurposing isn’t about working harder; it’s about working smarter. One strong piece of content can fuel your marketing for weeks, giving you consistent, high-quality material without having to start from scratch every time.
Digital PR is a modern approach to public relations that focuses on building a brand’s online presence through strategic outreach, content creation, and relationship building with high-authority websites and influencers. Unlike traditional PR, which centres on media coverage, digital PR aims to generate valuable backlinks, improve search engine rankings, and enhance brand visibility across the web.
For companies, understanding digital PR is essential because it directly impacts their SEO success and overall digital reputation. High-quality backlinks earned through digital PR signal to search engines that a website is trustworthy and authoritative, helping improve rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). This, in turn, drives more organic traffic and potential customers.
Moreover, digital PR helps companies build meaningful relationships with key online publications and influencers, increasing their reach and credibility. In an increasingly digital world, leveraging digital PR is critical for businesses to stand out, attract more visitors, and grow sustainably over the long term.
In 2024, the typical Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) for digital PR coverage averaged 61 (Reboot).
The average domain authority achieved through digital PR is notably higher than that of many other link-building techniques, which is why more brands are investing in digital PR services as 2025 approaches. Analysis shows that over 20% of backlinks obtained fall within the strong DR 70-79 range, making it the most common category. Additionally, around 16% of backlinks are in the mid-level DR 50-59 range, while nearly 8% boast a very high DR of 90 or above, about 28% more than those with a DR below 30. These findings demonstrate digital PR’s effectiveness in securing high-quality, authoritative links that can significantly boost SEO performance.
In 2024, the BBC website was the UK’s leading online news source, with nearly 59% of people using it to access news. (Statista)
In 2024, the BBC website stood out as the most frequented online news platform in the UK, attracting nearly 60% of users for their news consumption. Meanwhile, approximately 20% of the population primarily relied on Sky News or The Guardian/Observer, with The Daily Mail close behind at 19%. In contrast, the US showed a more balanced distribution among online news sources that year, with local TV news leading for just over a quarter (28%) of viewers, closely followed by Fox News at 27%.
The typical Ahrefs URL Rating (UR) for digital PR content hovers around 11 (Reboot Online).
A deeper dive into digital PR backlink data from 2024 shows that the average Ahrefs URL Rating (UR) for coverage sits at approximately 11. Notably, nearly one-third (32.96%) of the backlinks earned fell within the 13-15 UR range, while over a quarter (28.81%) were rated between 10 and 12.
Subject lines in digital PR campaigns that included questions experienced a 13% drop in open rates compared to those without questions (Reboot Online).
Analysing over 1,000 subject lines, Reboot Online discovered that digital PR emails sent to journalists showed distinct patterns in open rates. Subject lines framed as questions saw about a 13% decrease in opens compared to non-question formats. Including keywords like ‘data,’ ‘study,’ or ‘survey’ only boosted open rates marginally by 1%. Similarly, listicle-style subject lines offered just a 1% increase over others. However, subject lines featuring buzzwords, such as celebrity names, events, or special dates, performed significantly better, driving about a 12% higher open rate. The most effective subject lines typically contain between 4 and 8 words, with the ideal length ranging roughly from 4 to 11 words.
The global PR market is valued at over $106 billion (Super Links).
Data shows that the global PR market is currently worth more than $106.93 billion and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 6%, reaching $144.28 billion by 2028.
Platforms used to store media lists (Super Links).
Media lists play a crucial role in digital PR efforts by helping pinpoint and connect with the most relevant journalists and media channels, thereby boosting the likelihood of gaining press coverage and expanding audience reach.
Response rate to PR pitches is 3.15% (Root).
Analysis of 425,000 PR pitches sent to journalists in Q4 2023 reveals an average response rate of just 3.15%, equating to roughly 13,000 replies. Among those that did get a response, 70% came within the same day, with nearly 60% answered within four hours. Additionally, over 83% of responses arrived by the following day. Most news stories stemming from these pitches (65.2%) were published within three days of the initial outreach.
87% of journalists prefer to receive pitches via email (Root).
An overwhelming 87% of journalists favour email as their preferred method for receiving pitches, while fewer than 4% opt for any other communication channels.
According to 60% of PR professionals, media relations management is getting harder compared to this time last year (Bluetree Digital).
Every month in the UK, 8020 Google searches include the keyword ‘digital PR’ (Energy PR).
Important components in securing coverage with a pitch (Superlinks).
Types of media commonly used for pitching (Superlinks)
When launching a digital PR campaign, various media channels are typically targeted. Digital and online platforms dominate, with a striking 90% of respondents frequently using them for pitches. Traditional outlets like magazines and newspapers still play a significant role, with 66% and 63% of respondents respectively including them in their strategies. Television and podcasts also remain influential, cited by 52% and 50% of participants as key components in their media outreach efforts.
A little over half (54%) of digital PR professionals typically send follow-up emails within 3 to 6 days following their initial contact. (Superlinks)
The overwhelming majority (92%) of digital PR professionals surveyed prefer to keep their pitch emails concise, typically limiting them to 300 words or fewer to capture journalists’ attention quickly and effectively. In addition to crafting brief initial pitches, just over half (54%) of these professionals aim to send follow-up emails within a window of 3 to 6 days after their first outreach. This approach balances persistence with respect for the journalist’s time, increasing the chances of securing a response without overwhelming the recipient.
Around 61% of PR professionals reported using or planning to explore generative AI technology (Superlinks).
This means that a majority of PR professionals, around 61%, are already incorporating generative AI tools into their daily tasks or are planning to do so in the near future. Generative AI can help automate content creation, improve communication, and streamline various PR activities, making it a valuable resource in the industry.
More than 50% of PR agencies struggle when trying to obtain responses from journalists (Superlinks).
More than half of PR agencies experience difficulties when trying to get responses from journalists. This challenge can slow down or even halt their efforts to secure media coverage, as timely communication is crucial for pitching stories and building relationships. Journalists often receive a high volume of pitches daily, making it harder for PR professionals to stand out and get noticed. This lack of response can lead to missed opportunities for brands to gain publicity and negatively impact the overall effectiveness of PR campaigns.