Product Spotlight: A Guide to the Importance of Media Relations
Media relations is one of the most important aspects to the public relations sphere. What can often be overlooked as unnecessary and outdated, a proper media relations strategy can be the perfect way to introduce consumers to a brand. By building a relationship with the media, brands can successfully gain more visibility and awareness. A good media relationship can be extremely important in times of crisis and can benefit both publication and brand when built strategically.
In a consumer world where authenticity matters and people often buy from brands that match their personal values, media relations ensures that brands can communicate their identity honestly and relevantly.
What is Media Relations
Media relations refers to the creation and continuation of relationships between brands and the media, including journalists, publications, editors, and even influencers. The goal is to inform the media on a brand’s values, goals, and accomplishments, through interesting stories that highlight unique angles of the brand.
Usually taking the form of websites, blogs, and print media, media relations can go beyond these traditional outlets and include podcasts, TV shows, and much more.
A brand’s ultimate goal is to pitch unique stories creatively so journalists will want to report on it. These stories should inform target audiences on your brand in compelling ways, which will ultimately generate more publicity and create a positive reputation and perception in the public.
The Importance of Media Relations
Media relations is an essential addition to any strategy because it can bring a brand to life both within the media and for a target audience. With a proper media relations strategy, brands can expect to reap many important benefits.
Brand Awareness & Engagement
Building relationships with the media and working together with different publications will enhance brand awareness and visibility, creating more engagement between brand and consumer. Strong relationships with publications make it easier for brands to publish more while informing consumers. By selling unique features of a brand through a story, it will provide more exposure for the brand while reinforcing its messaging in a positive way. This is also a great way to increase SEO, as consumers will be able to search for a brand and see everything journalists have reported on.
It is an authentic way of informing the public about a brand, as it can spread awareness without making it seem like an advertisement – this is incredibly useful in today’s world where consumers are constantly being shown thousands of advertisements. A story in the media is unique and attention grabbing, allowing audiences to organically learn about a brand.
Example: Your hotel has amenities for different types of travelers. By pitching different stories to different types of outlets, you can reach many potential target audiences. For example, to a luxury magazine, you can pitch your amazing interior design and quality of service. To a sustainability podcast, you can discuss your dedication to going green. To a travel blog, you can highlight the adventures travelers can expect to partake in. To an online wellness publication you can showcase your wellness facilities. Through different pitches and outlets, you can reach all potential consumer groups.
Trust
Establishing trust within the public sphere can be extremely difficult, especially with newer brands who have not stood the test of time yet. By building relationships with the media, brands can take advantage of the trust these media publications already have. The media can give a brand the credibility and trust it lacks, while building it up in the eyes of its target audience.
Example: When your brand releases a new product, service, or feature, invite journalists to try it out on press trips. These journalists can report on your story, providing it with validation and a stamp of approval.
Unique Stories
Telling creative, relevant, and credible stories is important for getting your brand noticed. By highlighting unique aspects of a brand, it can breathe new life into it and show it in a way that might not have been seen before. This is a great way to engage new audiences and appeal to different types of consumers. By building relationships with different types of media, it can broaden reach and help create a story that appeals to everyone.
Moreover, a good story can help reinforce a brand’s marketing strategy. By matching stories to advertisements, consumers can see the authenticity behind the marketing. This makes advertisements seem less cold and distant by involving consumers in the story the brand is trying to tell.
Example: If your hotel is a hotspot for couples on their honeymoon, then you could pitch a story for Couples Day, the 18th of August, on why your hotel is so perfect for couples. Highlight the amenities you have (couples massage, moonlight dinner, etc.) or the amenities you offer. Unique stories can help you connect to the exact type of consumer you want to attract to your hotel
Crisis Management
Having strong media relationships are essential when it comes to periods of crisis within a brand. A proper Media Relations strategy can ensure a less painful crisis, with publications helping brands respond to issues promptly while spreading the right information. The media can often be a brand’s best friend when it comes to dealing with crises, which is why it is so important to build up media relationships.
Example: In times of crisis, give the right publications concrete details through the form of a press release on the information important for public knowledge. This will ensure that truthful and trustworthy news is spread about your brand.
Control
Media relations help brands gain control over what is published about them. Brands can decide which stories are published by pitching unique and interesting stories to the media. They can also make sure that the right audiences are reading these stories by pitching to the relevant media. This control is essential in shaping a brand’s public image, credibility, and personality.
Example: Select the top tier media outlets that your hotel would like to be featured in to make sure you control which media outlets receive your press releases and pitch stories.
Media Relations Case Studies
There is a lot to media relations that is just the traditional idea of getting your story published in the paper, from digital publications, to TV shows, to podcasts, to guest blogs, there are so many options for brands to communicate their message and team up with a media outlet. Below are a few examples of how we matched our clients with different types of media that suited their unique ways of storytelling.
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Hotel Featured in Harper's Bazaar
Online Feature
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape was featured in Harper’s Bazaar, a prominent lifestyle magazine, which also features luxury travel and unique resorts. We helped Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape, capture its unique and luxurious wellness features, as well as its amazing immersion in the natural world, and wrap it up into the perfect story to position it as a luxury treat for travelers looking to escape.
Hanswirt & Mein Lokal, Dein Lokal
TV Show
Having won multiple awards and recognitions for its delicious cuisine, we knew that Hanswirt was the perfect place to film an episode of the culinary show Mein Lokal, Dein Lokal, which sees five chefs face off in an intense competition to find the best restaurants in different stunning locations.
The TV show was a fun and unique way to highlight Hanswirt’s dedication to the culinary arts, ensuring that foodies from around the German speaking world would put this hotel down as a culinary hotspot. We think that TV is a great way to connect to audiences who may not love reading traditional media, and matching Hanwirt with Mein Lokal, Dein Lokal was an instant hit and increased the number of booking inquiries as soon as the show aired.
CAS Trips & Tomorrow’s Air, Travel and Purpose
Guest Blogging + Podcast
Our client, CAS Trips, provides sustainable and educational student trips, so it was natural for them to guest blog on Tomorrow’s Air blog. Guest blogging can be the perfect way to team up with another company who has a similar target audience and inform this audience about your brand. It allows you, the brand, to control exactly what another platform is saying about you, by simply writing it yourself.
CAS Trips’ co-founder was also featured on an episode of Travel and Purpose, a podcast which interviews those who are passionate about travel and social impact. A podcast is another way to connect with audiences who don’t love to read and can offer a unique alternative to traditional forms of media.
Executing a Successful Strategy
One important element to note for a successful media relations strategy, is that media relations is not a short-term project. It requires dedication and ongoing monthly strategic execution which is why it can be difficult to keep up with. Below, we have broken down how to begin your media relations journey as well as how we can assist you in ensuring that you implement a successful strategy.
Beginning your media relations journey
Creating a media relations strategy from scratch can be difficult, so we’d like to give you a few pointers.
Step 1.
Before you really begin, you need to know what you want to communicate about your brand, what are your brand’s purposes, values, beliefs, and what is the underlying message that links all of these to your brand’s personal story? This message is what will help you recognize your target audience, the media platforms and publications you want to work with, and the types of stories that work for you.
Step 2.
After you have established this you need to figure out who your target audience is. Who do you want to inform about your brand? What kind of customers are you looking for? By figuring out your target audience, you can then decide which types of publications or outlets you will pitch to or use. The next step is to then create specific media lists of the publications, TV shows, podcasts, blogs, and all other forms of media you want to pitch to.
Step 3.
Once you have figured out the specific outlets, it is time to develop story angles that journalists or owners of these outlets will find unique and interesting. You need to tailor your stories depending on the type of outlet you have chosen as well as what content they usually publish. This step includes a lot of brainstorming about what makes your brand special, and then matching it to the right channel of media to communicate that angle.
This is also the time to create a toolbox for your pitch. We can help you with creating the important tools for a successful strategy, like a media kit, which provides an overview of your brand, boilerplates, engaging and well formatted pitches or other helpful resources.
Step 4.
Now you need to pitch your stories to the media. We can help you decide what you want to cover, which stories you want to write, and who you want to pitch to – storytelling is essential to a brand. Once you’ve been published on a couple of channels, you need to keep building up these relationships.
Continuing your Media Relations journey
A long lasting strategy can be daunting, so we've tailored our services to meet your needs. From continuing to build up your brand to developing your media portfolio, we can help you find creative ways to interact with the media, manage any crisis, and increase your visibility.
We can also help you with SEO and analytics which is an important step in the strategy. This ensures your coverage is positive, putting out the right image, and reaching the right people. Like we said, it is a long lasting strategy that needs constant work.
Activate an Essential Part of PR
Media relations are an essential part of public relations, and is unavoidable if a brand wants better visibility, credibility, and engagement. Media relations is not a simple one off strategy, but requires constant effort every month to continue creating new relationships while maintaining the older ones. It can be difficult to know where to start, but we are here for you!