Using Strategic Thinking To Gain Media Visibility - A Prescription For Healthy Media Visibility From Your PR Doctor By: J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr., Chief Executive of J. G. Ebersole Associates and The Renaissance Group ™
Are you getting your name, photo and the name of your business in the newspapers and professional publications? Or are you reading stories about your competition all the time? Do you have a dismal record of getting articles published? How healthy is your media visibility?
It is critical to understand that the media is not in business to promote you or your business. The media’s role is to produce articles of interest to their readers. That means you need to provide interesting and relevant information to the journalists so they will want to publish your article. And I would say the most important thing to learn to know is how the media works and what the specific requirements each media has for submitting any information to them.
Here is a prescription from your PR Doctor on how to attain healthy media visibility.
+ Be strategic! Develop a strategic integrated marketing communications plan and include specific media visibility objectives within the plan.
+ Develop a positioning statement for you and your company and make sure that is a benchmark for all that is done to gain media visibility.
+ Know who you are doing business with in the media. Read the journalists articles, columns, etc. and research their interests, areas of expertise, etc. to learn more bout them. Get to know the distribution and the demographics of the readers of the media you are dealing with each time.
+ Prepare & submit well-written letters to the editor and op. ed. pieces for the media where you want increased visibility.
+ Increase your public speaking opportunities at venues where there will be media coverage.
+ Develop a few short quotes or sound bites to use in public forums covered by the media. Some of these may be of interest and picked up by the media to use in their articles + Develop a consistent message about you and your company that you can “weave into” communications with the media.
+ Develop and implement a plan to prepare news releases throughout the year so that you are maintaining contact with the selected media for increased visibility.
+ Develop relationships with selected editors and journalists by providing them with valued information and items of interest to them and their readers.
Compliment and thank them for their work, when appropriate + Be strategic in selecting the media to work with so that the media selected provides the best coverage in your target markets.
+ Volunteer to serve on boards of non-profits and to work on their community relations and/or public relations committee.
+ Establish yourself as an expert or authority in a particular subject matter or field and make yourself available to the media as a resource.
If you want to learn more about this strategic thinking approach to media visibility for you and your company, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.prdoctor4u.com or by email at jgeprman@aol.com
To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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