How To Obtain Media Coverage
One of the main goals of public relations is to obtain media coverage. In order to promote your company and its accomplishments and events effectively, you need the media’s assistance. How, then, can you make sure your business or event is covered? Keep reading to learn four of the best practices on how to obtain media coverage.
Alert the Media
How can I best alert the media to obtain coverage?
In order for the media to know that there is an event to cover, you need to tell them. Before contacting any of the media, consider what kind of coverage you want. Think about your target audience and the channels they consume their information from, but you should also consider how you can use the media to grow your audience.
It is also best practice to alert different channels of media in order to gain the most coverage. However, do your research to see if your event is something that media channel will want to cover. News stations, newspapers, and radios are great for covering day-of events, but magazines may not.
When writing a media alert or press release, make sure you are presenting the information clearly and succinctly. Have a brief description of the event or news. If you are promoting an event have the what, when, where, and other necessary information like interview availability and the media contact.
Make It Newsworthy
How can I make my story newsworthy to obtain media coverage?
Just sending a media alert or press release is not enough to gain the media’s attention. To do so, you need to make your story newsworthy. Emphasize what makes your event or news different from other stories. The news is always changing, so you need to make your story the most appealing in order to ensure coverage.
How, then, do you make your story newsworthy? The first step is to assess what the most important part of your event or news is. Then, write a mock headline emphasizing that part. If it looks like a news headline and accurately represents your event, then you know you are on the right track. If not, then consider your event from the media’s perspective. Highlight what they will focus on in order to get covered.
Follow Up
How can following up with newstations help me obtain media coverage?
Once you send your media alert or press release, you need to follow up with the media. Wait to contact anyone until the day before or the day of your event. That way, you can both ask if they have your media alert or press release on file and if there are any plans to cover the event.
Most news stations decide what they are covering the day of, so do not be discouraged if you don’t receive a definitive yes. If you can create a relationship between a news station or a specific reporter that will help you gain more coverage later as they will likely be more open to your content over others.
Track Your Coverage
Why is tracking the media coverage I obtain important?
After you have received coverage from the media, it is best practice to track the coverage you received. This way, you can analyze what kind of information the news stations are looking for as well as how effective your media alert or press release was. Now, if you did not receive much coverage, don’t be frustrated. Look at what else was airing and see how they presented their material. Then, the next time you write a media alert or press release, you can implement those strategies into your own.
Check out Mark Macias’ article, “Media Coverage: How To Approach Reporters Based On Their Experience,” at Forbes to learn more strategies on how to obtain media coverage.
Media coverage is necessary for successful public relations tactics. Not only do you need to notify the media of your events, but you also need to market the story to them. Following up with the media and building relationships with them are two more strategies to implement into your public relations tactics.
Interested in learning more about how to obtain media coverage? RedMoxy is here to help! Contact us here to learn more.