The challenge
The Grass People is an online grass seed specialist, founded in 2015 on the idea that high-quality lawn seed should be easy to find and buy online. Its range now covers seed for every soil type and use, wildflower mixes and seasonal fertilisers, for homeowners, landscapers, groundkeepers and equestrians.
Lawn care is a crowded and seasonal market. Interest climbs when the weather warms up and drops away in winter, and the brand competes for attention with garden centres, DIY chains and gardening sites offering the same kind of advice. The Grass People needed coverage and links concentrated in the months when people are working on their lawns, and a reason for journalists to quote a seed specialist rather than a generalist.
Our approach
We run a seasonal digital PR campaign for The Grass People. Work pauses over winter and starts again each February, then follows the lawn calendar through to autumn: first cuts and feeding in spring, drought and heat stress in summer, reseeding and disease prevention as the nights draw in. Each story is pitched to earn a link back to the brand as well as a mention.
At the centre of the campaign is Chris McIlroy, The Grass People's technical product lead and in-house lawn seed expert. We put Chris forward with precise, practical advice, such as how to tell dormant grass from dead grass after a dry spell, why September is the best month to sow new seed, and which autumn job sets a lawn up for the following year.
The weather gives us plenty of openings. Heatwaves, hosepipe bans and talk of an El Niño year all send readers looking for lawn advice, and we get The Grass People's comment to journalists while those stories are running. Wider garden topics, from wool mulch for dry soil to feeding birds in winter and making a garden "David Attenborough-approved", take the brand beyond the lawn pages.
The outcome
Across 29 campaign months, the work has produced 1,719 pieces of coverage, around 59 for every month a campaign is live, in titles including The Telegraph, the Daily Mail, The Sun, the Mirror, the Daily Express, HuffPost, Homes & Gardens, Ideal Home, House Beautiful, Country Living and Tom's Guide.
The coverage has earned 1,516 backlinks from sites with an average Moz Domain Authority of 67, and delivered an estimated 15.5 million opportunities to see. Chris McIlroy is now quoted by name as a lawn expert across national and regional titles each season.
