ORIGINAL RESEARCH & NEWSWORTHY CAMPAIGNS
SITETRAIL CERTIFIED
Your learning path: 12 lessons.
Free course for PR agencies and communications teams
Original Research
& Newsworthy Campaigns
Turn a useful industry question into a defensible finding and a campaign worth covering. Learn to check the numbers, explain the limits and give journalists evidence they can use.
Careful analysis, useful questions and clear communication. AI-generated course illustration; charts are illustrative.
12in-depth visual lessons
3practical modules
18assessment decisions
Freelearning & certification
Build the evidence behind the campaign
An audience question, suitable method, defined measures, analysis rules and permissions plan.
A cleaning reconciliation, checked denominator, claim card and headline that survives scrutiny.
Clear charts, approved interpretation, a methodology note and safe assets journalists can inspect.
Relevant outreach, a coordinated release, optional product support and an evaluation framework tied to the client’s purpose.
Learn through a connected fictional research campaign
Follow fictional RouteDesk as its agency investigates reply expectations in supplier quote requests. Reconcile the records, check the 72-of-200 finding and keep a separate opt-in survey in its proper context. Every figure is synthetic teaching data, not an industry claim.
Original worked and contrasting cases, process visuals and scenario checks accompany every lesson.
Your complete learning path
Every lesson includes substantial teaching, original examples, a process visual, an editable and downloadable worksheet, and a scenario check with explanations. Build your campaign toolkit as you learn.
Find a useful industry question, select the right method and define the sample, analysis and permissions before collecting results.
Clean and check the data, develop the strongest accurate angle and create charts, quotations and a journalist evidence pack.
Target relevant journalists, coordinate the release, choose supporting products and present a complete campaign with meaningful evaluation.
Test the decisions behind credible research PR
Complete 18 practical decisions across all three modules. Review your overall rating and module scores, download a personalized certificate image and prepare a LinkedIn caption.
Sitetrail educational assessment. Self-administered with transparent scoring; not university accreditation or an independently verified professional credential.
PR agency owners, account leads, content editors and communications teams planning original research, data stories, industry reports and newsworthy campaigns.
Each lesson contains at least 650 instructional words before worksheets, quizzes, references and promotions. Allow 10–15 minutes for study and around 30 minutes for the practical task. The complete course takes approximately 8–10 hours, depending on your starting material.
No. The course teaches practical judgment about methods, counts, scope and campaign claims. It also shows where sampling, weighting, uncertainty and causal analysis need qualified research support. It does not turn a simple survey into a scientific experiment by changing its label.
The exercises use a fictional company and synthetic figures. You can complete the course without recruiting respondents, sharing confidential data or contacting journalists. The worksheets can later guide a properly scoped client project.
It teaches the strongest accurate angle: a useful finding with clear audience relevance and evidence that survives scrutiny. You will practise spotting cherry-picked subgroups, misleading comparisons and claims the study never measured.
A research brief, method comparison, analysis plan, permission register, cleaning reconciliation, claim card, chart specification, methodology note, evidence-pack index, pitch briefs, release timeline and complete campaign proposal. Worksheets can be edited, saved locally and downloaded.
NewsPass supports SEO, PR and GEO outcomes: search visibility, media presence, brand credibility and discoverability in AI answers. The Guest Post Marketplace lets customers hand-pick from thousands of publications by audience fit, relevance and budget, retaining campaign control. Accelerated Monthly PR & SEO is the distinct ongoing programme managed by Sitetrail, including strategy, coordination, execution and reporting. These options support the campaign alongside valuable direct outreach; they do not buy independent editorial endorsement.
Yes. Lessons, worksheets, checks, assessment and certificate download are free. Each lesson ends with a labelled shared NewsPass or Guest Post Marketplace promotion. No purchase is required for the exercises.
Progress, first lesson attempts, worksheets and assessment results stay in this browser when local storage is available. They do not sync across devices. Download copies to retain them. Clearing browser data removes local records; full assessment retakes become available after 30 days in the same browser.
Adriaan Brits, CEO of Sitetrail, holds an MSc in Marketing and is a former LinkedIn Learning instructor in SEO, Advanced Google Analytics and Google Ads. Official research, charting, professional ethics and evaluation references support further study. Practical frameworks and fictional teaching cases are original course material.
Useful questions. Defensible findings. Relevant stories.
Use the worksheets to turn each lesson into a real decision. Build a research-led campaign from a useful question, checked evidence, clear limits and relevant audience needs.
Course outline · Free assessment · Privacy
No account is required. Progress, first-attempt lesson answers, worksheets and assessment results are stored in this browser when storage is available. They do not sync across devices. Download copies to retain them; clearing browser data removes local records.
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