Spending a ton of effort on outreach and waking up to an empty inbox is a demoralizing (and unfortunately common) experience. And when it comes to your outreach, getting those emails opened is half the battle. In today's Whiteboard Friday, we welcome recent MozCon 2019 alum Shannon McGuirk to share five of her best tips to make your outreach efficient and effective — the perfect follow-up to her talk about building a digital PR newsroom.



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Video Transcription

Hi, Moz fans. My name is Shannon McGuirk. I'm the Head of PR and Content at a UK-based digital marketing agency called Aira. So at this year's MozCon, I spoke about how to supercharge your link building with a digital PR newsroom and spoke about the three different types of media and journalist writing that we should be tapping into.

But I only had half an hour to be able to share my insights and thoughts. As a next step from that presentation, I need to equip you guys with everything in order to be able to go out and actually speak to these journalists. So for my Whiteboard Friday today, I'm going to be sharing my five tips for success for supercharging your outreach, specifically evolved around email outreach alone.

In the U.K. and in the U.S. as well, we're seeing, as our industry grows and develops, journalists don't want to be called anymore, and instead the best way to get in touch with them is via email or on social media. So let's dive straight in.

1. Subject lines A/B tests

So tip one then. I want to share some insights with you that I did for subject lines and specifically around some A/B testing.

Back in the early part of the summer, around April time, we started working on a tool called BuzzStream. Now that allowed us to be able to send different kinds of tests and emails out with a variety of different subject lines in order for us to understand how many open rates we were getting and to try and encourage journalists, through the use of our language and emojis, to open up those all-important pitch emails so that we could follow up and make sure that we're bringing those links home.

Journalist's name in subject line

So we ran two different types of A/B tests. The first one here you can see was with the journalist's name in the subject line and the journalist's name without. It turns out then that actually, when we were running this data, we were seeing far more opens if we had the journalist's name in the subject line. It was getting their attention. It was getting that cut-through that we needed when they're getting hundreds of emails per day and to see their name in a little nib meant that we were increasing open rates. So that was our first learning from test number one.

"Data" vs "story tip"

Now test number two, we had a bit of a gut feel and a little bit of an instinct to feel that there were certain types of words and language that we were using that were either getting us more open rates or not. For this one specifically, it was around the use of the word "data." So we compared the use of the word "data" with story tip, and again including the journalist's name and not, to try and see how many journalists were opening up our emails.

At Aira, we have around a 33% open rate with any campaigns that we launch, and again this is tracked through BuzzStream. But when we started to do these A/B tests, combine story tip, full name, and then follow with "data," we increased that to 52%. So that jump up, it doesn't mean that you're going to get 52% more links off the back of your outreach, but it means that you are getting more people opening up their email, considering your data, considering your campaigns, which is half of the problem, when we all know as outreachers, content marketers, digital PRs how difficult it can be for someone to even just open that initial approach.

So now, off the back of those A/B tests, make sure that whenever you're writing those emails out you have story tip for Tom and then followed by data and whatever research you've got in that campaign.

2. Headline language

For tip two then, keeping on the theme of language, I did a piece of research for another conference that I was speaking at earlier in the summer called SearchLeeds and another one called outREACH.

I analyzed 35,000 articles across 6 different top 10 news sites in the U.K. The language that came out of that, around the headlines specifically, was so interesting. So I split these 35,000 articles down into relevant sectors, took the likes of travel, automotive, business, what have you, and then I was able to create around 30 word clouds according to different articles that had been produced within these different industries at different titles.

I was able to start to see common words that were used in headlines, and that got my mind ticking a bit. I was starting to think, well, actually as a team, at Aira, we should be starting to pitch and use language within our pitches that journalists are already using, because they straightaway resonate with the story that we've got. So here's a quick snapshot of the kind of word clouds that the analysis revealed.

You can kind of see some core words shining through. So we've got research, best, stats, experts, that kind of thing. Now the top five words that were most commonly used across all sectors within the headlines were: best, worst, data, new, and revealed. Now "data" is really interesting, because if we go back to our A/B testing, we know that that's a strong word and that that will get you more opens with your subject lines.

But it also reaffirms that that A/B test is right and that we definitely should be using "data." So combine story tip for that journalist's name, Tom or what have you, with data and then start to use some of the language here, out of these top five, and again you're going to increase your open rates, which is half of the problem with what we're doing with outreach.

3. Use color

So tip three then. Now this was quite an experimental approach that we took, and a huge recommendation of mine, when you're doing your email outreach, is actually to start to use color within that all-important pitch email itself. So we've moved from subject lines into looking at the body of the email. We use color and bolding back at Aira.

So we use color straightaway when we're writing the email. So we'll start with something like, "Dear Tom, I have a story that you might be interested in." Straight under that, so we're already using again the language that they'll be using, story, going back to our A/B test. But then straight under that, we will bold, capitalize, and put in a really bright color -- reds, greens, blues -- nice, strong primary colors there the headline that we think Tom might write off the back of our outreach.

So here's an example. "New data reveals that 21% of drivers have driven with no insurance." Not the most exciting headline in the world. But if Tom here is an automotive editor or a digital online automotive writer, straightaway he knows what I'm talking to him about. Again, he can start to see how this data can be used to craft stories for his own audience.

Again, as I said, this is quite experimental. We're in the early phases of it at Aira, but we know it's working, and it's something that I learnt, again, at outREACH conference too. Straight under this use of color with headline, you should pull out your key stats. Now only keep those bullet points to three to five. Journalists are busy.

They're on deadlines. Don't be having huge, bulk paragraphs or long-winded sentences. Tell them the headline, follow it up with the key stats. Be clean, be punchy, and get to the point really quickly. Below this, obviously sign off and include any press material, Google Drive links, press packs that you've got under that. Again, we're seeing this work really, really well.

We're still in the early stages, and I hope to share some insights, some kind of data and metrics as to the success results of it. But we've been able to secure links from the likes of the Mail Online, the Telegraph back in the U.K., and also last week just FoxBusiness using this exact approach.

4. Use emojis

So tip four then, and again this is a really playful technique and something that we only learnt with experimentation.

Start to use emojis within your pitches as well. Now this can be used within the subject line. Again, you're looking to try and get the journalist to get that piece of attention straightaway and look at your headline. Or start to use them within the body of the email too, because they break up that text and it makes your email stand out far more than if you have someone that's pitching in a business piece of data and you've just got huge stacks and research pieces.

Actually throw in some emojis that are relating to the business world, a laptop or whatever it may be, something that proves your point around the campaign. Again, it's more engaging for a journalist to read that. It means that they'll probably remember your email over the other 200 that they're getting that day. So really nice, simplistic tip then for me.

If you're pitching something in the automotive world, put a car or traffic lights on the end. If you're doing something in the travel sphere, sun, beaches, something that just gets that journalist's eye. It means that your email is going to be opened above anyone else's.

5. Use Twitter

Finally then, so I know I've kept this around email outreach for the last couple of points.

But one thing that we're seeing work really well with the implementation of this digital PR newsroom is starting to approach and speak to journalists on Twitter. Twitter we know is a new source for journalists. Trending topics will obviously be picked up in the press and covered on a daily if not hourly basis. As soon as something breaks on Twitter, we'll see journalists, writers, bloggers turn that trending feature into an article that's really resonant and relevant for their audience.

So in the run-up to your campaign, way before the launch, we're talking like three or four weeks here, reach out to the journalists on Twitter. Start to engage with them. Like some articles. Start to let them know that you're in and engaging with them on their social media platform. Don't push it too hard.

You don't want to go overboard with this. But a little bit of engagement here and there means that when your email comes into their inbox, it's not a new name, and you're already starting to build the foundations of that relationship. Secondary to this then, feel free and start to experiment with DM'ing journalists as well. We know that they're getting two, three, or four hundred emails per day. If you take to Twitter and send them a quick overview of your up-and-coming campaign via a Twitter DM, it's likely that they'll read that on the journey home or potentially when they're walking from meeting to meeting.

Again, it puts you one step ahead of your competitors. Recently we've got some of our best pieces of coverage through warming the press up and specific journalists through Twitter, because when your campaign launches, you're not going out with it cold. Instead the journalist knows that it's coming in. They may even have the editorial space to cover that feature for you too. It's something that we've seen really work, and again I can't stress enough that you really have to find that balance.

You don't want to be plaguing journalists. You don't want to be a pain and starting to like every single tweet they do. But if it is relevant and you find an opportunity to engage and speak to them about your campaign the weeks in advance, it opens up that door. Again, you may be able to secure an exclusive out of it, which means that you get that first huge hit. So there are my five tips for link building in 2019, and it will help you supercharge things.

Now if you have any comments for me, any questions, please pop them in the thread below or reach out to me on Twitter. As I've just said, feel free to send me a DM. I'm always around and would love to help you guys a little bit more if you do have any questions for me. Thanks, Moz fans.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

Did you miss Shannon's groundbreaking talk at MozCon 2019, How to Supercharge Link Building with a Digital PR Newsroom? Download the deck here and don't miss out on next year's conference — super early bird discounts are available now!

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