There are a variety of strategies that companies can use when they’re looking to reach out to relevant journalists or media outlets to get their stories heard and shared, however, few work as well as identifying relevant media opportunities for each business and then building strong relationships with people in those outlets.
Media Opportunities
It’s become more important than ever for companies to be able to discern which media outlets and communications channels provide them with the most beneficial opportunities. Given the fact that most consumers these days are looking for authenticity as one of the most important factors in their purchasing decisions, companies that are able to appear and portray themselves as authentic will end up gaining a competitive advantage. Consumers are more sensitive and skeptical of each piece of information that they come across on a daily basis at this point, which means if a company comes across as anything other than truthful and authentic, it will frustrate and turn away potential customers. However, businesses can avoid facing that issue if they simply pay attention to more communications channels and outlets, because this strategy will help any business figure out which outlets and channels are a lot more trustworthy with their target audiences. Then, companies can start building relationships with those outlets and look to secure media coverage and opportunities with those outlets specifically. Another reason why it’s important for companies to keep track of more outlets and channels is that they allow companies to secure engagement with the target audience when the company is able to share the right content on the right platforms, as this basically guarantees that the target audience will come across it and become interested in the content and the business.
Media relationships
As previously mentioned, companies will also have to develop and nurture relationships with the right journalists, reporters, and news editors to be able to get their stories heard and spread by them in the first place. All of that means that companies have to invest a lot more in networking than they did in the past to be able to build relationships with the right outlets so that the company has a strong enough connection that the journalists in that outlet will happily help the company share its content for the rest of the world to see, which will reach the target audience of the business at the end of the day. A great way for companies to figure out which outlets and journalists they should be focusing on when it’s time to send out pitches and articles is through data. Aside from using data to figure out which outlets are relevant to the business, companies can also rely on data to create unique or new perspectives for the content that they will be pitching to these outlets no matter which industry they operate in because all outlets are constantly looking for data and interesting ways that they can share that data with their followers. This also helps companies stand out from their competitors as it will show that the company is authentic in all of its pursuits, and is looking to inform the public and its target audience with factual and true information, which is a great way to establish strong relationships with both consumers and outlets.