Digital PR Campaign flopped? No probs. Here’s what to do next.
Everyone involved in a PR campaign will know just how much work goes into one, from the ideation, research all the way through to its launch and execution, the whole process is a lot.
There are the early brainstorming stages, the content creation, tailoring your ideas to a specific audience and media outlets, and carefully crafting a media list, all done over a substantial period of time. And that’s only a tiny slice of the pie.
Which is why it’s such a shame when all that effort is put to bed once the campaign has run its course – especially if the carefully crafted resources didn’t quite get the coverage you were expecting.
So, in the spirit of sustainability, here’re some tips, opportunities and benefits of reusing old campaigns. Whether you reangle one that didn’t go as well as you’d hoped the first time, or you use existing data for reactive reasons, there are plenty of ways you can repurpose your work…
The news cycle is as predictable as it is unpredictable
By this, we mean that it changes a lot, and a lot of events pass through multiple channels numerous times a day.
However, the same types of stories tend to crop up time and time again. For example, if you run a campaign about inflation one year, there’s nothing stopping you from updating that data and running it again for a second year.
Use data from your campaign for reactive purposes
Once you’ve finished outreaching for a campaign, take a look through to see if there are any quotes or data that you can sift from your findings. You may be able to use them in reactive pieces that might not relate to your initial campaign but works with your data.
Let’s say you take data from a campaign about inflation rates. You could then offer it to journalists as expert commentary on other inflation-related topics and stories.
For example, here’s a quote we took from a campaign about the price of a pint in the UK, and offered it up for an article discussing the price of fish and chips.
Use old data to make a comparison with new data
If you ran a story last year, for example, on the rate of inflation, (there’s a running theme here) there’s no reason why you can’t use the data again for a new campaign. You could run the same one a year later, and then compare the new data to last year’s.
It doesn’t have to be money-related, either. While financial comparisons are very handy, there are other subjects you can analyse the data from over different periods, too.
Travel is a great one. Last year, we built an index detailing the world’s happiest cities just in time for summer. (The winner was Lisbon, by the way. Just in case you were holiday browsing.)
So, we could launch the same campaign a second time to see if anything has changed and use our original data to compare it with the initial findings.
Use campaigns that didn’t work previously and reangle them
If you experience a campaign that’s not as successful as you thought it was going to be, don’t waste all of your hard work, time and research by scrapping it for good. Instead, try and look at things from a different perspective and ask yourself: Can this be repurposed in any way? Can you think of a way to re-angle the data to make it more newsworthy and relatable?
Again, back to inflation, but it’s a great example – if it’s increased, what does it mean to the average joe? How will it affect the cost of a meal out in 5 years’ time if it stays the same? Essentially, see if there’s another angle that would work that provides the data in a simpler and more creative way.
As we touched on further up,, we ran a successful campaign explaining inflation in a pretty unconventional way and it popped off. We researched the current average price of a pint in 25 cities across the UK and how much it’s set to rise every year until 2030. The story went viral and it was picked up by national and regional websites across the UK, all because we took a bit of initiative and thought outside the box.
Consider taking a multi-channel approach
Say you’re in the middle of running a campaign and a piece of content is beginning to gain traction and success. Why not try and capitalise on it and look for ways in which you could repurpose it across different channels?
If it’s currently doing well via email, see how it can add value on socials. As these days, social media is non-negotiable in terms of marketing and building an online audience/community.
You can also start to think about direct advertising channels – just make sure that you’re maximising your content’s potential across multi-channels, as you can double, triple, or even quadruple its return.
Use a “create it once, use it many” formula
Touching on the multi-channel approach, you want to be able to create messages that really speak to your core audience. When it comes to digital tools, you can mix and match elements into all kinds of campaigns, so it’s important when starting the initial creation process to pick some key fundamentals from your previous top performers.
Once you know what’s worked best for you in the past, the “create it once, use it many” formula will save you time and resources when planning future campaigns.
Of course, you can’t use the exact same content time and time again, but if you have templates or structures of stuff you know your demographic likes, you can always reuse them.
From article to infographic
In terms of content, if you’ve posted an article or a blog post that’s been successful, chances are, you want to take advantage of the good run. So why not turn it into an infographic? Having a visual piece on content sat on your (or your clients) site provides a great resource for other sites to link to. And let’s be honest, the links are what we want.
These collections of imagery or data visualisations work best with listicle-style blogs, as they have short, snappy, and digestible points that can be easily scaled down into social media-friendly images.
Repurpose your video content
People LOVE a video. Think about it – TikTok is huge, and the Instagram algorithm (to many content creators’ dismay) has sided with the reel, meaning everybody’s feed is now full of video content.
Which is why, in terms of marketing, it’s a really smart idea to repurpose your videos. If you’ve created one that you love and you think it will resonate with your audience, post it on more than one social site.
Each has a different demographic (some more than others), which means your video will be seen by more people and generate new results on each platform.
Just make sure that when you’re repurposing it, you add subtitles, for accessibility, and because a lot of people watch videos on silent mode, especially when they’re out in public.
Make the most of what you’ve already got
Think about it – recycling, upcycling, and reusing are encouraged when it comes to life in general. So why can’t these buzzwords be adopted in the marketing world? If you’ve got a perfectly good piece of content or a great campaign that’s already done the rounds, who’s to say that they can’t be successful again, or find success on a different platform?
Reading the above tips and ideas may just provide you with some inspiration, next time you’re stuck in a rut and wondering why your last campaign floundered.
