Challenge
Digital Trails was tasked by the client (menkind.co.uk), a leading UK-based gifts and gadgets retailer, to improve online visibility for their e-commerce platform. GOALS: As an established physical retailer with stores across the UK, Menkind was keen to also increase their share of the online sales of gifts and gadgets. Campaign objectives were set as follows: • Increase organic ranking positions for the main search terms • Increase organic search traffic to the website as a consequence • Strengthen the website's backlink profile in order to increase its authority and visibility in Google.co.uk • Generate awareness in top tier media
Solution
While Menkind is an established brick and mortar retailer in the UK market, there were several opportunities to increase online revenue. We knew that taking a traditional PR approach, even though it might generate awareness, wasn’t enough to yield the targeted results our client was after, i.e. an increase in new visitors, returning visitors and revenue. So we decided to work on devising an integrated strategy which used a mix of PR and SEO tactics, in order to increase online visibility in the most efficient way. THE TACTICS: We began our work by conducting an SEO audit of the site and focused on three key areas that underlined our subsequent campaign activity: • SEO technical audit and recommendations • Keyword research and and onsite content optimisation (both informative - e.g. blog - and transactional - e.g. product pages) • Earned media By having a solid understanding of how the website was performing in search results and how this performed based on key business objectives, we assessed the specific areas that needed to improve – such as rankings and traffic to specific product categories, referral traffic and conversions. With the SEO guidelines in mind, we went on to devise a Performance PR strategy, which entails a targeted PR approach focused on increasing online visibility for the Menkind website. This enabled our client to constantly feed back and integrate business and marketing goals into our approach. To make the most of the PR opportunities, these were split into several key areas: • Proactive press office: Promoting targeted campaigns based on business objectives and in line with SEO strategy, including creative consumer campaigns and trade announcements • Reactive PR: Monitoring media requests and securing relevant press opportunities • Link building: Securing links from authoritative websites The media coverage secured was predominantly focused on online, although we did target relevant print, social media and broadcast opportunities to ensure we maximised awareness and visibility. 48% of earned media placements secured were in top tier publications across nationals, tech, lifestyle, trade media and other industry relevant publications. But our activity didn’t just stop at making a positive impact on the number of placements achieved, as we knew very well that a successful press office doesn’t automatically increase revenue. We targeted our approach and integrated PR and link building efforts for maximum impact. This was done through leveraging different outputs including product reviews and product guides, thought leadership and expertise, relevant launches or trade announcements, competitions, awards and many more. The result was a host of authoritative domains linking back to the Menkind website and passing back SEO value. Performance PR – the key to improve online visibility Our experience showed us that a fragmented approach focused on traditional PR and/or SEO activity would not be enough to improve our client’s online presence in search results. In turn, our assessment proved that a strategy where SEO efforts are integrated and work in tandem with PR tactics is the best approach to improve online brand visibility in a measurable way. With PR activity being notoriously difficult to quantify, our strategy ensured the results we achieved have a clear, demonstrable impact on traffic, rankings and, ultimately, business revenue. If you’re interested in hearing how we can help your brand improve its online visibility and drive online revenue, get in touch for a free assessment.
Results
Through integrating the above tactics, we rolled out a 10-month long Performance PR campaign which achieved excellent results, exceeding client KPIs and increasing online visibility and website revenue significantly. Our targeted approach yielded significant results, allowing us to deliver close to 150 pieces of coverage (media mentions in mostly top tier press), which resulted in 2.3 million estimated reads for the articles published and 71 unique linking domains, across various relevant media sectors. The online visibility impact was clear, with key performance PR results looking like the below: • Website authority increased significantly • The backlink profile diversified with new relevant categories • Key search terms increased in rankings • YOY total clicks increased by 8.5% Website authority trends 2019 – 2020 – MOZ and Majestic SEO data
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