If you aspire to work in media or public relations or are in business for yourself, you should learn how to work with the media. Many media organizations, from local newspapers and broadcasters to national papers and magazines, can help you get your messages out to a wider audience than you can afford to pay for through advertising. But you have to understand their needs and agendas before you can have consistent success.
Know Your Audience and the Media Audiences. You need to know your company's target audience and the media organization's audience. If there is no overlap then you may have to look for other media. If there is a good overlap then you need to be ready to present evidence of that if it is not obvious.
Make Sure Your Messages Are Newsworthy. What media want are news stories that appeal to one or more significant audience segments. If your story or message is not news, you won't have much luck. News includes new products or services, a significant new trend, a true "first", a human interest story, something unique, or something legitimately involving a celebrity. If you can create or report news that meets one of these criteria, most media will be interested.
Anticipate Questions. The way media obtain information is through press releases and interviews. Even if you send out a press release you must be ready to be contacted and interviewed for more information. Therefore, you need to anticipate likely questions and be prepared to fully answer them.
Understand That Media Organizations Are Businesses. Nearly all media are profit-making enterprises and their primary task is to attract a sizeable audience that advertisers want to reach. So they are will not be focused on doing you a favor. You need to help them meet their needs before they will help you meet yours. And when dealing with reporters be conscious and respectful of their deadlines.
Avoid Being Negative about Anything or Any Other Company. Interest from a media organization is not license to unload on competitors or other people. You need to be 100% positive in every contact with the media in order to earn respect and trust and avoid a war in the press.
Be 100% Honest. Never, ever lie to the media. In dealing with media honesty is not just the best policy, it is the only policy. Reporters will not be kind to people and organizations who lie to or mislead them.
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