Building an Enormously Successful Digital PR Campaign for a High-Ticket Client in the Solar Industry

Image courtesty of Raze Solar via unsplash.com

This week’s guest blogger is Pulkit Agrawal, Founder and SEO Director of SEO Company UR Digital based in Sydney and recipient of Australia’s Top 50 Small Business Leaders of 2022 by inside small business. Originally from India, when he’s not running his business Pulkit enjoys playing Monopoly and building drones. In this fascinating case study Pulkit takes you through each step of a PR campaign that UR Digital created for their client Solar Run who specialise in solar energy.

Over to Pulkit…The Partnership

UR Digital began its SEO partnership with Solar Run, a leading Australian solar energy company, in June 2023. Our collaboration was built on a mutual goal to achieve consistent positive SEO results for Solar Run's online presence. In June 2024, we decided to elevate our efforts by launching an extensive digital PR campaign.

Why This Campaign?

The decision to pursue this Digital PR campaign was driven by the need to generate high-quality backlinks without resorting to paid methods, given the limited budgets for the project. Digital PR presented a creative and effective medium to achieve this, and within less than three weeks, we successfully secured 25 valuable backlinks. The campaign's success was further marked by its widespread coverage which spanned the entire Australian radio network and featured on 25 mainstream media websites across every state except the Northern Territory. The media who picked up our Digital PR campaign included high value sites like PerthNow, news.com.au, Time Out and more.

The Concept

The campaign concept revolved around developing an authoritative article ranking Australian suburbs by their adoption of green energy through solar panel installations. Traditionally, the terms 'greenest' and 'greenest suburbs' are associated with tree canopy cover. However, we aimed to flip the narrative by defining 'greenness' through the lens of renewable energy adoption. With the government-published data we accessed, we created the "Greenest Suburbs" article in order to provide a fresh perspective. Our contingency plan was to rebrand the campaign as "Renewable Energy Leaders" if the original concept didn't gain traction.

Gathering and Analysing the Data

To create the article, we started by sourcing raw data from the Clean Energy Council an Australian government body that keeps track of renewables, focusing on solar installations from January 2020 to December 2023. While downloading the data was straightforward, organising it was a monumental task. Using Excel’s advanced features and formulae, we sorted the data by installation numbers and categorised it by state and corresponding postcodes.

Creating the Article

While data is powerful, its interpretation is crucial. We aimed to create an insightful article, not just a data dump. The resulting report, spanning 12,345 words, unpacked significant trends and insights.

Acknowledging that visuals enhance comprehension, we enlisted a graphic designer to create engaging bar graphs, comparison charts, and maps. After thorough reviews and revisions, we uploaded the final article to the client’s website.

Leveraging PR

To ensure visibility, our PR expert crafted a press release and leveraged her network to generate buzz. The article, titled "Greenest Suburbs," was prominently featured on the front page of a Fraser Coast Chronicle, realestate.com.au, and news.com.au, among others. This press release strategy allowed multiple authoritative articles about Solar Run and its subject matter to be released by various newspapers.

Results and Benefits

This coverage resulted in substantial publicity through backlinks, increasing Solar Run's impressions by 30,000 and attracting 1,000 new visitors. As of 7 August 2024, the article ranks third on Google for the keyword "greenest suburbs," with the first and second positions occupied by major newspapers—an impressive achievement for Solar Run. Not only that, we were able to beat Near Map, one of the largest provider of mapping technology for this keyword that they have been ranking for years.

The campaign provided several direct benefits to Solar Run. It massively boosted their credibility, especially in an industry where solar companies often make headlines for negative reasons, such as fraud. Solar Run stood out as an exception by gaining positive recognition in mainstream media.

While it's premature to measure the exact profits resulting from this PR campaign, the increase in impressions and new visitors indicates a strong impact. Solar Run's reach has also doubled, with PR coverage extending across all Australian states except the Northern Territory, compared to their previous limited presence on the East Coast.

Although we are an SEO agency and do not have direct insights into Solar Run's customer conversions, the campaign attracted 1,000 new visitors, with a significant 30,000 impressions and a notable click-through rate.

Prospects

This campaign reinforced Solar Run's position as a leader in renewable energy and also expanded their reach and credibility across Australia. The results speak to the power of strategic digital PR in achieving meaningful SEO outcomes.

Thank you so much Pulkit and UR Digital for talking us through your campaign! If you would also like to feature on the All About Digital Marketing Blog please get in touch via louisaguiseauthor@gmail.com or respond in the comments below.

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