How to master media relations
The secret? The relationship you develop with the reporter. Let’s see how you can do it.
Media relations is the main activity of PR experts who understood from the outset that convincing journalists to cover their subject in a positive light was one of the most effective ways of reaching the target audience.
This is even truer today, despite the speeches where technologies are at the heart of conversations and debates. The profession has evolved since its beginnings in the nineteenth century and will continue to adapt to the society that composes it. With the rise of social networks and the rise of these “new prescribers”, the activity of press relations has changed. The phone and e-mail have been replaced by notifications and likes. The coffee rendez-vous rubbed shoulders with photo sharing on Instagram. The media now includes press titles, blogs, and other influencers.
Tell a reporter: “I’m calling to make sure you have received my e-mail.” It is like saying: “I would like to interrupt you in your activities to invite you to read an e-mail which you have certainly already received and ignored for a valid reason! “. – Jillian Ambrose, The Daily Telegraph.
But “revolution” does not mean a complete break with the morality and practice of the profession. The digital transformation of our society has made it possible to propose new tools of identification, contact, collaboration, but also to measure its media impact almost instantaneously. There is surely the problem of public relations: how to adapt to these changes? If the generation of PR that has seen the emergence of new digital tools must precisely apprehend them. The generation of RP born with must learn to converse with influencers in a traditional way. The success of press relations lies in this intelligent “recipe”:
The maintenance of a relationship is important if they don’t know you, they have no reason to talk to you. – Lis Field, CEO of Eulogy.
