| |
| |
|
PR Information |
|
Media Relations - Ten Essential Tips to Use The Media to Market Your Business
In the 'Age of Scepticism' gaining media coverage is one way of cutting through the ever increasing noise to get your message across. Research shows the average consumer receives between 1500 and 3000 marketing messages a day. Editorial generated by media coverage is more credible than advertising and can help cut through the clutter. It can also help build your reputation. But how do you get media coverage? Here are 10 tips for harnessing the marketing power of the media. 1. Know Your Strengths. What are you an expert at? What is your specialized area of expertise? What unique services or information can you offer? Position yourself as the expert. Even in a crisis this can position you or your organisation as the 'go to' person. This builds credibility. 2. Clarify your communication objectives? What do I want to achieve? To inform or entertain? To provide information? To build a profile? To influence public opinion? Personal marketing? Marketing or launching a newproduct or service? 3. Define your target audience? Who is my target audience? General public? Customers? Competitors? Suppliers? What age are they, what level of education, what beliefs and values, geographical location, how do they use the media? What influence do they have? 4. Identify the best channels of communication. What is the best way to reach your target audience? TV, Radio, Internet, newspapers - local or Statewide, specialist or generalist, industry publications, community newsletters? 5. What is your key message? Distil what you want to say into three key points. Remember less has more impact. Be disciplined and stay 'on message'. How can this message resonate with, influence or tap into collective attitudes among relevant consumers? 6. Build your case? What are the features, advantages and benefits of your message for your target audience? What evidence and proof do you have? This helps overcome what I call 'the hump of cynicism' entrenched in many journalists when they ask 'why is this news?'. 7. What is the hook? What will make your message or news release stand out from the rest. Be creative. Use a media release to control the information flow. 8. Develop long-term relationships with the media. Visit and meet them face-to-face. Network and get to know them. 9. Use the Three Golden Rules to Perform at your Best = Know Your Topic, Be Prepared, Relax. 10. Seek Professional Help. For maximum impact, effectiveness and value seek the advice of a media and communications professional. Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries.You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Public Relations: Power Tool for the 21st Century I address this article to businesses, associations, non-profits and public entity managers seeking a direct connection between the money they're planning to spend on public relations, and the achievement of their organizational objectives.We can save a lot of time - you and I - if we can agree onone point: I believe that deep down - and I mean DEEP down - most chief executives understand that doing something about thebehaviors of their most significant external audiences can rank inimportance right up there with increased sales and earnings. 6 Steps to Using Trade Magazines To Reach Customers When developing a publicity campaign for their business many owners overlook the importance of trade magazines and journals as vehicles for reaching new customers. While mass media publications have widespread readership, the targeted nature of trade publications make the information that appears within them even more powerful. PR: Room at the Bottom? When special events and communications tactics rule the PR roost instead of a workable plan designed to manage external audience behaviors that impact your organization the most, that's where public relations results can wind up.You know, bad results like key target audiences showing little confidence in your organization, or seldom taking actions that help you succeed and, in the end, failing to help you achieve your unit objectives. Achieve Media Attention for Your Business Do you want to be quoted by the national press on a daily basis? (How much would that be worth to your business?)In the past six months, I've been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Entrepreneur, The Associated Press, PBS, Voice of America, Family Circle, Glamour, Redbook, Self, Health, Prevention, Parents, Parenting, Women's World, First for Women, Newsday, Newsweek, Salon, In Touch Weekly--and even The National Enquirer.In fact, I've been quoted in over 100 prestigious U. 7 Tips to Get More Mileage Out of Your Online or Offline Publicity You worked hard to get a story on your business in a popularwebsite or your local paper. Don't let your efforts ends there --here are seven tips to help you maximize your online and offlinepublicity: 1) Reprint, Reprint, Reprint! A favorable article on your company or products is marketing gold- it implies that the publication or website has given itsendorsement. Which PR? Judge for Yourself You are a senior business, non-profit or association manager.So, chances are you call the shots for your department, division or subsidiary. Whats Important About PR? Quite a bit, actually. Public relations helps business, non-profit and association managers achieve their managerial objectives with results like these. For Financial Planners, Marketing and Publicity Is About You For financial planners, getting publicity, in the end, isn't about having contacts in the media.Or about writing a great press release. Publicity: A Financial Planners Best Marketing Friend There's an old African proverb:"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito."There's a message here for financial planners who want to get free publicity exposure, and use it as a smart marketing tool to grow their practice. The Medias Muscle: Make it Work for You The least expensive, most effective way for you to promote your product is through media coverage. Reporters are excellent communicators. PR tips for business Question: Why should your business issue a press release? Answer: because you have something to say, you want to say it in public and a press release encourages the press to say it for you. And because you want to show your business in a favourable light from the outset and begin the longer-term process of building awareness and understanding of your product or service. Making the News - Tips from A News Journalist What makes a good media release and how do you engage the media with your story idea? How do you pitch stories to the media, especially hard-nosed news hounds who can sniff out a 'puff piece' a mile away?The media receives literally hundreds of media releases a day, many which are instantly disregarded. Why? A number of factors contribute to the demise of a media release, one key aspect however that contributes to a well written and published releases is the writers ability to be media savvy, that is identify the aspects an editor is looking for when selecting the day's news. All You Need to Know About Press Release Writing and Distribution Before you even think about writing a press release, there are a few things you need to know about the media. Here's the first - and most important - of them:1. Mind Your Own Business! And the best way to mind your own business is to insure that those audiences whose behaviors have the greatest effect on your enterprise keep thinking about you in the most positive way. Reason is, bad behaviors often follow bad perceptions, so what your external audiences think about you can mean success or failure. Financial Planners, Want Free Marketing and Publicity? The Key is Understanding the Media The media need you. Need the information and expertise you offer, that is. What is GuerrillaPR Anyway? Public relations is the art, as one of my colleagues put it, of "offering people reasons to persuade themselves." In other words, we are not Madison Avenue; we don't tell people what we want them to think. Why Do You Want PR? To get someone's name in the newspaper or a product mention on a radio talk show?If that's all you expect, fine. But that response tells me that, as a business, non-profit or association manager, you may have overlooked an important reality: people act on their own perception of the facts, leading to predictable behaviors about which something can be done on your behalf. Can Small PR Firms Deliver Huge Results? They can when they invest in the basics. The best of them obviously rely on some form of public relations fundamental premise to produce winners across business environments from rockets and orange juice to product recalls and indicted CEOs. What Does the Public Relations Client REALLY Want, and Why? It's not unusual for clients of service providers to insist that their budget dollars be quickly applied to a variety of flashy tactics. Yet, when pressed, many acknowledge that what they REALLY want for their money is visible, end-game change. Publicity: Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Never Say These Words to a Reporter Everyone has something that drives them up a wall. You may be surprised at what aggravates reporters.
|
| home | site map | contact us |