turn your client’s purpose and offerings into media coverage · including instagram stories,...
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Turn Your Client’s Purpose and Offerings Into Media CoverageRagan’s PR & Media Relations Conference
April 4, 2018
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What You’ll Leave With:• Best practices to integrate PR efforts with marketing and
social media campaigns.• Tips to best tell your organization’s and clients’ stories.• How to master the evolving media landscape and
strategies to rack up PR wins.• How to produce content that cuts through timeline clutter
and reaches your target audiences.• Insights to engage influencers and experts across
industries.
In the last few years, the role of the PR professional has evolved to become more strategic, creative and integrated across industries.
The way in which we communicate for clients has expanded across traditional and new media platforms including Instagram Stories, Snapchat, livestreams and more. While how we communicate has evolved and the demands from clients have increased, the core of media relations is still rooted in storytelling.
Today you will learn how to turn your clients purpose and offerings into stories to generate media coverage.
Today’s Media Landscape
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Media Relations Best Practices
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Be Human First
The best media practice for emerging and seasoned PR professionals is to remember to be human first in your media approach.
Reporters are people, too, and should be treated with respect during media outreach.
• Reporters do receive hundreds of emails a day and won’t always have time to respond that same day.
• Reporters do not have to respond to your emails.
• Reporters do appreciate PR professionals who respect their time and their work hours.
• Reporters do not have to be “always on.”
• Reporters do favor a compelling media story with strong proofpoints.
• Reporters do not have to cover your clients. It is their choice.
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Don’t Be That Person – You Know Who We’re Talking About
Refrain from being the PR professional who only calls reporters when you need something
or your client is in a crisis.
Instead, be the PR professional who does the following:
• Invest in relationships with media by meeting reporters for coffee, happy hour, etc. and build your
database of media contacts.
• Maintain ongoing relationships with reporters to secure proactive and reactive media coverage.
• Acknowledge key moments in time such as a change in a reporter’s title, birthday, etc. to show
your appreciation to your media contacts.
• Express your gratitude when a story is published. Follow up with a thank you.
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Become A Resource
The best thing any PR professional can do for a reporter
is to become a resource.
reporters find information for their stories, as this will convey your individual expertise and insights.Help
what the reporter is currently working on and position your clients as expert resources who can share an executive and or C-level POV. Ask
a sampling of your clients to demonstrate your company’s reach and figure out which clients align with their beats.Provide
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Know When To Move On
Media will always respect hard work but it’s important to know when to
move on.
After multiple calls and follow up emails, your story is not resonating with
the reporter and or outlets target audiences.
Turn your frustration into action and consider the following next steps:
• Ask for feedback from the reporter to understand why the pitch wasn’t a fit
and what they’ll need to write the story in the future.
• Find a key reporter, even if they are not in the vertical you are pitching and
have them help you get to the right person.
• Identify the next best media outlet to pitch your client stories.
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The Art of Storytelling
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Your Story Is Your Recipe
At the heart of every winning media relations strategy and secured media
coverage is the story.
Reporters are looking for stories and PR professionals can help find them.
When sending a story to a reporter, you should:
• Treat your story like a recipe. Give journalists 75% of the ingredients they need
and they are more likely to write a story.
• Bring your story to life. Have visuals, video and other compelling creative on-
hand. Ask before sending to prevent your content clogging a reporter’s inbox.
• Identify measurable proofpoints. Data and metrics will help legitimize your clients
offerings and services to media.
• Use bullets to differentiate the key points. Bullets make content less cluttered and
more digestible.
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Leverage Human Interest
A good human interest story will always resonate with media and consumers regardless of how it is
delivered.
The best PR professionals are able to help their clients identify these
stories and convey them to media.
• Conduct story-mining exercises to identify your clients human
interest story and or angle.
• Determine the impact of the story and what lessons can be delivered
to target audiences.
• Incorporate powerful, emotive text to appeal to the reader/viewer.
• Develop heart-felt content, high-res images, video and other assets
to bring the story to life.
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Cut Through Timeline Clutter
Today, consumers find brands faster than brands find consumers.
Peer-to-peer recommendations have become one of the top
reasons for consumers to interact with companies and support
their services.
• Reach consumers about your offerings by creating content that
will excite, engage and educate.
• Create content that addresses the consumer needs first to
position your clients as a solution to their problems.
• Integrate cutting-edge video and visuals into your assets.
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The Evolving Media Landscape
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Influencers Are Your Friends
Investor
RelationsCampaigns and
Product
Lunches
Executive
Visibility
Consumer
Activations and
Pop-Ups
Influencer relations can also contribute to your analytics, measurement & reporting.
Awards &
Recognition
InfluencersAlliesAdvocatesTrusted
Media
Relations
Today, influencers play a key role in how we develop and distribute client key messages, engage target audiences, and establish trust amongst consumers.
From industry thought leaders to mommy bloggers, influencers have cemented their space across the communications industry. Influencers should be treated as allies, who help increase awareness of your clients services and offerings.
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Team biographies
A vast majority of reporter’s today prefer email and or social media communication such as LinkedIn or Twitter.
If you’re going to call a reporter, the best practices for phone pitching are:• Keep your messages clear and concise.• Have your must-air messages ready to share with the reporter.• Reference the subject line of your email.• Leave your name and number in the voicemail.• Follow up with an email that you called.
When should you call vs. email a reporter? To close the loop and share important updates.
While many believe the best time to pitch is Monday morning, most reporters would likely disagree.
When is the best time to pitch?
The Art of The Phone Call
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National vs. Local Media Outreach
While clients focus on top-tier media like NYT and WSJ, you should integrate local media,
where applicable, to amplify your clients offerings and services.
• Local media outreach presents the opportunity to engage reporters in markets where your client is
currently residing and or operating.
• National media outreach presents an opportunity for your clients to meet with key editors and
reporters shaping media verticals.
• Establishing relationships with local media in your client’s backyard help bolster their profiles and
presence in the community.
• Establishing relationships with national media help support client’s awards and rankings
submissions, increase executive visibility and more.
The verdict? A winning media strategy should incorporate both local and national
media, where applicable, to maximize results.
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Takeaways
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PR Is A Marathon – Not A Sprint
The art of relationship building with media should be treated as a marathon, not a
sprint.
• Be proactive in your media engagements to keep your clients top of mind for future
stories.
• Leverage influencers and thought leaders to position your client services and
offerings to today’s consumers.
• Build consumer trust amongst your target audiences through trusted influencer
engagement across platforms.
• Maintain your media relationships for the long-term vs. short-term to help you
generate awareness for your clients.
The relationships you develop with reporters today will help you secure client coverage
tomorrow.
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Our Success Stories
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Our Success Stories
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Questions?