Kay Phelps, owner of Surrey PR agency, PR in HR explains why media relations is like giving a gift to journalists.
Getting a gift, presented in a beautiful way, is something we can’t help but love.
Keep that picture in your head and imagine being given something that helps you do your job, takes the load off a little and presented at the right time for you to help others. Nice thought, eh?
That’s how PR should help journalists. Journalists have a constant need to discuss new, interesting stories. They’ll find many of those stories with an ear to the ground, gathering ideas, talking to sources, researching and understanding what matters – to present to their audiences.
Yet many of the articles you read or content you see will have originated from an organisation, gift-wrapped by it and its PR team, to help journalists. This practice is done in national newspapers, our own HR PR niche, TV, Radio, digital, all of them. It might show (to us as an audience) as data, research, opinions, individual people or business stories or new product launches, but it’s happening all around us.
So, media relations can be summed up thus: PR agencies like PR in HR find and evolve interesting angles from their organisations and present them to journalists in a way that suits the journalist’s audiences (while aligning to the organisation’s messages and needs).
A lot of stories journalists get packaged up for them will get binned. Be this because the stories aren’t strong enough or because of sheer numbers - journalists receive hundreds. They need to choose the ones that provide the best information for their audiences.
So if you’re thinking of providing journalists with some of your own information, you won’t go far wrong by:
1) Knowing the media with audiences important to you
2) Understanding a journalist’s audience well
3) Mimicking that media’s style when you present material to them (they may use news material as is, if presented in the right way, or they may re-wrap it, putting their own stamp on it)
The great thing is, there is no shortage of journalists and publications interested in workplace information. Focus on the ones who can help you get a message out to the right audience in the right way.
In our market, journalists are constantly informing, educating and advising, so PR needs to work to their chosen media’s agenda.
PR in HR knows the HR media, working with it for nearly 25 years. If you’d like any advice or help with media relations, give us a call. You can reach us on 01932 701686 or visit our website: https://prinhr.co.uk