How often do you, as a client, come to the Agency with the task of providing the widest possible coverage of an informational occasion, event, activity of the company or its first person? How often do you get such a request while working for an Agency? We face such tasks regularly and know exactly which tools will work most effectively in which cases.
However, there are several components that affect the final result, the so-called "exhaust" from the PR campaign. Among them: information occasion, significance, innovation and, of course, the budget.
It is often not always clear how to make the company's news spread to the media and how to interest journalists so that they get in line for questions to the press service. If you are in this situation, then this note is for you.
So, we will tell you how to cover an information occasion using only classic PR tools (copyright and distribution of press releases, organization of press breakfasts, press conferences and press tours, organization of interviews with top officials of the company, follow up and initiation of publications, monitoring of the information field, etc.).
Exclusive
Let's say you are building a new national (or regional) enterprise, selling your business to foreign investors, producing an innovative product, or building the first outlet in Russia.
All this fits the capacious concept of "exclusive". This type of information can be offered to top Federal (or regional, depending on your geography) media outlets in order to achieve maximum citations from other media outlets.
Proper strategic planning of media for exclusivity and further high-quality communication with the media will ensure your news wide distribution and high coverage.
The main thing is to know the journalists who write on your topic. Spoiler: for this you need to contact us ;)
Numbers
If you do not have an exclusive as such, but there is still a lot of news about the company, do not rush to look for advertising budgets.
Any news can be interesting for a journalist, if you know who and how to submit it correctly.
An important component is always Analytics, statistics, and figures: investments, turnover, growth percentages, output volumes, comparison of indicators for different periods, and so on.
In order to understand what information events in your industry will "hook" a journalist, we offer an Analytics service that can include analysis of competitors ' activities, presence in the information field, news in the industry, determining the most successful and replicated news, etc. based on your tasks and needs. Based on this data, we create a matrix of news events in the industry with indicators that can be included in your news for each of the reasons. Such a memo is necessary to understand what exactly can become news, and it can also help the company's own PR service work in the case of independent implementation of communication tactics.
The participation of the
Here, of course, we are talking about the GR component. If you are about to open a strategically important enterprise, sign an agreement with the Government of a city or region, visit an international delegation with a cultural mission, etc., we recommend that you involve the top officials of the city or region in these events. As a rule, any official of this level has its own pool of journalists and its own press service, whose task is to cover all activities. With proper communication, materials about your company / product / enterprise will also be distributed through administrative channels. This will provide additional quality publications and coverage.
The 4D Agency has a huge experience of such cooperation. For example, working with the press service of the Governor of St. Petersburg in preparation for the signing and the Government of St. Petersburg (it was timed to the construction of a new plant for the production of active pharmaceutical substances of the company), when organizing the Annual Investment Forum in St. Petersburg in 2017 and 2018. As well as working with the press service of the Governor of the Leningrad region in organizing the work of the stand of the Leningrad region in the framework of SPIEF-2019.
Information openness
Let's say that a company is active, constantly signs new contracts, modernizes production, works for export, and so on. It would seem that in such a situation, news should appear regularly, and journalists should request comments almost daily. However, the reality is that not everyone is ready to disclose their indicators, cover the news, and even answer questions from journalists. In this situation, maximum coverage will be difficult to achieve.
On the contrary, companies with an information openness policy receive more requests, and their publications are more often taken by the top media.
Prompt submission of comments
Journalists who are familiar with the company and are constantly in contact with its press service will be more willing to make requests for comments on the topic of your activity or even for General industry materials (year results, digests, market trends, comments on a certain event, etc.). And if you also help out a journalist and provide him with comments for an urgent note or article in a short time (1-2 hours), then media loyalty will increase, and sometimes even minor news will have more coverage than planned.
But remember, if you do not meet the deadline or do not respond to a journalist's request at all, the path of the company's news to the publication may be closed.
As you can see, there are many pitfalls in communicating with the media and it is not always immediately clear how to act to get maximum coverage. Specialists of the 4D Agency have 15 years of experience in the market of PR services. We will help you determine the right direction and choose the most effective communication strategy.
