Digital PR · Marketing
Know which coverage you bought and which you only asked for.
Digital public relations (digital PR) is the paid and placed half of press. A release distributed to online outlets, a sponsored article, a founder interview, a place in a roundup of firms in your category. Each of those is bought at a price.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Digital PR places your announcement, founder story or expert article on online publications, usually with a link back to you, and most placements are paid rather than earned. GullySales writes the story, approaches the publications, and marks every target as paid or pitched before anything is booked.
A journalist reading a pitch and deciding on their own to write about you is a different thing, and our public relations and corporate communications page covers it. Nobody can sell you that decision. What can be sold is the placement, and the two are mixed up on purpose in this trade.
So two limits go on the table before money moves. Editorial coverage cannot be guaranteed, and a publication that promises your story will appear on a date has sold you a paid placement, whatever the invoice calls it. The second limit is search: no ranking outcome is promised here, because the search engine decides for itself how to treat a link.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Companies with an announcement that has a date on it: a new plant, a second branch, an award
- Founders who want an interview or a byline on a site their buyers read
- Businesses whose name returns nothing beyond their own website and a directory listing
- Trade sellers whose industry titles run paid features, who want to know what one is worth
- A company building a record of coverage before a fundraise or a hiring push
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Owners who want a named publication on a named date without paying for the placement
- Businesses buying links for rankings, since nobody honest promises a search outcome from a link
- Companies with nothing to announce, where a release about nothing is the fastest way to waste a budget
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“We paid for a release and it appeared on sites nobody reads”
Blanket distribution copies one release onto dozens of low-traffic pages, so the coverage report runs to three sheets and not one of those pages is read by a buyer.
“The editor called it a feature and then sent an invoice”
Nobody asked at the start whether the piece was paid, so the business believed it had earned the coverage until the bill arrived.
“We were promised first-page rankings from the links”
Placements were sold as a search outcome, which no agency or publication can promise, because the search engine decides whether a link counts for anything at all.
“The announcement went out three weeks after the event”
No story had been written in advance, the managing director's quote was still waiting for approval, and by the time it was placed the news had gone cold.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Story check
An honest read of what is announceable this quarter, and what is better held back until there is something to say.
The written story
The release, the founder byline or the interview answers, written once and properly rather than as a template with the company name changed.
A target list split in two
Every publication marked paid or pitched, with the placement fee quoted by that publication before you commit to it.
Outreach and follow-up
Approaches to the editors who actually cover your category, followed up once, instead of a mass mail to a bought address list.
Sponsored article coordination
The brief, the draft, the publication's own disclosure wording and the approval, run to the publication's deadline.
Coverage record
Every placement logged with its date, what it cost, whether it was paid, and how the link on it is marked.
Referral and enquiry report
Visits and enquiries traced from each placement back to your site, set against what that placement cost.
How the result is measured
- Placements published, each marked paid or earned
- Referral visits from each placement
- Enquiries traced to a placement's landing page
- Pitches sent against pitches accepted
- What a search for your company name returns
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the digital PR work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Agree what counts as news
We separate the announcements an editor will find interesting from the ones only the company cares about.
- 2
Write the story first
Copy, quotes and images are approved inside your business before a single publication is approached.
- 3
Split the list
Paid placements are priced and pitched targets are listed apart from them, so you know which one you are buying.
- 4
Place, pitch and follow up
Paid placements are booked and scheduled, pitches go to named editors, and a pitch that is refused is reported as refused.
- 5
Record and report
Coverage, referral visits and enquiries go into the report, with no ranking claim attached to any of it.
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 1, prospecting and lead generation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Can you guarantee our story gets published?
Will these links improve our Google rankings?
How is this different from public relations?
Should the article say it is sponsored?
How is this priced?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Digital PR, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Read before you buy
- US marketplaces and directories: where Indian service providers get foundWhich US directories and marketplaces are worth an Indian service business's time, how to choose two or three by where your buyers look, and what a profile needs to carry.
- Backlinks for an Indian SME: which links are worth asking for and which to refuseWhich websites to ask for a link to your business (chamber, supplier, association, local press, customers) and why bought link packs put your site at risk, with a sort table you can fill in.
- How to write a press release that a local editor will printA press release built for a district or city editor: the headline, a first paragraph with the news in it, a named person and a photograph, and the habits that send releases to the bin.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.