For the past 18 months, my mindset has been firmly set in ‘survival mode’ due to the trials and tribulations that the global pandemic has brought forward. I will be opened up about my learnings sharing insight into how Aira’s digital PR team was able to pivot their link-building activity for clients on a hairpin, whilst navigating an oversaturated news agenda at the same time as being under pressure from clients around return on their investment. Using ‘survival mode’ experiences, I share clear tactics setting the standard on how to future-proof your digital PR and link building. These tactics will show you how to adapt to the ever-changing news landscape and how to improve your processes from ideation through to outreach.

1. Lessons in
Surviving the Covid News
Agenda and What it Means
for the Future of Digital PR
Shannon McGuirk
Client Services & Delivery Director, Aira

2. 19th March 2020, California.

3. 23rd March 2020, England.

4. Our lives as we knew them changed.

5. Our industry as we knew it changed.

6. Our roles in-house, at agencies and
as consultants changed.

7. A tale of two halves…

8. A tale of two halves…

9. Two weeks into the lockdown we’d lost
more than 50% of our revenue.

10. In April, we won a huge project with a
household brand.

11. In July, our largest client turned their
activity “back on”.

12. In September, our full team were back
from furlough.

13. By November, we had one of our highest
revenue generating months.

14. Despite these wins, we were still down
overall. Our world wasn’t working.

15. The ongoing polarisation caused a state
of ‘survival mode’ to trigger within.

16. I grew up. Fast.

17. My personal journey…
Pre-pandemic
Head of PR &
Content
Trying to do my
day job, get
results for clients
and keep the
team going
Pandemic
hits
Unqualified
therapist role
Hard business
decisions
The team
coming back
from furlough
Director role
“Are we doing
the right thing?”

18. My roles…
HEAD OF PR DIRECTOR
Adapt and find
new ways to
generate links
and traffic.
Get the
company
through this
in one piece.

19. That’s my story, but this
also affected our industry.

20. The Problem
Surviving the Covid News Agenda

22. If only I knew at the time we were going
through the largest challenge we’d
faced yet as a team.

23. We’ve never seen a news agenda like
this before.

27. The space for our clients to play in was
getting smaller and smaller.

28. Nearly 75% of all campaigns were
paused or stopped…

29. A travel client…

30. A DIY client…

31. And on Slack…

32. We felt like headless
chickens.

33. On top of that, the campaigns we were
pitching were being ‘kept on file’.

34. Journalist responses…

35. Large evergreen creative campaigns
weren’t getting cut through.

36. We’ve spent 5 years putting processes
and frameworks in place that make our
digital PR campaigns sustainable.

39. 12th July 2021
National
Simplicity Day

40. REDUNDANT

42. LONG TERM PLANNING
WAS IMPOSSIBLE

43. The news agenda was changing so fast,
forward planning was practically
impossible.

44. We’re used to the news agenda dictating
our every move but this was 100x worse.

45. We moved to a more
‘reactive’ mindset.

47. It worked but there was something much
bigger at play.

48. Journalism was and still is suffering.

49. 44% of journalists were on furlough.

50. August is known as the quietest month
for outreach.

51. We received 250 out of offices from 400
journalists emailed.

52. Our outreach pool was much smaller.

53. This and the fast paced nature of having
to change tactics to drive links put
pressure on the team.

54. This and the fast paced nature of having
to change tactics to drive links put
pressure on the team.

55. No Client Services Director wants this…

56. Performance on some accounts was
affected and we had to dig deeper than
we already were.

57. Reminder: we are living in
a global pandemic!

58. Aira wasn’t the only
agency to go through this.

59. Pressure to perform puts industry
standards at risk.

60. Performance pressures + hectic news
agenda = imperfect campaigns.

61. Performance pressures + a hectic news
agenda = PRs spinning bigger stories.

62. Creative genius?

63. We’ve responded to a difficult situation
with bigger PR spins and bolder ideas.

64. Formats that keep on giving…

65. We’ve responded to a difficult situation
with tried and tested formats that get
links.

66. I get it.
There’s a lot going on.

67. More news Planning issues
Businesses under
threat
Less journalists

68. We’ve risked quality and relevance in
favour of launching quickly.

69. Yes, it works for now...

70. We’re in danger of producing the same
irrelevant stories over and over to get links.

71. Do we really think Google will want to
reward this long term?

72. This approach
isn’t sustainable.
It never has been.

73. The Solution
What Got Us Here, Won’t Get Us There

74. Aira learnt some hard lessons whilst in
‘survival mode’.

75. #1
Ideation
#2
Production
#3
Promotion

76. I want to share 3 tactics to help future
proof your digital PR work.

77. They’ll help you survive an ever
changing news agenda.

78. They’ll also increase the quality and
relevance of your outputs.

79. #1 Ideation
The ROR Framework

80. Every successful campaign starts with a
great idea.

81. How do you know you’ve got a good idea?

82. There are 3 important things you need
to validate your idea against when
working under pressure.

83. Relevancy, Opinion, Resolution.

84. Think of this as ‘Natural Selection’…

85. Relevancy, Opinion, Resolution.

86. Should the brand be talking
about the topic and/or theme?
Relevance

87. Relevance
TOPIC THEME

88. Relevance
TOPIC THEME
3 to 5
subjects defined at
kick off that relate
directly to the
product offering and
act as guide rails for
the project.

89. Relevance
TOPIC THEME
3 to 5
subjects defined at
kick off that relate
directly to the
product offering and
act as guide rails for
the project.
A layer deeper than
themes that the
brand can have a
solid opinion or
voice on to make
them famous for that
thing.

90. Come on, be honest.
Should they?
Relevance

91. When you have these topics and themes
defined head to Reddit and Buzzsumo.
Relevance

92. Relevance
Reddit:
“Women
in STEM”

93. Relevance
Buzzsumo: “Women in STEM”

94. Relevance
TOPIC THEME
Women in STEM
-Universities
-Challenges
-Impact on Covid
-Scholarships

95. Tip:
Establish topics and themes, then
overlay them on Reddit and Buzzsumo
to produce relevant ideas.
Relevance

96. Relevancy, Opinion, Resolution.

97. This is your brand’s opinion.
Opinion

98. What can your brand have a clear,
distinctive and unique voice on?
Opinion

99. This should be on a relevant
theme and topic too.
Opinion

100. Opinion
Time Finance Solution

101. This opinion needs to go in any press
material and be ready to offer unique
comments.
Opinion

102. Tip:
Confirm whether your brand has a clear
voice or opinion on the idea before
creating it.
Opinion

103. Relevancy, Opinion, Resolution.

104. We’re not going to solve world issues
with digital PR campaigns alone.
Resolution

105. But that doesn’t mean your campaign
shouldn’t offer your brand’s audience an
answer or resolution.
Resolution

106. This directly ties back to relevance and
being able to create an opinion on the
topic or theme.
Resolution

107. Resolution
Audience
query:
How much
would it cost to
rent a royal
residence?

108. Resolution

109. Tip:
Be curious about the challenges the
audience faces and the questions they
have.
Resolution

110. #2 Production
Format Libraries

111. Sustainable digital PR is as much about
the day to day detail as it is the overall
approach.

112. Given the busy news agenda, it makes
sense to spend more time and budget on
outreach.

113. Production is still very important.

114. Our data tells us what formats work well
for digital PR.

116. Format libraries…

117. These wireframes are tailored bespoke
for each client’s ideas.

118. This streamlines the process without
compromising on quality and gives more
time to outreach.

119. Action:
Research popular formats for your brand
and establish content libraries.

120. #3 Promotion
Managing Unforeseen
Circumstances

121. I’m not going to go into outreach
101 today.

122. We’re going to talk about when the worst
happens and you can’t launch.

123. We’ve experienced this at least 10+ times
in the last 12 months thanks to the news
agenda.

124. But that’s okay, because we had a plan
in place to get through it.

125. Assess, Communicate, Perspective.

126. Assess, Communicate, Perspective.

127. Review social media, news outlets and
see how large the story is likely to be.
Assess

128. If it’s trending, it will almost certainly be
in the press.
Assess

129. Assess

130. One person needs to take charge and be
comfortable making the call to pause.
Assess

131. Assess

132. Assess, Communicate, Perspective.

133. Always feedback client/stakeholder
efficiently. Be clear of the risk.
Communicate

134. Communicate

135. Take the reins, you are the expert.
Communicate

136. Communicate

137. Assess, Communicate, Perspective.

138. You, your team and your
client/stakeholder will be frustrated.
Perspective

139. Be vulnerable. Ask questions.
Perspective

140. Be productive with re-launch planning.
Perspective

141. With the news agenda so full, this is
likely to happen to you at some point.
Perspective

142. Action:
Take a breath. Assess, communicate and
have perspective.

143. In Summary…
Circling back around to the main point.

144. These frameworks have been born out of
Aira’s lessons from being in ‘survival
mode”.

145. The goal of sharing them with you is to:

146. 1. Be more authentic with
your campaign work.

147. 2. Do what’s right for the brand.

148. 3.Place a larger focus on quality and
relevance.

149. You’ll have better digital PR outputs that
drive real business growth.

150. This is what being in
‘survival mode’ has taught
us.

151. Thank You!
@shannonMcGuirk_