Maximise your press coverage with effective messages

Tuesday 20th March 2012

Linda Nightingale, director of Nightingales PR, talks about the importance of ‘managing the message’ in the media.

The first thing to establish is 'what is the message'? As a PR company specialising in property and finance we work closely with our clients to establish exactly what they want the media and in turn the buying public, to know about their products and services.

In order to secure media coverage as a PR professional you need to ‘think outside the box’ as modern day terminology would have us describe it. Even if your client thinks the world needs to know a certain fact, if the journalists to whom you are sending this information have heard it all before, then the cause is lost. It has to be a dual pronged effort – to attract the attention of weary hacks fighting though hundreds of press releases daily and then to have an edge with the story line that makes it stand out.

Another important factor, for clients who want coverage in as many diverse publications and media portals as possible, is that the PR firm knows the journalists to whom the ‘message’ is being sent.

Having been established over 20 years, we know many of the top writers and editors and therefore can tailor the releases to their particular needs or even write a special feature for a busy editor, or just ring up with a story angle to a freelancer.

Where do you want the message?

Clients often do not know where they want ‘their message’. All they know is that they need to raise awareness in order to increase business. This is all the more important in the current times, where the property market has felt the world recession; companies big and small need to know that there is a dedicated service concentrating on ensuring as much good coverage as is possible, week on week.

When I started the business, press releases were sent out by post so one had to allow for delivery before even a follow up phone call to specific journalists. Now we have e-mails. We also have web sites, blogs, twitter and various other means of spreading the word but there is a need to be careful that there isn’t overload to the point where a particular company name becomes ineffectual due to over exposure of the wrong kind.

How important is it to work closely with your public relations company?

Perhaps I should reverse this and say ‘how important is it for the Public Relations Company to work closely with the client’, and the answer is ‘very’.

A company needs to know that the PR service is an extension of their office; that there is a one to one relationship and that if they ring they are not being charged extra!

PR does have a reputation as being a costly exercise but nothing could be further from the truth. Good PR creating steady, strong editorial coverage can prove to be exceedingly good value and it is personal. Company’s needs change and therefore if suddenly there is a new aspect, a new property, incentive, figures and stats that need to get out there then PR is the way to do it and if you wonder why your competitor has editorial in magazines and newspapers and you don’t then maybe now is the time to consider PR.

What should I look for in a PR?

A company with experience in your particular field otherwise you will be paying a fee whilst they learn on your time! You need a company that has a strong working relationship with the press as that is key to success. You do not want a PR company that buys in a list of journalists and sends out releases ad-hoc. What you are paying for with PR is their understanding of your particular business and an ability to place you in the media.

Linda Nightingale

Nightingales Public Relations

www.nightingalespr.co.uk

01825 744091