Reality TV, lucky coins and golfing prodigies – our hottest digital PR stories of 2018

Holyrood PR Blog

Check out the top five stories that caught the eye of visitors to our website in the past 12 months

A collation of images of the best performing posts on digital PR agency website

POWERFUL stories are at the heart of every successful business – including yours.  

We believe that when those stories are well told, to the right audience they not only boost profits but also help build a happier workforce.

While the team at Holyrood PR are best known for telling our clients’ stories through outstanding media relations, we also provide a highly-effective digital PR services, including social media management, influencer marketing, blogging and content strategies, video and more.

For any business the centre of its digital universe should be its own website and we help our clients to keep their sites up-to-date with their latest news, photos and video. Great content that showcases what you’re all about is a surefire way to boost your business.

Since we practice what we preach, that means we treat our own website as one of our most precious business assets, making sure that every story we tell on behalf of our clients – in words, pictures and video –  is shared on our own site.

This year has seen traffic to our website hit record highs with almost 90,000 page view, thanks to daily uploads of news from our clients and our own engaging blog posts offering useful business insights and advice.

As 2018 draws to a close, we’re taking a look back over a year of haggis ice cream, rocket launches and property premiums to round up the top five posts that caught the attention of our readers.


NUMBER FIVE – CALA Homes to bring Sunshine on Leith

 CALA Homes' Waterfront Plaza Leith development in a digiised property PR photo shared by Edinburgh PR agency

Starting off the countdown at a number five is the news we shared on CALA Homes’ ambitious plans to create a series of homes on brownfield land in Leith’s waterfront.
The story told of how CALA Homes reacted to the concerns of local residents, by changing its initial plans in response to feedback from public consultation.
In an area in desperate need of additional housing, we knew we had to make sure that the 97 affordable homes in the development caught the attention of Edinburgh’s media and planning influencers.
The story formed part of a wider PR campaign to highlight the many benefits of developing the proposed site, despite it being zoned for non-residential development.
That successful PR campaign resulted in extensive, 100% positive coverage and CALA won planning permission for the site, known as Waterfront Plaza.
Be sure to check out the full story – as so many of our website visitors did

 


NUMBER FOUR – Love Island for the boardroom

Love Island 2018 cast members are featured in a digital blog post image created by Edinburgh digital PR experts

You would’ve needed to be living under a rock to miss the hysteria Love Island brought to the UK during the long, hot summer of 2018.
Saturating both traditional and social media, the trials and tribulations of a group of 20-something singletons had the nation hooked and our WhatsApp group chats filled with the highlights and heartaches of the previous night’s episode.
We put together a blog post on lessons businesses could take from the show – from how to handle healthy competition, to “coupling up” with the perfect PR agency.
The post notched up hundreds of views, showing how current pop culture sensations can be adapted to suit a business readership.
That in turn can drive relevant traffic to your website – 100% our type on paper.


NUMBER THREE – Mackie’s coin hunt

A consumer PR photo taken at Mackie's 19.2 parlour in Aberdeen as part of a competitio to find a rare 10p coin

The Royal Mint generated plenty of buzz when it announced its “Great British Coin Hunt” –  releasing a limited edition A-Z collection of 10p coins to celebrate the best of British.
Renowned ice cream maker  Mackie’s of Scotland hit on a creative PR idea to reward the first customer who managed to get their hands on the “i” coin (for “ice cream”).
The prize on offer was a meal for two at its Aberdeen parlour, 19.2, which opened in 2017 in a blaze of publicity and positive PR buzz.
The idea was a media hit and generated an immediate buzz – including the hundreds of views on our website.
It was also a demonstration of how carefully thought out “newsjacking” of current events can create a relevant and crowd-pleasing campaign.
Check out the full story – but don’t go searching through your wallets, as the prize has already been nabbed by a lucky winner.


NUMBER TWO – Golfing whiz kids

An image from the US Kids Golf European Championship shared by Edinburgh PR agency to spread the news of the record number of entrants to the 2018 event

Coming in at second place is a post on the 2018 U.S. Kids Golf European Championship – the biggest junior golfing event outside of America.
Such is its success that a record numbers of golf prodigies who were set to descended on courses across East Lothian for the event.
Part of that success is down to the amazing, award-winning PR results delivered for the tournament over the past 10 years by the team at Holyrood PR.
Having worked closely with the tournament for a number of years, our PR experts shared the news creating major media buzz around the event.
The result? STV and BBC Radio Scotland came along and interviewed some of the mini golfing pros and their families, securing the tournament primetime radio and TV coverage.
You can read the story which appealed to so many of our website visitors by following this link.
With years of experience in public relations we’ll make sure your story hits the headlines, not the bunker.


NUMBER ONE – House buyers hints and tips

An image of a block of flats in Edinburgh's old town shared on behalf of Edinburgh property PR experts

The title of our most popular post of 2018 goes to a story which first appeared on our website in 2017 – proving that the best stories are evergreen.
This post was produced on behalf of Warners Solicitors and Estate Agents, advising house hunters on how much to bid on properties that are being marketed as “offers over”.
Having provided property PR services to Warners for more than a decade, we regularly positioned the firm as expert commentators on Edinburgh’s booming property market.
So, it was a natural extension to create a concise guide on how to avoid potential pitfalls when making an offer.
This practical how-to guide has proven to be perennially popular with readers, securing the tile of our most read post of 2018.
We hope you or someone you know will also find it useful.


Stand out from the crowd in your competitive sector by unlocking powerful stories in print, online and on air – with the help of digital PR experts

Whether they realise it or not, every business has great stories to tell – what may seem like day-to-day normality can be turned into traffic-driving, valuable content with the help of our PR professionals. So, why not get in touch with Holyrood PR and let us dig out that hidden gem of a story your business is sitting on?

It couldn’t be easier to get in touch with our team. Phone us on 0131 561 2244 or take a few seconds to fill and submit the simple form below and we’ll get straight back to you:

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