How to Enhance your Media Relations Efforts

Table of Contents

By Jane Lee

 

Media relations is an important part of any communications strategy and if managed effectively, can yield great results. This part of the strategy is developed for clients to maximize opportunity and create a streamlined media relations process.

 

To maximize your chances for catching a reporter’s attention, here are some tips to enhance your media relations efforts:

 

Know your audience

Aligning your messaging to the right target is essential to your media relations strategy and achieving your goal. Knowing your audience is the first step to creating a successful pitch, creating a relevant media list and increasing your chances of earned media coverage.

 

Refine your media lists

Begin by following the basic rules of engagement and ensuring you stand out from the crowd by avoiding mass list distribution. Rather, compile a list of media connections that line up with your established goals and objectives. Do your due diligence by researching the journalist’s beat, what they cover and some of their recent articles.

 

Prepare your pitch

Ensure your pitch is clear and concise. If the journalist cannot easily understand your main points, you will fail to quickly grab their attention and the journalist may pass on the story. Instead, blend a clear narrative with specific details. Combine it with a compelling subject line and you have a winner. Never underestimate the power of a great subject line, thorough research, and well-prepared materials.

 

Provide all relevant information

When pitching, try to make writing the story as easy as possible. Make sure you have shared all information and resources you have on hand. This can include images, b-roll, quotes or even a brief. However, remember that you are not writing the story so just provide facts that you believe are useful.

 

Measure your success

The hard work doesn’t stop once all the content is rolled out. Based on your objectives, you must measure your results to know if you have got value from your PR campaign and how to refine future messages. Measuring your results will also help you make well-informed decisions about your methods going forward.

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In an environment that is increasingly pay-to-play, earned media remains the holy grail of coverage for brand credibility. Over the years we’ve developed solid relationships with traditional and online media, and we know the elements of success for securing interest from trusted journalists at top-notch publications. We excel at crafting tailored, compelling stories that help keep your brand top-of-mind across print, broadcast and digital channels. You’ll see the results through our media measurement and reporting and assess your share of voice (SOV) among competitors.

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