Client: Specialist Glass Products (SGP)
Client overview:
Founded in 2003, SGP is a structural glass manufacturer specialising in annealed, laminated and toughened curves, manufacturing and supplying all types of flat glass.
Key stats:
– 21 pieces of press coverage
– Total PR reach of over 27 million
– 20 links built to the SGP website
– Campaign blog generated 1142 page views
– Overall new users increased by 10%
– Referral traffic increased by 51%
Campaign overview/brief:
PR is a large part of the work we do for SGP. Through this activity stream, we aim to secure quality press coverage in high-authority national, regional and trade-specific publications to build links back to the SGP website as a way of improving SEO and keyword rankings. We also work to position our client as a leading expert in the glass and manufacturing industry through the inclusion of key messaging and reacting to breaking news stories across the industry.
As part of our daily news monitoring for our clients, we spotted the global interest in the Netflix show ‘Squid Games’ and a unique connection this had to SGP and their products. In order to maximise this trending topic, we developed a reactive digital PR campaign.
The campaign content was inspired by the series’s penultimate episode, which featured a glass-based stepping stones game in which players had to differentiate between regular and strengthened glass to complete and survive the challenge.
Inspired by the glass connection and following a 200% increase in monthly Google searches for the term ‘tempered glass’, we worked with Specialist Glass Products managing director Andrew Taylor to gather glass insight and expertise to create ‘An expert’s guide to surviving the Squid Games glass stepping stones’.
Tactics used:
One of the main tactics for this digital PR campaign was being reactive to the current news agenda and newsjacking on a trend relevant to our client. Monitoring the news agenda on a regular basis and staying up to date with the latest trends, both in pop culture and our client sectors, is an essential part of our work and allows us to create and outreach content with the trend still evolving to achieve press coverage.
We worked directly with experts from SGP to gather comments supporting our content and their objectives of becoming a leading expert in the manufacturing sector. Our client provided insight on how the contestants could tell the difference between the two types of glass and debunk theories and statements made by characters in the show.
Newsjacking also played a large part in creating the bespoke media list. As the show was a prevalent topic in the media, we targeted sector-specific and national media publications, along with entertainment and television-focused titles. We also researched journalists and publications that had recently covered stories about Netflix shows and Squid Games, as they would be more interested in the content and more likely to cover the story.
The results:
Overall, the campaign secured 21 individual pieces of press coverage with a total reach of over 27 million and 20 links built to the site. Coverage highlights included titles such as Wales Online, Nottingham Live, and Hull Daily Mail, along with industry-focused titles such as Glass Times.
The coverage also led to a 10% increase in new website users, a 51% increase in referral traffic, and overall goal conversions increased by 5%. Estimated cost of traffic also increased by 1,430% as a result of the campaign.
We also saw significant improvements in keyword rankings due to the Squid Game campaign. Before this, SGP didn’t rank for ‘tempered glass’, however, following the campaign, SGP gained rankings for ‘tempered glass’ (at 27) as well as 74 other keywords related to ‘tempered glass’. In total, our client started ranking for 742 new keywords, following this campaign.
These improvements are a great example of how a press campaign’s results can positively impact a website’s SEO and performance. Whilst the coverage in large-scale publications is a great success and gets our clients in front of a larger audience, the long-term effects of SEO and keyword improvements can see even more success in the future.
The campaign was also awarded Silver for Best Use of Content at the 2022 CIPR Pride Awards!
Find out more about our work for Specialist Glass Products here.