Making the Most of Media Wins
Source: The Washington Post
Having third-party validation of your work in the form of earned media coverage will allow your audience to find you more easily, make your brand top-of-mind, enhance thought leadership, and build credibility. However, Hard-earned media coverage is only half of the media relations process.
Imagine you, like many of our climate-tech clients, just secured your dream coverage. Congrats! A reminder that this won't always be major outlets like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal for every story or announcement. Sometimes, a more targeted approach that focuses on trade media will reach your key audiences more effectively - and prove to be just as (or more) valuable. You can repurpose even a limited-reach podcast or recorded content for social media, event applications, and more.
Now what?
You need to make sure your stakeholders are aware of your coverage by knowing your key audiences and how to reach them.
Your key audiences could include
Investors / Donors / Partners
Your target audience
Employees, recruits, and potential hires
Event and Award organizers
Future media - sometimes journalists like example pieces from their interviewees to see if they are a good fit and can communicate their ideas well - looking for industry sources and experts
Especially podcasts/TV/radio (anything recorded)
How to Reach Them
Social Media is a great place to share media wins with those already interested in your company. Was your executive interviewed in the article? If so, they should also share it on their personal LinkedIn for added visibility. Did the news outlet share it on their social channels? Resharing their post expands your reach.
Company-owned channels can make the news coverage easily accessible to anyone visiting your website. Consider adding a "News and Insights" section to your website to house your content.
Newsletters and investor updates are great places to brag a little. These targeted lists go to people who want to hear about how your company is succeeding. Showcasing your media wins to investors helps highlight your growth and reaffirm their belief in your company's worth.
Social Media
Making the most of your wins on social media should include creating social media campaigns around repurposing coverage. Start by reviewing the content to find the top quotes from your spokesperson. Once you have your quotes, you can create graphics for social media to bring attention to the main takeaways from the coverage. If it is a podcast or video, you can develop cutdowns of the content to showcase your chosen quotes and key messages.
The goal should always be to get as much use out of your wins as possible. Do this by creating multiple posts for each piece of content on social media. Do you have a lot of great quotes? Spread out your promotion by creating separate posts for each major message. But don't go too crazy - make sure each quote has a purpose and insightful commentary can be added to the caption. Make sure your posts for the same content are different from each other. Message, design, and even format can all add enough spice to keep it interesting for your followers.
To extend the posts' reach, tag relevant outlets, hosts, or other guests. For podcasts, before recording, take a few minutes to understand their promotion strategy and how you can capitalize on and add to that effort.
Build Momentum
It is no secret that journalists and event panel pickers want to hear from experts. Showcasing your wins appropriately can set you up for the next opportunity.
When applying to speak at events, the applications frequently call for links. Showcasing your expertise through media wins helps give the organizer third-party validation of your credentials and an idea of the topics you will likely cover.
Media coverage, if leveraged correctly, can often lead to more coverage. While it is standard practice not to link to other publications in a pitch, your previous coverage helps build a foundation for organic media outreach. For example, journalists considering reporting on your company will almost certainly review your social media and past coverage. Finding coverage helps solidify you as an expert source.
Setting yourself up for the next opportunity starts as early as in the interview. Reporters talk to each other. Give them something good to say about you. Building rapport and establishing yourself as a valuable resource creates a reputation of professionalism and reliability.
Additionally, your company's work is likely too extensive to be covered entirely in one piece of coverage. For example, securing a company profile is a great accomplishment and a great building block for telling your story. Most of the time, however, the story will not be long enough to cover all aspects of your business in depth. A great next step is to focus on your specialized target audience for each topic and look to place articles in targeted trade publications they read. This can also work in reverse. Coverage of one aspect of the company can pique other reporters’ interest in what else the company is doing and lead to an opportunity for a broader company profile.
Remember that while the journalist is covering you and your company, they still have creative license to write the story how they want to write it. Avoid requesting changes to tone/messaging and only ask a journalist for corrections on factually inaccurate information.
PR doesn't end when the article is published. Making the most of your third-party validations can reinforce your appearance in future stories and lead to higher engagement rates. Book a consultation with Redwood CEO and Co-founder, Josh Garrett, to discuss how Redwood can help you earn and make the most of valuable media coverage and more.
