2013, the time when consumer voice and influencer was no longer identified as not a fad and the PR industry began its new wave of evolution.
Introducing the UK Blog Awards and influencer consultancy: recognising influencer talent and providing access, personalisation and insight for UK brands + influencer community.
An idea sat on for two years with a vision, to provide recognition for every day talent and help brands along the road to consumer and customer personalisation.
Boot-straped start up, with no prior investment, with content and brand led storytelling as my toolkit, the UK Blog Awards and influencer SaaS agency was born. Business sold in 2017.
Opportunity
After working in the events and marketing industry for four years, I watched with interest, how social media was changing the marketing and PR sector. What further ignited my thought process further was how brands were having to re-think how they engaged and interacted with consumers and more interestingly, how consumers were beginning to have a voice that was becoming ‘more heard’ by brands, with brand loyalty being a pivotal new focus.
Solution
In 2013, the UK Blog Awards was born to provide a voice, recognition and movement to the sector. For the first two years of the business, I spoke to hundreds of brands and professionals, building partnerships and discussing how this new wave of marketing and PR should not be ignored. I encouraged brands to be involved with the awards, as well as working with organisations on a consultancy basis providing insight on how to connect with their desired consumer market.
The awards developed interest and prestige quickly due to following elements that were developed:
1. Thought leadership pillared content strategy developed and shared from the web blog
2. Creative seven month omni channel campaigns developed integrated across web, newsletter, press and SEO practices, social media, influencer campaigns, events, as well as aligning with the annual awards event
3. Founded a weekly hashtag Twitter hour, #BlogHour that brought the online influencer community together, trending across the UK each week
Solution contd.
4. Vigorous entry and judging process, with high profile professional judges from each of the 17 sectors, including the original Stig from BBC Top Gear, YouTube and SnapChat
5. Strategic partnerships formed with the likes of, ODEON Cinemas, The Huffington Post, GoCompare, EE and Debenhams
6. National and regional press campaign features in The Metro, DailyMail Online, HELLO!Magazine, The Huffington Post and others
7. UK Blog Relations, a bespoke built SaaS platform that consisted of community networking between influencers and campaign portal for brands to post 'open style' briefs for influencers to submit proposals in return for paid and non paid partnerships. Campaigns included, press trips, premieres attendance, behind the scenes footage and creative brand product launches. The ‘open briefs’ provided influencers with the free reign to express how they perceived the brands they were working with in an authentic manner and style.
8. Aside from the executing the annual awards event and influencer campaigns, I personally worked inside with brands guiding them on their influencer strategy, as well as running workshops with internal teams across Europe. Whilst working with ODEON Cinemas in particular, their Head of Europe for regarded their involvement as ‘breakthrough for their re-brand’ and championed the approach as a leading case study in how to work with influencers.
