The way people consume media and learn about new companies has changed significantly. Alongside that shift, a transformation in the media industry has occurred.
There are fewer top-tier print outlets, fewer long-form stories, and far fewer journalists in this new era of social media advertising. At the same, we’ve been introduced to a massive proliferation of blogs that make it hard to differentiate news from promotional content.
Be Your Own Storyteller
Conventional wisdom around public relations suggests that you draft a press release or media kit, send it to journalists who cover your space, then cross your fingers and hope for the best. Unfortunately, journalists don’t work off your company’s promotional plan, and they are drowning in pitches from other companies that wish to be promoted by them.
What can you do?
You can (and should) draft a press release to make it as easy as possible for journalists to pull information or quotes to file a story about your news. You should also invest the same amount of time (or more) in crafting a blog entry with your perspective on the story, what makes it newsworthy, and most importantly, why your customers and industry should care about it.
Create a narrative your customers care about
A news story about your new product or office is going to focus on its implications for your industry or your neighborhood, depending on the publication. What your customers, prospects, and leads care most about is how your news benefits them.
What can you do?
Your releases should reflect how your customers think and talk about your product. Instead of crafting your releases and blog entries to try to impress reporters, make sure they resonate with your customers.
Think outside the usual box
You may not always have a huge product announcement on the schedule, but there are unique opportunities for every company, big or small, to get noticed. Look at your company on a granular level and ask yourself: What are we doing that’s remarkable?
What can you do?
Instead of emailing reporters to tell them why your co-founder or VP Marketing is an expert on a given topic, have them publish a blog entry on the topic first. Create the content first, then pitch it second so reporters know their take is interesting and relevant.
The Role of PR in Marketing
Creating your own content and using your blog as a media resource allows you to not only create your own narrative, but to drive traffic to your site. This will also result in benefits for SEO and potential media coverage, and can often capture the attention of industry leaders and journalists while driving relevant traffic to your website.
What can you do?
Don’t just sit and wait for reporters to notice your non-existing content or cover what is it that you are doing. The first fundamental principle of inbound public relations is to tell your own story first.
Whether that story is told through blogging or social media, your website should have a press page that hosts your recent news coverage and other materials that would be of value to a journalist covering your company or your space.
Share your coverage. This is a challenge for small businesses, and makes it crucial to get your media hits on your visitor’s radar. When your company is covered, interviewed, or referenced in an article, blog post, video, or talk - post a link to the content on your Press Page and share it with your target audience on social networks as well.