There’s the common misconception that public relations is simply an organisation (or individual) pushing their brand’s stories to any magazine or newspaper that will cover them. However, anyone who has actually sought to create a robust media relations strategy will understand that PR goes beyond writing and distributing press releases; it is in fact one of the main tools that helps to protect your company’s reputation and, crucially, improve your search rankings.
The team behind Yasper has longstanding relationships with journalists across a variety of news outlets. And where they don’t already exist, we create them. Whether they’re covering stories on a local or national level, or for a key trade magazine, we are tuned in to their need to source news from a diverse range of voices and sectors, at pace.
Here we delve deeper into why every organisation should have a plan in place to regularly communicate with the media – both proactively and reactively - and why it's essential for maintaining a positive reputation.
Know your target media
A ‘spray and pray’ approach isn’t going to achieve your desired results; in fact, it could do the opposite. Knowing which publications and journalists to contact with specific pieces of content will prove to be much more efficient than issuing a story to news outlets who may not cover your sector or aren’t read by your target audience.
The objective of ‘getting in the nationals’ isn’t the 'be-all and end-all' to an effective media relations strategy. Working with publications with a smaller readership – as is often the case with trade magazines - can often end up being more beneficial, particularly if the sectors your business operates in are predominantly B2B.
Journalists will usually research the topic they’re covering, utilising tools such as Google news, to back up their findings. They may just spot you or your client in another publication on page seven for example, which could be their reason for either reaching out to your media contact or deciding to go ahead with accepting a story that’s been pitched to them.
Targeting journalists with irrelevant content is at best, an annoyance for them, but at worst, it could get your brand blacklisted from future, more valid, opportunities. If you are going to trust a PR agency with your brand, you need to know it’s in safe hands.
Relationship building is key
Offering new ideas to journalists can help you build a positive relationship with the press that goes beyond just issuing a press release or having your opinion piece accepted.
While information is usually double or even triple checked for credibility, being able to provide journalists with insight from your industry or pointing them in the direction of sources that can validate what you’re saying, can sometimes help to form the basis of an ongoing relationship. An editors’ inbox will more than likely receive 100s if not 1000s of email pitches a day, knowing how and when to get in touch with the media is key for achieving coverage.
Providing background inteligence, pointing a journalist in the direction of a story or simply engaging with them about a wider topic, are all tactics we’ve deployed to great effect over the past 12-months, landing national PR coverage in the likes of the FT, the Sunday Times and City AM.
If a news outlet is receptive to your emails (or WhatsApp's / DMs), then you will have more of a chance to showcase insight to your target audience.
Enhance your reputation
For a feature or long-form article, journalists are more likely to focus on multiple companies at a time, not just yours. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact, being placed next to other experts within your sector can help to boost your brand in a more organic and trustworthy way.
You don’t just have to pitch your company and story behind it to be considered by newsrooms. Most of the time, a unique idea or strong data can provide a route into achieving worthwhile media coverage.
Digging deeper into your team’s insight can help to inform what types of content your organisation is pushing out to the media and when. Newsjacking can sometimes be a useful way of showing off the expertise of your company’s key spokespeople, however, pitching a unique story or opinion piece is a proactive way to help your organisation cut through the noise.
A sound media relations strategy goes beyond thinking that distributing one press release a month is enough. A trend-led story or feature could be an alternative way to launch a product or service for example. Being able to think ahead about how you want to position yourself or your organisation, as well as how you’re going to do it, could be the difference between your story being published or not.
Yasper’s team has been placing clients as trusted voices amongst their audiences for many years. Working smarter, rather than harder, can prove the true value of media relations.