Tiger Sheds is an online shed retailer that relies on a strong Google search ranking and web presence to maintain sales.

The company appointed Content Soup to come up with a creative PR-led SEO campaign that would generate high quality organic links on major news sites, raise awareness of the brand and create lots of social chatter.

What we did:

We knew we needed to create a unique news angle around sheds (a pretty hard task) that would capture the attention of journalists and generate high profile media coverage containing high authority organic links.

After lots of research and brainstorming we came up with the idea of the world’s first spider-proof shed, a classic garden shed with some very unique differences – it would contain a whole host of features designed to keep eight-legged creatures out.

We knew a spider-proof shed would resonate with the media and the numerous arachnophobes across the UK, because people who are scared of spiders really dislike them!

Tiger loved the idea, so we set about researching how to make the spider-proof shed. Lots of desk research later, plus conversations with some of the UK’s highest profile spider and bug experts, we came up with a list of anti-spider features to be incorporated into the shed.

We then set about creating a prototype of the shed, complete with anti-spider features such as silicone sealed joints, an airtight door with special draft seal and insecticide impregnated wood.

To add further weight to the story, we also conducted research into how many people avoid going into their sheds due to a fear of spiders. We used a research company to survey over 2,000 people and the results revealed that a quarter of Brits (25%) actively avoid their sheds due to arachnophobia, an angle we used to base the story on.

CGI images of the shed were then created highlighting the numerous anti-spider features and we drafted a series of press releases (all with embedded links) to issue to the media in mid-September – strategically timed to land in prime spider season when the media tend to report on the mass migration of eight-legged creatures from outside to inside.

These were then sold in to all national, regional, online and garden-related media and the story immediately caught the attention of several high profile journalists.

We also created a full social strategy around the campaign to ensure traction on Twitter and Facebook and tweeted celebrities who suffer from arachnophobia directly to tell them about the shed.

Results:

Our idea, combined with our unique PR-focused approach to SEO, captured the minds of the media, celebrities and consumers alike, and generated unprecedented exposure for Tiger Sheds.

Over 60 pieces of high quality coverage were generated for the spider-proof shed, 14 of which were national.

However, it was the links we managed to achieve that really set the campaign apart – 33 in total, with all being extremely authoritative. As well as links from the likes of The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Sun, we even managed to secure a link on the BBC (the absolute Holy Grail when it comes to SEO).

The spider-proof shed also captured the attention of celebrities and we received mentions from Chris Evans on his BBC Radio 2 show, Jo Whiley on her BBC Radio 2 show, the presenters on Loose Women and Matthew Wright on his Wright Stuff show.

We generated global interest and conversations on Twitter too, with almost all the national newspapers tweeting about it, people as far flung as Sydney saying they’d love to try it and even some police forces using it as an angle to talk about shed security! Over 10,000 mentions of the shed were made on Twitter alone in the week following the release of the story, ensuring it reached people around the globe.

Our campaign was also noticed by those in our industry. PR Moments ran a full piece on it in their weekly roundup of good PR, describing it as an overwhelming success (especially considering just how hard sheds are to PR)!

Web traffic and new visitor numbers to Tiger’s site were also up on the same period from the previous year, so, all in all, a hugely successful campaign that demonstrates there’s no cobwebs on us when it comes to delivering PR-focused SEO campaigns.