Media relations and PR

The most effective public relations efforts tend to revolve around generating more publicity for a company.

After all, companies can’t grow if they can’t reach their target audiences.

However, through media relations, companies can generate more brand awareness, increase their credibility, and achieve a lot more success.

Goals

The first step in developing a successful media relations plan is to set strategic goals.

That means a company needs to think about what it wants to achieve with its media relations efforts. It can be anything from generating more website traffic, to building more brand awareness, increasing lead generation, or even making more sales.

Additionally, companies also have to take the target audience into consideration and the people that they want to reach with their media relations efforts.

The company needs to figure out how the audience is going to be perceiving the company, and what emotions are going to be elicited from potential consumers through those media relations.

By planning beforehand, companies get the opportunity to figure out which are going to be the most relevant and effective media outlets that will help the company reach its goals, and have a much easier time accurately measuring the performance of their strategies for public relations efforts overall.

Media Kit

The next step in effective media relations is for the company to develop its own media kit if it hasn’t already done so. Both digitally and in print, the media kit, also known as a press kit, should present the media outlet with a snapshot of the company, and what it does.

The media kit can be used to increase the credibility of the company, while also helping journalists and media outlets tell the company’s story a lot more accurately. Some of the core elements of any press kit include background information on the company and its solutions, short bios on the employees or the founders of the business, as well as their photos.

Additionally, companies can also include previous media coverage they’ve received, press releases they’ve distributed, as well as any booklets, brochures, and even video content.

The precise content of a company’s press kit can differ depending on the company’s target audience, and its industry. However, at the end of the day, the goal of a media kit is to make it as useful as possible to journalists and media outlets, as well as relevant to the stories that the company is trying to share with the rest of the world.

Stories

A newsworthy story can be practically any informative or engaging update about the company itself or its solutions. That means companies can have newsworthy stories about their new solution, successful projects or events, new hires, partnerships with others, and more.

The type of news story that a company should be sharing with media outlets should be closely tied in with the way that the target audience needs to perceive the company itself.

That’s why it’s important for companies to figure out which stories they want to tell first, and then create a consistent voice and focus for the audience. A great way for a company to highlight its latest news stories are on the company’s blog, and on social media platforms.

Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently-owned PR firms in the United States.

With over 20 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America’s most prolific and well-respected Public Relations professionals.