As your business grows, having the right media relations mix in place is essential—not only to reach new customers, but also to build continued engagement with your current customer base. Keep in mind that the ideal media relations mix for your business is unique. The specific balance of publications covering your industry, and the demands of your target audience, have to be taken into account.
Generating Market Buzz
One of the first steps in any new campaign—ranging from funding rounds to new product announcements—is generating conversation about your product ahead of time. One key to success is generating news that will be interesting for targeted key media outlets covering your industry.
Key problem-solving data
Market research can go a long way toward demonstrating what your product is able to accomplish and its place in the market. This can include things like:
- Market research
- Survey results
- Specific product specs
Releasing early data can spur early conversations about your product that drive industry stakeholders to learn more. When media outlets pick up those details and share information about your brand, it helps generate positive buzz about your upcoming launches and events.
Early Reviews
Before you’re ready to launch a new product, seek new funding or announce a new business milestone, look for opportunities to generate positive reviews. Allowing early access to a new product or service can give influencers or journalists a chance to share what they love about your business with your target market. Those early reviews will build a strong foundation of excitement around your product and brand that will encourage new users to buy in.If you don’t want to launch your product or make your big announcement now, you can ask influencers to tease information about the product or your business ahead of time, sharing their appreciation without making the announcement for you.
Reaching out to influencers who have a target audience that fits the one shared by your brand is a critical part of modern marketing and branding—and influencers are almost always likelier to provide you a positive review. However, to establish strong credibility, it is often worth your while to reach out to journalists, whose reviews and feedback will often leave a stronger impression on their audience. While you can never guarantee a positive review, influencers and journalists alike respond well to products that are easy to use with a well-defined market need.
Teasers
Across your own social media platforms and other communications channels, consider sharing teasers or glimpses of information to encourage your audience to get excited about upcoming launches and milestones. Chances are, your strong products are building a happy and engaged audience within your industry—let them know that something exciting is coming so they can share it with their friends and coworkers. These snippets of information, from simple teasers to preview demos, can help generate more interest and bring customers in to learn more.
Making Announcements: Choosing Your Media Mix
When you have a major business milestone on the horizon, whether you’re expanding into a new market, launching a product, or receiving significant funding, the first thing you should do is plan your media campaign. As you evaluate your media relations mix, there are several key things to keep in mind.
What platform do you have?
Before you decide on the ideal media relations mix for your big announcement, take a look at your current platform, including your company’s communications channels and any pre-announcement marketing buzz Consider:
- Your website. Your business’s website is a key part of your marketing mix, and you should always take it into account when generating a new media push.
- Your social media platforms. Carefully consider what sites you’re already using, including where you have the greatest overall influence.
- Any existing relationships with influencers. Who usually shares information about your products?
- Current media relationships. Who, in the media, has reported on your brand and what you have to offer in the past?
- Marketing buzz related to your new launch or announcement. Have you seen any recent changes in the conversation surrounding your product?
Once you have taken a look at your existing platform, you may already have a better idea of where you need to focus your efforts moving forward.
What has been successful in the past?
When you have seen successful marketing campaigns in the past, what strategies did you use? What channels brought in the most business, or generated the most buzz about your brand? Ideally, you should have a plan in place that allows you to track KPIs across different marketing channels. Which efforts are most likely to generate traffic to your website, and what strategies allow you to most effectively accomplish your goals?
What are your Goals for the announcement?
As you consider your media relations mix, carefully consider what you are hoping to accomplish with your announcement. Sometimes, your goal is just to share information with your existing audience. In other cases, however, you may want to expand your reach. For example, if you’re announcing a new funding milestone, you may want to generate excitement among shareholders. If you’re expanding to a new market, you may want to lay the groundwork for your sales team to ensure customers in that market know about your brand. Carefully laying out your goals for the announcement first will allow you to identify the media strategies that will lead to success.
Find the Right Media Relations Mix for Your Business
Identifying the right media relations mix for your business, across all announcements and milestones, is a critical step toward the long-term health of a communications plan. At Red Fan Communications, we help business executives evaluate their existing PR and marketing plans, identify needs and market opportunities, and set you and your brand up for success, from new product launches to major business changes. Reach out today to learn more.
