Media relations can be described as a company’s interactions with editors, reporters, and journalists. The goal is to communicate a client’s newsworthy message, story, or information using the appropriate media outlets. In order to get coverage, it’s critical to create relationships with key reporters; also known as media relations. It’s important to not be overly aggressive when conducting media relations. There are many ways to interact with the media and find the appropriate reporter to cover the product or service that your company offers.
The first step is to investigate the reporter and find a good fit. First, research the reporter and make yourself familiar with the article that they have written in the past. Google them and check out their LinkedIn profile. Next, you can follow the reporter on Twitter to get a feel for their style of writing and attitude on subjects that relate to your client’s work.
The second step is to start the engagement process with the media. First, you want to reach out over email. You can send an introductory email to the correct reporter telling him/her about your company, its service/product, and your availability to provide analysis on various trends in the industry. Sometimes, success in this industry is based on timing. For instance, you can make this initial introduction when a big event/conference is happening within your industry. An example of this is when Milldam PR first entered the data center sector, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the release of a new report on data center efficiency and began the process of creating wide-ranging guidelines. Milldam used this opportunity to secure coverage for the data center airflow experts.
Another efficient way of getting the attention of reporters is by attending tradeshows. If you missed it, check out last week’s blog Taking Advantage of Tradeshows to find out the value of tradeshows. Many reporters attend trade shows so it’s a great opportunity to get face time and connect on a personal level. If you have a booth, you have a natural meeting place and an opportunity to demonstrate your product and what it can deliver. It also doesn’t hurt to have a customer standing by for a ready-made case study.
Lastly, you can engage with reporters on social media to start conversations and help answer their questions. For example, you can engage with them on Twitter or LinkedIn to get a discussion going and make sure that you’re on their radar when relevant news breaks. In the famous words of Warren Buffet, “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Building a reliable and impactful reputation will help you engage with the media in a meaningful and efficient way.
While there are many more ways to get your company exposure in the media, these provide the basic steps. In this modern era of advanced technology, it’s easy to be distracted. In addition, it’s common to face challenges like fake news, a struggling publishing industry, and constantly changing mediums of communication. So, it’s important to invest your time to truly understand the trends taking place in your industry. Technology keeps evolving so it’s important to stay updated. Now more than ever, it’s easy to stay connected with each other. We have the power to engage reporters throughout the world with a wide variety of media platforms.
If you wish to discuss media relation strategies further, please reach out to us.
