Multichannel Marketing Campaign
About This Project
A National Science Foundation-funded project, the Frontier Scientists website promotes the scientific advances of Arctic researchers through entertaining videos, with the aims of inspiring the public and encouraging science tourism and eco-tourism in Alaska.
An integrated PR and social strategy
To get broad exposure for the site, Merry Ann did basic SEO (identifying/incorporating keyword phrases, link-building), developed content (web copy and blog posts about breaking scientific news), ran an online photo contest 
to encourage social media sharing and crowdsource images, and forged partnerships with major travel industry players. As part of media relations, she developed a custom list of nearly 500 influencers–bloggers, Tweeple, journalists, associations, museums and government agencies–in the science, education, travel and environmental spaces.
Sample blog posts:
Ancient Alaskan Labrets: jewelry that spoke louder than words
Old age: it’s all in your mind when it comes to geologic time
Results
- Partnership with major cruise lines: secured commitments from major cruise lines for in-cabin viewing of Frontier Scientists videos.
- Media coverage: arranged mirror blogs for FS on Nature Network (professional networking website serving 25,000 scientists worldwide) and Anchorage Daily News, the online edition of Alaska’s largest-circulation daily. Wrote/distributed press releases and pitched major media contacts including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Joe Palca/NPR, Bill Nye. Garnered coverage in all major Alaska newspapers and key travel, teacher association and environmental outlets.
- Conversion: achieved a 30 percent open rate and a 29 percent click-through rate for the website launch press release.
Project Summary
Merry Ann was engaged to develop content for a National Science Foundation-funded website and blog exploring the discoveries of Arctic scientists, and then promote the site through PR and social media channels.