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TAKING NOTES WITH MARK ROFE

Writer's picture: Danielle AmponsahDanielle Amponsah

Taking Notes Blog Series: Insights and Stories from the World of Marketing and PR


Welcome back to part 2 of TAKING NOTES - our revamped blog series where we share the latest insights and stories from the world of Marketing and PR. Formerly Insider’s Insight, we’re back with an exciting guest to learn all things digital PR.


Get ready for real industry wisdom, straight from the experts!



Becca Tee Digital PR Lead, Repeat Digital. Taking Notes, HANDNOTE Blog series


Name: Mark Rofe


Profession: Digital PR Consultant


Location: Barcelona, Spain



How did you get into your chosen career?


When I was 16 I made a voucher code affiliate website, and I was sure that I was on my way to riches. There was only one problem, nobody was visiting it. This eventually led me down the path of SEO, and link building, and then finally to what I’d guess you’d call digital PR (which is far more fun than SEO btw).



What are some campaigns/work you’ve participated in?


I can’t really talk about this without mentioning the billboard I put up to get a date (sorry if you've heard me speak about this before). I think people use the word ‘viral’ loosely nowadays, but this literally went viral, being featured on the BBC, Sky News, and TV shows including This Morning with Phil and Holly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Night Show with Jimmy Falon, and I was even an answer on a German TV Quiz show.



Have you noticed or faced any key challenges in your field of work?


I think one of the biggest challenges in our industry is the unpredictability of securing coverage. There have been times when I was certain a campaign would take off, maybe even go viral, only for it to land just a few placements. On the other hand, I’ve had campaigns I thought were mediocre that far exceed my expectations.



This uncertainty can be challenging, but it’s also what keeps things exciting and keeps us on our toes.



How did you overcome or plan to overcome these challenges?



I don’t think there’s a single solution to this problem, but after years of experience, I feel like I’ve developed a good understanding of why a campaign has worked or failed. Understanding the ‘why’, is something I try to teach my clients, it gets them thinking about why they’ve written a press release a certain way, or why they’ve contacted certain journalists, or even why they’ve chosen to send the campaign out when they did. This helps to take some of the guess work out of why a campaign worked/failed, so that they can have a better understanding and improve their success rate.



What do you wish was different about the PR industry?


I mentioned before the nature of the industry is that campaign performance is unpredictable, which means clients like to put KPIs in place. I totally get why that happens. If I’m spending money, I want to make sure I’m getting value from my agency or freelancer. The problem with that is a lot of the time, it’ll be something like “20 links” and when that’s your KPI, you’re going to be getting links or coverage from places where the threshold is lower, and a lot easier. For example someone could go out and get 20 pieces of coverage across regional websites (many of which may be syndicated coverage), and according to the KPI in place, this would be the same as 20 bits of coverage across the likes of the BBC and SkyNews etc. So all publications, regardless of how easy/difficult they are to get coverage on, are valued the same.


I don’t have a solution to this, but I think clients are starting to understand that it’s quality that matters, not quantity.



What are your favourite tools to help you with your work?


Honestly, I don’t use a whole lot of tools, but the main one I use is Buzzstream. It makes sending emails much easier and it’s really affordable too.



What kind of skills do you need to excel in your job/ field of work?


I’d say writing and psychology. Psychology helps you understand which types of stories and campaigns work and why, while writing enables you to communicate those stories effectively. Psychology + writing is essentially what makes good story telling anyway.



Do you have any advice for young people who want to get into Digital PR?


One of the best ways to get into Digital PR is to be exposed to as many campaigns as possible. There are some great free newsletters that can help you with that, including The Grapevine and The PR Insider.



I also run a free Digital PR Newsletter where I share a tip each week, and I also have a Digital PR Course.


Did you take notes? ✍🏾 Stay tuned for more interviews, insights, and industry stories in our TAKING NOTES series!


Don’t forget to sign up to Mark's incredible newsletter for valuable digital PR tips!

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