The formats we keep coming back to
Most of our digital PR campaigns fall into five families:
- Data studies. We analyse a dataset and publish findings a reporter can build a piece on. The craft behind these sits on our data-led PR page.
- Surveys. Commissioned polling that puts a fresh number on something people already argue about.
- Indexes and rankings. Comparisons of places, products or sectors that hand every regional desk its own local line.
- Seasonal hooks. Planned months ahead around the moments journalists have to cover anyway.
- Reactive commentary. Our team's comment on the day's news, written from your published positions and pitched at speed, which is expert comment doing campaign work.
A good programme mixes them, because no single format survives every news cycle.
From idea to coverage, stage by stage
As a fictional planning example, imagine a garden furniture retailer investigating whether orders change around warm weather. The team would first need suitable sales and weather records covering the same dates and places. A pattern in one retailer's orders wouldn't establish how all of Britain shops, or prove that weather caused the change.
If a finding survives those checks, the next steps are a sourced findings page, an accurate explanation and a pitch to journalists covering the subject. Only published articles count as coverage. Our illustrative examples show other campaign choices without claiming client outcomes.
What makes a campaign land
Vague campaigns rarely land. The ones that do have one clear finding, a headline a sub-editor could lift without rewriting, and a point of view with some edge to it. They also respect the reader: a survey built to flatter the client produces a story nobody wants to file.
Before we pitch anything we apply the unsentimental test: would this get opened, and would it get filed, if it arrived from a stranger. If the short answer is no, the idea goes back in the drawer and a better one comes out.
Timing is half the job
A strong story pitched in the wrong week is a weak story, so we plan digital PR campaigns around the news calendar: seasonal pieces briefed months out, data studies held back from budget days and by-elections, survey fieldwork timed so the findings are still fresh when the pitch goes out. Embargoes give long-lead desks time to prepare without losing the news moment.
Reactive commentary is the hedge. When the diary story gets crowded out, a fast quote on the day's news often rescues the month.
What you see at the end of the month
The campaign report should separate published coverage from outreach still in progress. For each article, record the publication, live URL and whether it links to the business. If a pitch didn't result in coverage, say so; the reason may be unknown unless the journalist explains it.
Our measurement guide shows a worked reporting example. The campaign examples are fictional teaching scenarios, separate from real coverage.