The ultimate guide to a successful DIY media relations strategy

Getting your name mentioned in the media always seems like a lofty goal. When I talk to business owners, they usually think it’s only something for large corporations to incorporate into their marketing strategy. In reality, media relations can be done at any budget and for any sized company. And it SHOULD be done. Media relations creates opportunities for increased visibility and credibility.

Let’s talk about some of the key essentials of media relations and some practical tips to help you run a successful media relations strategy for your business.

What is Media Relations?

So often, you hear different terms thrown around – publicity, buzz, and public relations. While some of these terms are interchangeable (publicity and buzz), at its core, media relations involves managing interactions with the media to promote and protect a business’s public image. It’s all about building relationships with journalists, editors, bloggers, and influencers to secure positive media coverage. On the flip side, sometimes you have to manage any potential negative publicity.

I can’t write this without talking about what media relations ISN’T. It’s not “spin”. So often people think of media relations as telling lies to make yourself look better. While some organizations and professionals might partake in that, it’s not as widespread as you might think.

Why businesses should do media relations

1. Increase visibility: A key mention by the right media outlet can increase your visibility exponentially, helping you reach a wider audience without the high costs associated with traditional advertising. Even a mention in a smaller publication can be used as part of your regular content strategy.

2. Build credibility and trust: Even though it feels like trust in the media is waning, third party mentions can lend credibility to your business. In fact, consumers often trust third-party endorsements more than paid advertisements.

3. Reputation Management: Timed right, media relations can help you manage your business's reputation by addressing issues promptly and positively.

4. Competitive Advantage: Being proactive with your outreach to key media you’re your competitors aren’t gives you an advantage because your audience will see your brand, your name, and it helps to stay top of mind when it comes time to purchase.

Building a Media Relations Strategy

STEP 1: Define your objectives – what do you want to achieve?

Your objectives will often dictate how much outreach you do, what the nature of your outreach is, and the outlets you connect with. Common objectives include:

• Increasing brand awareness

• Promoting new products or services

• Establishing thought leadership

• Managing crises

STEP 2: Identify your target media outlets – who will you reach out to?

To get started, research the media outlets that align with your business’s target audience. A good place to start is by searching to see if competitors have been mentioned. Consider targets such as:

• Local newspapers and magazines

• Industry-specific publications

• Online news sites and blogs

• Podcasts

• Radio and TV stations

STEP 3: Create a media list

I like to build a tiered list – the wish list and the rest. That’s not to say the rest are bad outlets, but clients generally have a list of media that they would love to be mentioned on. Build a comprehensive list of contacts at your target media outlets. Include:

• Journalists and reporters

• Editors

• Producers

• Influencers and bloggers

Tools like Cision, Muck Rack, Matchmaker.fm, and Agility PR Solutions can help you find and manage media contacts. However, they can be costly for small businesses and if you’re not doing a lot of outreach, these platforms wouldn’t necessarily make sense. If you are looking for free resources to find and connect with media contacts, check out tools such as Connectively (Formerly HARO), Matchmaker.fm (Free version) are great places to start.

STEP 4: Develop key messages

Craft clear and compelling key messages that you want to convey through the media. These should reflect your brand’s values, mission, and unique selling points. These messages should add value to whatever story you’re pitching and make it easier for the media to tell your story overall.

STEP 5: Prepare press materials

While your campaign may not need any extra materials to go along with it, sometimes it’s necessary to have things ready to send – or to send them along with your initial pitch. You could consider putting materials together such as:

• Press release: This is NOT a sales pitch. Your press release should be a concise and informative announcement of newsworthy events such as product launches or other significant business activities. Not every occurrences warrants writing a press release.

• Media kit: A collection of promotional materials, including your company’s background, executive bios, product information, and high-resolution images. You could create this as a PDF, or house this information on your website and send as a link.

• Fact sheet: A one-page document summarizing key facts about your business.

• Library of images: If you are pitching a product or you have a lot of visuals that would add value, consider setting up a media room on your website or even just a google folder that you can send a link to so your media contacts can access the materials.

STEP 6: Pitching and building relationships with media contacts

Remember, as with any marketing strategy, relationship building for media relations should be mutually beneficial – you should both get something out of it. And it’s always good to think of these relationships as long term. While your pitch might not appeal to your target media contacts right now, it might down the line. As you look to build strong relationships, consider:

• Personalize your outreach: Tailor your pitches to the specific interests and beats of each journalist. That means doing a bit of research before you hit send on that email.

• Provide value: Offer exclusive stories, expert insights, or data that journalists can use.

• Be proactive: Promptly reply to media inquiries and meet their deadlines. Make it easy to tell your story. Similarly, if you don’t hear back follow up after a few days. Sometimes emails get lost in a busy inbox.

• Get to the point: Keep your pitch emails short. Cut out the extra fluff so they don’t have to sort through everything.

• Be relevant: Tie your pitch into current events or trending topics.

• Be prepared: Have your materials ready to go and make sure your spokesperson is prepared before an interview.

STEP 7: Post outreach activities

Use media monitoring tools like Google Alerts, Mention, or Meltwater to track any coverage. Google Alerts are free, but many others are paid tools. Monitoring coverage as it comes out gives you a sense of how your strategy is going – if you’re meeting your overall objectives. It also gives you a chance to respond if you see any negative coverage.

As part of your media monitoring efforts, track metrics such as:

• Number of media mentions

• Reach of the coverage

• Engagement and website traffic generated

It’s an ongoing process, so tracking everything will help you improve your strategy.

Why am I sharing all of this if this is also a service we sell at SongBird? Well, if you’re going to DIY, then you should do it right. If you think that it’s too much work, or you’re not sure you can do it on your own, then set up a free consultation with us and we’ll help get you on the right track!