Do you use gut instinct when conducting outreach? In this presentation, I look into how often we're using gut feels when it comes to launching campaigns and use data analysis to highlight to give more guidance on what we should be doing ahead of that all-important lanch date.

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Making Headlines:
Using Data to
Supercharge Outreach
Shannon McGuirk

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Gut instinct
@shannonmcguirk_

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Gut instinct;
An immediate basic feeling or reaction without a logical
rationale
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We’re all using ‘gut feels’ in life and with
outreach because experience takes over
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Instinct takes over because planning a launch
can be risky
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We know better than most
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We’ve secured thousands of links per year on
our gut instincts
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But we could have secured more...
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Here are three campaigns where we’ve used
gut instinct
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#1
We’ve followed gut instinct and it’s worked
really well
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Results
66
158Pieces of coverage
Links
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#2
We ignored gut instinct and lived to regret
it
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Google trends data

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#3
We had a good feeling about the campaign
despite doubts
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What’s the issue then?
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We all remember the instances when our gut
feel was right
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But there are lots of instances
where we are wrong
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Who’s launched a campaign you were certain
would be a success, but actually failed
miserably?
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Link building is inconsistent
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The truth:
Relying on instinct alone can make outreach
results inconsistent
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Inconsistent results make
for difficult conversations
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We’ve experienced it
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We need to rely less on gut instinct and find a
way of making better informed outreach
decisions
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Better informed outreach decisions will make
way for consistent results
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The solution
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We use data and process when it comes to
campaign production
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Why aren’t we using data
in a better way to inform
our outreach strategies?
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Some of us are using outreach software
like Buzzstream which harvests data
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But who’s using data
collected from the sites
giving the links out?
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1 scrape
6 national news sites
35,000 articles*
*Only a fraction of what they do publish
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Data point Example
Site URL https://www.thesun.co.uk/
Site section https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/
Article URL
https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/9094543/british-
airways-first-business-premium-economy
External links in article 5
Journalist name ‘Joe Bloggs’
Publish date 14/05/2019
Headline ‘REVEALED…”
What to
scrape?
@shannonmcguirk_

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The result?
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One giant spreadsheet
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Data + ‘gut feels’ =
consistent outreach results
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49. Key findings
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Caveat:
These are open to interpretation
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Launches Links Subject lines
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Launches
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When is the best day to launch your
campaign?
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Naturally, gut feel says:
mid week
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So, what does the data say?
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Best day
to launch –
Travel
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Best day
to launch –
Automotive
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Best day
to launch –
Science
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Best day
to launch –
Tech
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Best day
to launch –
Finance
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3/5 sectors show a Monday
or Friday is better according to the amount of
articles produced
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I get it, Monday and Friday’s make me
nervous too
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”No, it all comes down to the time it’s sent.”
@shannonmcguirk_
Journalist, MailOnline

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” Before 8:30am and not a Friday
afternoon.”
@shannonmcguirk_
Digital Lifestyle Writer, The Sun

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Tip:
Start outreach on the day with the highest level
of articles produced as journalists are looking for
stories
@shannonmcguirk_

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Who should we build relationships with before
a launch?
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Most prolific
writers
Journalist name Journalist publication Article numbers
Tyrion Lannister House Lannister 610
Daenerys Targaryen House Targaryen 480
Arya Stark House Stark 342
Theon Greyjoy House Greyjoy 324
Cersi Lannister House Lannister 323
Jamie Lannister House Lannister 296
Tywin Lannister House Lannister 242
Joffrey Lannister House Lannister 242
Aegon Targaryen House Targaryen 232
Sansa Stark House Stark 228
Rhaeghar Targaryen House Targaryen 211
Robert Baratheon House Baratheon 208
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Most prolific
writers
Journalist name Journalist publication Article numbers
Tyrion Lannister House Lannister 610
Daenerys Targaryen House Targaryen 480
Arya Stark House Stark 342
Theon Greyjoy House Greyjoy 324
Cersi Lannister House Lannister 323
Jamie Lannister House Lannister 296
Tywin Lannister House Lannister 242
Joffrey Lannister House Lannister 242
Aegon Targaryen House Targaryen 232
Sansa Stark House Stark 228
Rhaeghar Targaryen House Targaryen 211
Robert Baratheon House Baratheon 208
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It actually works…
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“Give me a bell at some point this
afternoon”
Journalist, MailOnline

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@shannonmcguirk_
“The weirder, the better for us and
support it with a case study”
Journalist, MailOnline

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Tip:
Find the most popular writers and build
relationships
with them
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Links
@shannonmcguirk_

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Which title gives the most links?
@shannonmcguirk_

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Gut feel:
The Sun
@shannonmcguirk_

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Highest number
of links per
article (avg.) News sites The average # of links per article
Daily Star 6
Mail Online 2
The Sun 2
Telegraph 2
Independent 1
Express 0
@shannonmcguirk_

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Tip:
Prioritise the Daily Star with prospecting –
they give links!
@shannonmcguirk_

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Average number
of links per
article,
per sector Industry New site
The average number of #
of links per article
Travel Telegraph 8
Tech Daily Star 7
Money Mail Online 6
Automotive Daily Star 5
@shannonmcguirk_

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Gut instinct:
Where is The Sun?
@shannonmcguirk_

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Tip:
Offer the leading title per sector an
exclusive for your campaign
@shannonmcguirk_

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Most linked to
brands - overall
Brand/URL # of Links
gosim.com 2959
instagram.com 1052
booking.com 929
moneysupermarket.com 272
amazon.co.uk 232
reddit.com 200
store.playstation.com 189
gov.uk 188
twitter.com 167
bloomberg.com 152
@shannonmcguirk_

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Most linked to
brands - overall
Brand/URL # of Links
gosim.com 2959
instagram.com 1052
booking.com 929
moneysupermarket.com 272
amazon.co.uk 232
reddit.com 200
store.playstation.com 189
gov.uk 188
twitter.com 167
bloomberg.com 152
@shannonmcguirk_

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Why is this insightful?
@shannonmcguirk_

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Journalists are looking for data
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Go and give them some!
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We can also learn from
these campaigns
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@shannonmcguirk_

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Tip:
Use the data to find the sites journalists
are linking to and pitch relevant content
@shannonmcguirk_

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Subject lines
@shannonmcguirk_

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We can take the headlines and produce
word clouds to see what language is used
frequently
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Travel
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Finance
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Tech
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Automotive
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We can look at individual journalists too...
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Automotive
journalist
@shannonmcguirk_

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Best words to
use in subject
lines
REVEALED
BEST
NEW
DATA
STUDY
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Aira got a 48% open rate using ‘data’, ‘new’ and
‘reveals’ in a subject line
@shannonmcguirk_

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Tip:
Analyse headlines and use the language in
subject lines
@shannonmcguirk_

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In summary
@shannonmcguirk_

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We’ve just proven that we don't need to
rely 100% on gut feel
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If you take one thing away...
@shannonmcguirk_

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Use this framework, set up
a scrape & get insights for your outreach
efforts
@shannonmcguirk_

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Data point Example
Site URL https://www.thesun.co.uk/
Site section https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/
Article URL
https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/9094543/british-
airways-first-business-premium-economy
External links in article 5
Journalist name ‘Joe Bloggs’
Publish date 14/05/2019
Headline ‘REVEALED…”
What to
scrape?
@shannonmcguirk_

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This will help you make more informed decisions
and get consistent results in an unpredictable
industry.
@shannonmcguirk_

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Thank you!
@shannonmcguirk_