Digital Public Relations Strategist

About The Role

We are looking for a savvy communications professional who has experience working in public relations, pitching online publications, and building relationships with digital media contacts. 

The ideal candidate for this role will be comfortable working with a wide variety of clients, building relationships, and consider themselves a lifelong learner.

At Optimal, we are actively looking to scale standout candidates – those who are ready for significant opportunities and hungry to take on meaningful responsibilities that drive real business results for our clients. New employees that grow the fastest at our company are strategic problem solvers who are proactively looking to improve with innovative ideas but are also relentless at following through. 

As a Digital Public Relations Strategist for Optimal, you are responsible for securing high-quality press coverage for clients that also result in backlinks from high authority websites.

Who Are We?

Optimal is a performance marketing agency on a mission, bringing together the best data, technology, and people to achieve our clients’ marketing goals. Brand, campaign, or cause: we maximize performance at every moment. 

We are not only digital media strategists – we’re award-winning industry leaders, with deep knowledge spanning all things digital: from advertising and paid media, to marketing and communications, to audience data and analytics, we deliver for our clients.

Everyone at Optimal has the opportunity to learn, grow, and progress. Through our proprietary training programs, we provide our team members with the personal and professional development they need to achieve advancement at any stage in their careers.

We’re always looking for exceptional people to join our team. If this sounds like you, please apply!

Essential Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities:

• Own PR and link building strategies across accounts; from goal setting to strategy ideation to execution.
• Work closely with each member of your client team to make sure your PR and link building strategies align with the overall SEO goals of the account and that any cross-functional deliverables (i.e. blog posts, on-page content, creative assets) that you need for pitching or link building have been clearly communicated and planned for.
• Execute proactive pitching and tactical link building efforts for key accounts on a weekly basis.
• Create highly targeted media lists for pitching and link building outreach. This includes researching opportunities and contacts at leading digital publications, as well as other businesses, nonprofit organizations, universities, government agencies, etc.
• Establish meaningful relationships with media and other content producers to secure high authority links and high-quality press coverage for clients.
• Write content for both on-page and off-page purposes; this includes writing creative, thoughtful and tailored pitches, creating press materials (press releases, media alerts, etc.), writing guest articles, drafting keyword-driven blog posts, etc.
• Communicate with clients on a regular basis and coordinate all digital PR requests for said clients (managing press requests, scheduling interviews, etc.).
• Assist with monthly SEO reporting (analyzing press coverage and backlinks using SEO metrics and KPIs).
• Monitor and respond to journalist queries on platforms like HARO.
• Adheres to administrative deadlines (timesheet submittal, other general office duties) and is responsive to accounting and other administrative staff when called upon to provide information.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications & Skill Requirements:

• At least 1 year of experience working in public relations, communications, content marketing, and/or SEO is required.
• 4-year Bachelor’s degree in marketing, public relations, advertising or communications; or relevant experience through school and/or internships
• Agency experience is strongly preferred.
• Proficient with common PR platforms (e.g. Cision, HARO, etc.).
• Excellent writing skills, applicable to both long and short-form content pieces, pitching, drafting press materials, etc.
• Strong interpersonal skills – able to effectively build and manage relationships with clients, media, bloggers, etc.
• Strong organizational skills, time management skills and high attention to detail.
• Familiar with Google Analytics or other website reporting tools and able to extract meaningful insights from data analysis.
• SEO experience, particularly with link building, is a strong plus but not required.
• Familiarity with SEO platforms is a plus (e.g. MOZ, WebCEO, Ahrefs, Majestic, SEM Rush).

Optimal is proud to offer the following:

• Flexible Time Off
• Paid Leave for New Parents
• Health insurance (including dental and vision)
• Flex Spending Plan
• Employee Assistance Program
• 401K with company matching
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Professional development opportunities
• Rewards and recognition programs

Office Hours

This role is based out of our Austin office. We work on a hybrid basis at our office location, with three days per week working in the office and two days per week working from home. Work hours are consistently 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday - Friday, with the expectation that evening and weekend work will be required as necessary.