Relationships matter

Good media relations for most businesses are about raising profile, and building and maintaining a positive reputation with the aim of influencing buying power and increasing profits.

Getting coverage in the media, and especially the trade press, helps position you among your peers, competitors and customers (both potential and existing) allowing you to reach out to your target audience effectively.

Hearing your message from a third party helps to build credibility as it engenders a greater sense of authority. The brand of the publication, and the fact that an editor has chosen the story as something that will appeal to its readership, means people are often more receptive to the messages in PR than they are to advertising.

You might want to use media relations for one-off campaigns, such as product launches, or as a long-term brand building strategy. Either way, it takes time to research and get to know editors and their publications; something most businesses don’t have. This is where PR agencies comes in. We can use our existing contacts and build new ones to match your campaign objectives.

Successful media relations rely on a number of things:

• Building relationships

The term ‘media relations’ is not something that has come about by accident. For public relations activities to be truly successful they rely on ‘relationships’ with those in the media. You will get some success sending ad hoc press releases to random editors and journalists, but for maximum effect you need to understand that person’s interests and objectives and that takes time.

• Providing quality, timely information

The editor needs to know that you will provide quality content, on time, if they are to put space aside for your story. Using professional writers who can tailor their style to the publication in question can ensure your article is well received and imparts the right message.

• Being innovative

Editors and their readers want to see something new – a new product, a new approach or solution. You may think there’s nothing new happening, but your agency can spot a new angle on the story or identify a new audience to target.

For better or worse…

Relationships are not just for the good times, in the event of a negative story coming to light, editors who know your business are more likely to check the facts and give you a ‘right to reply’ than those who perceive your business as a ‘faceless entity’. That’s not to say they won’t print bad news because they’ve worked with you before – that would be unethical – but in a crisis situation every little helps.

Like all relationships, it takes work to make it successful, but by working with the PR experts you can get a short-cut to success, leaving you free to concentrate on your core business.