Ideas · 5 min read · February 2026
Not all digital PR campaigns are created equal. Some formats consistently outperform others. Here are five that are earning coverage and links for brands right now — and why they work.
Take a national dataset and break it down by region, city, or postcode. Journalists love regional angles because they're locally relevant and easy to write about. One dataset can generate dozens of story angles for different regional publications.
Example: "UK home renovation spending by region" — breaks into stories for every regional paper in the country, plus national consumer press. The ONS Housing data is a good starting point for property and construction angles.
Every industry has seasonal peaks. Position your brand as the expert source for commentary during those peaks — before, during, and after. If you're in home improvement, own spring renovation season. If you're in eCommerce, own Black Friday analysis.
Why it works: Journalists plan seasonal content in advance. If you're pitching relevant, expert commentary at the right time, you become their default source.
When news breaks in your industry, respond immediately with expert commentary. This is where AI-powered outreach shines — our bot detects breaking news within minutes and drafts responses that we can approve and send before competitors even notice the story.
Example: A government announcement on building regulations → expert commentary from a building materials brand within 30 minutes → coverage in Construction News, Building, and national press.
Commission a survey through a reputable polling provider and use the findings to create newsworthy stories. Surveys give you proprietary data that nobody else has — which makes your brand the primary source journalists have to cite and link to.
Tip: Design questions that will produce surprising or counterintuitive results. "70% of homeowners underestimate renovation costs by more than 40%" is more newsworthy than "most people like having a nice garden."
Build a regularly updated index tracking costs in your industry — the cost of a kitchen renovation, the average hourly rate for a tradesperson, the price of common building materials by region. Journalists return to reliable data sources repeatedly, and an index positions your brand as one.
Why it works: It creates a linkable asset that earns backlinks over time as journalists reference it in future articles. One well-designed index can earn links for years.
All five formats share one thing: they give journalists something genuinely useful. Not a press release about your company. Not a product announcement. Something their readers want to know. That's the difference between digital PR that earns links and PR that gets ignored.
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