Media relations is often essential to the growth of any business, big or small. On-going media relations, which includes the building and fostering of authentic relationships between a company or organization and journalists, is the basis of a solid media relations strategy. It will enable a brand, public figure or corporation to drastically increase their earned media coverage by a significant margin.
While some of the essential parts of public relations like message positioning, story development, brand clarity and identity are at the core of achieving positive press placement… having a PR agency or consultant connect with and foster relationships with key journalists is also an absolute must. You don’t want to find your brand or company only reaching out to media professionals when you need something i.e. you want them to write a fabulous story about your brand, event or recent news. That is not a recommended media relations strategy. You should have a PR rep or agency constantly engaging with key journalists on social media platforms, via email, in person and on the phone (when accepted). When a PR agency is constantly engaging with the media on a clients behalf, there is so much more opportunity to identify when earned media potential is possible. True relationship building is at the core of any media relations strategy and is one of the top services business owners should consider outsourcing to a reliable and experienced PR agency.
Proactive media relations can lead to a higher percentage of positive press placement compared to other brands in your sector who only send out announcements when something newsworthy is happening. Proactive media relations can also lead to a lot of great opportunities for budding CEO’s and experts to become the go-to thought leader or third-party experts. This is especially true for media professionals who are on a strict deadline need multiple sources quoted in their article. For example, let’s say you are a tech CEO/founder in the mental health space working with a PR agency. Said agency should constantly be engaging and communicating with reporters who write and publish mental health stories related to your tech product. With your startups name and PR agency on top of mind due to constant communication, there is a much more likely chance of reporters reaching out to your PR agency when they need opinion quotes from industry professional in the mental health tech space. This is essentially bonus press on top of traditional PR announcements and campaigns. While the entire article may not be about a client, it may be about the industry in which the client currently operates in and features an expert quote from the mental health tech startup’s CEO. This kind of middle tier publicity can ultimately help a brand build up its credibility, achieve stronger visibility among a broader audience and lead to guest columns on major digital media sites like Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com and more.
If you believe your brand or business is ready to implement on-going media relations with a savvy media relations strategy, reach out to our team at Savory PR. As a boutique public relations and digital marketing agency, we excel and love working with clients to develop and tell their stories through a variety of strategies and tactics. Please email us to schedule a consultation at Samantha@Savory-PR.com.
