How to Make the Most of your Media Coverage
So, your hard work (or the hard work of your PR agent) has paid off and you’ve bagged yourself some great media coverage, either in the press, on TV or online. You’ve hit the PR jackpot and are enjoying a flurry of attention and traffic to your website. You may think the hard work is done, but now’s not the time to rest on your laurels. Once the article or interview goes live, you need to squeeze every last bit of value from it.
Here are a few tips to help you get the most bang for your PR buck:
Tell your team
The best PR for your company is your workforce. So make sure they’re the first to know the good news. It’s a coup making it into a magazine or on TV, so they’ll most likely share it on their own social networks without you asking. This is the best sort of endorsement. Plus, your team will feel good about coming to work. No one wants to work for a stagnant company. But a progressive, newsworthy one? Yes please!
Go social with it
It’s not easy getting media coverage; so, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Create a post, along with a link to the article, and publish it on every social media channel you have. Ask your colleagues, friends and family to do the same. This is the quickest way to jump on the news and spread it.
To really maximise the value of your coverage, repurpose your post. In other words, create several versions, with variations on the copy, hashtag and images, to keep the message fresh, and publish them strategically, in the following days and weeks.
Something to bear in mind when you’re creating your social media post is: make sure you acknowledge the journalist/outlet that ran the piece, and if you can, tag them in it. It’s good manners and good PR.
Add it to your website
When you’re looking to buy something from a company you’ve never dealt with before, what’s the first thing you do? Check out their website and customer reviews. You want some assurance that they’re bona fide. And that’s exactly what people do when they’re looking to buy from you. So a link from your website to the article or video footage is a must. Be proud of the coverage. Make sure the news is in full view on your home page. Or write a blog post about it.
Email your database
Email is still the number one most effective platform to reach people online. It even ranks ahead of Facebook. So, it’s a good idea to send out an eshot to to your subscribers. This is great way to show customers that they were right to make the decision to do business with you, and encourage them to do so again.
If they’re impressed and are proud to be associated with your brand, they may well take it upon themselves to share the news in their own networks. Who knows? You could be nurturing your next big brand ambassador.
Take copies to meetings with prospects
Press coverage gives you instant third-party credibility. It shows you’re trustworthy, and know what you’re talking about. Make the most of this, by taking a copy of your editorial coverage to every prospect meeting and networking event. It could be the deciding factor for them choosing you over your competitor.
