Tools For An Optimized Media Relations Strategy
Anybody notice how noisy it’s gotten? I mean, all of a sudden I’m being flooded by a constant flow of press releases and social media releases and sooo-much-PR… it seems endless.
It’s as if, in a mad dash to be heard, companies are cranking out more and more releases every day — whether it’s newsworthy stuff or not — just hoping, even praying they’ll get picked up. Working harder to accomplish less is never the smart business choice. Better to have a few effective campaigns under your belt than a dozen forgettable attempts.
What does your communication strategy look like? Do you even have a strategy? Or are you like many busy marketers out there firing off standalone tactics? The good news (If I can call it that) is that your competition’s probably in the same boat that you’re in — so what we’ve got here is an opportunity. A chance to get ahead of the pack and sharpen your skills at the same time.
From figuring out the goals for each campaign — to allocating the appropriate amount of resources and time — you need a plan to be effective. And believe me, the answer isn’t to write a press-release about everything just to cover your bases. It’s a lot like crying wolf — after a while your audience tunes out. You need to know what’s newsworthy in order to keep them engaged and listening.
If you’re not sure where to start, there’s an eWorkshop with Demand Metric and MarketingExperiments on April 28th that’s worth checking out. In addition to the hour-long training, you get tools and templates to use for developing your media relations strategy.
I started using the tools and played around with the templates today (My company’s producing the event) – as a package, they’re powerful indeed. During a webinar rehearsal a couple weeks back Brian Solis, Principal at Future-Works, said that “Influence is the ability to inspire action and measure it” — Optimizing my media relations strategy seems like an excellent starting point.
What do you think has caused the uptick in press releases? Do you think it’s a result of reduced marketing budgets and thus an over-reliance on traditional media strategies? Let us hear your theories in the comments.
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T:
Having been one of the cartoon button pressing wonks until I was “reduced” during the most recent “Reduction in Force (RIF’d) – Corporations truly are like the military – I know in my company (a Fortune 100) that it was PANIC on the part of anyone from the top “C” levels down. It was the ‘cost-effective’ way to stay in people’s faces.
Regardless of the arguments from those of us in the trenches, er, cubes, sorry, that it would only add to the noise and had no newsworthy information to impart, it was “damn the torpedoes, full PR ahead!”
Prayer and Panic are what I would agree are the dominant themes in this mad rush to get out of the Recession Room through the door marked “CHEAP EXIT”.
I believe the proliferation of press releases is caused by:
– CHEAPNESS. It’s cheap compared to other traditional marketing vehicles.
– EASE. It’s easier than ever before to “get the word out” with new online PR tools.
– ATTENTION. Most marketing folks love to see their own names or brands in the spotlight, no matter how small the spotlight is.
– PROMOTION. The industry promotes sending out releases for anything newsworthy.
You are correct that it does seem that companies are pumping out anything newsworthy. The issue is that many see newsworthy from their own internal reporters! For example, do we truly need to know that Ms. Jane Smith joined mobile start-up XYZ123?
I think some folks think P.R. stands for PLEASE Release!, where it would behoove many to interpret P.R. as Please RESTRAIN!
All the best – - -
Dean,
So witty — and so appropriately stated. It’s interesting that Public Relations and Press Release have the same acronym… thanks so much for bringing that to our attention. One thing cheaper than the traditional press release (which can cost upwards of $500 depending on the distribution tool you use) is the Social Media Release (SMR) — FREE. A recent survey from the folks at MarketingSherpa shows that about 19% of Marketers are now dabbling with SMR’s. It’s a new twist on the 103 year old Press Release (Yes, the format hasn’t changed in over 100 years), and I think, a more organized way to get the word out about your “news”.
~tameesha
Hi David,
Thanks for the insight. It’s too bad company leadership (especially top tier organizations which so many others look up to) relies on short-term gains to the detriment of long-term growth. These guys haven’t a clue WHAT to do to remedy the situation, so they run around LOOKING busy in order to give the appearance that they’re actually being effective. Sigh… so disappointing.
~tameesha
Tameesha, I’d love to hear more about Social Media Releases. Please share some tips and suggestions. Thanks.
The Energizer Bonnie
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