Sourcing inspiration and data for campaigns is only the first step towards ideating and brainstorming relevant campaign ideas for clients. Top-performing campaigns start with gathering all of the necessary information from your client, including keywords, target audience, dream publications and more, to help guide your thought process. 

Digital PR is a tactic that’s made up of multiple things, from ideation, data and research to storytelling and visuals.

But it’s also the execution of the campaign, building super-relevant media lists, crafting the perfect pitch, and monitoring a campaign’s success, including any links and coverage gained.

Not for the fainthearted, right? 

Wrestling with such a complex, multifaceted beast on a daily means we can all need a little help from time to time…especially when it comes to finding the right inspiration for our next headline-making campaign.

In order to create content, you must first consume content. 

In the world of Digital PR, content consumption is a cornerstone of your creativity, keeping new ideas alive and thriving! Regularly immersing yourself in diverse content is essential to stimulate creative thinking and to spark campaign ideas. 

When faced with a client brief, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. But there are steps we can take to make the process of finding inspiration both easier and more enjoyable!

My go-to when starting to ideate for my next digital PR campaign is to head to the client’s website to see what kind of topics they talk about on their blog. It’s also a great idea to check their key competitor’s website to find inspiration from blogs, digital PR examples and social media content.

Another thing you can do to guide your ideation process is to conduct a banklink gap analysis on competitor sites using tools such as Ahrefs. This helps to determine the websites where competitors have gained coverage and where your client may not have yet secured coverage. 

Looking at the type of content that these publications cover can help spark PR campaign ideas that their target audience will be interested in, helping you and your client gain coverage in these media outlets.

Diving into data sets can spark a PR campaign idea or back up your concept. Here are my favourite data sets:

• YouGov
• Statistica
• FOI Requests
• Google Trends
• Pinterest Trends
• TikTok Trends
• Netflix Data by Country

These are great to save to refer back to for your next campaign idea!

• The Pudding
• Information is Beautiful
• Reddit – Data is Beautiful

Subscribing to newsletters can help you stay up-to-date with the industry and the best PR campaigns. Here are some of my favourite newsletters:

• PR Insider Newsletter by Thea Chippendale – A fantastic weekly resource for digital PR examples, it also includes a data section jam-packed full of the keywords journalists have been talking about and much more

• The Grapevine Newsletter by Iona Townsley and Annie Shortland – A great one for digital PR inspiration
• Revealed: A PR Newsletter by Mary Olivia Hickey – A round-up of the best survey-led PR campaigns

• Famous Campaigns – Here, you’ll find inspiration from the best of the best campaigns from around the world
• The Drum – This is a great resource for creative campaign and viral campaign ideas
• Wadds by Stephen Waddington – Great for wider industry news to build commercial awareness of the trends, changes and metrics that matter for digital PRs
• Because of Marketing by Rachael Higgins – A monthly round-up of the most successful campaigns
• Pretty Little Marketer by Sophie Miller – Industry news, viral campaigns, and highlights from brands’ social media

Following, connecting, and networking on social media can boost your commercial awareness of the industry. Here are some of my favourite accounts:

• Digital PR Examples – This is a great resource for good digital PR examples
• Visual Capitalist – A good one to follow for visual content
• World of Statistics – A great one for data sets to spark new ideas
• Amy Irvine – A thought leader within the DPR space with lots of top tips for working in the industry
• James Brockbank – An expert on everything SEO, digital PR and Content Marketing
• Liv Day – Follow for insightful and extremely knowledgeable content on all things SEO
• Will Hobson – Follow for updates on what’s going on this week for PR
• Matt Seabridge – Follow for monthly PR resources you may have missed
• Thea Chippendale – Round-ups of the best PR campaigns
• Iona Townsley – Follow to keep up-to-date with the best digital PR campaigns

Building up your very own hub of digital PR inspiration to refer back to can streamline your creative thinking, saving you time and ensuring that you don’t miss out on valuable insights or concepts that may have sparked your interest earlier.

Whether it’s a note on your phone, a super spreadsheet, or a Pinterest board, my biggest tip is to save absolutely everything you see, like, or connect with. You never know when it might spark a campaign idea. You can also set up a folder on your web browser and bookmark any campaigns or data sets that you see, making it easier to refer back to for your next ideation.

I’m a firm believer in seeking inspiration from a wide range of sectors, mediums and channels. Don’t just turn to your client’s industry or niche; inspiration can be found anywhere! 

Top tip: The Google Chrome Pinterest extension is a lifesaver for seamlessly creating pins from any site that you’re browsing without saving a thousand screenshots to your desktop. 

Want to read more? Don’t sweat it, we’ve got you.

Read Amy Irvine’s write-up on the what, why and how of digital PR to get all the insider tips and expertise you need.