Creativity and hard work are two traits In communication that only lead half the way towards success when relations with media are not strong enough. The way a brand can communicate with consumers or clients is through online, offline, paid, or unpaid media.

 

Living in a world of social media where everyone is capable of becoming a publisher means that reality changes constantly. Every person has the ability to influence someone to a different level; imagine that some can affect a whole nation’s opinion, considering what happened with Mitt Romney and that video back in 2012. It doesn’t take more than one single wrong move to mess it all up.

 

Whenever there’s a need of utilizing different media for different purposes, one needs to take into account many aspects. Sometimes having the right resources and understanding what goes on in the outside world, and by being ready to face situations is critical.

Here’s a list of what you can do to enhance relations with media and make your work fruitful.

 

Nothing starts without knowing what you want to achieve both in the short and the long run. Short term goals are, in a way, connected to long terms. Covering large distances on foot requires taking small single steps. Therefore, when it comes to goals, the bigger and the smaller picture are interrelated.

 

 

Having a clear and specific idea of what the goals are, will help determine which journalists you need to address in order to ultimately reach your target group. When you have a clear idea of what you’re looking for, you may be able to convince journalists to work towards your own goals.

Clear, simple, and realistic objectives are usually the main point and may look better in the eyes of publishers.

 

Media people could be able to see clearly an opportunity for successful work when communicating with a straightforward key message.

Imagine having to reach a destination through two different routes, one being a straight line and the other comprising of ten different smaller lines. What would your choice be?

Apart from it being clear, a message should also be strong and memorable. It should be something that draws the attention of the public. When it succeeds to do so, journalists will likely be more impressed and the whole collaboration could feel like a win-win situation.

At the end of the day, displaying competence and communication skills helps building a stronger bridge of trust.

 

This takes a lot of thought and focus. Up-to-date media lists are the result of thorough, detailed research. What is the right way to initiate a research on media, though?

 

 

When it comes to investigating, some specific tips are essential. It all starts with the audience that your research will be addressed to. It is important that there is a clear understanding of what the purpose of this investigation is.

 

A good start could be to surf over the Internet, read and take notes of all those different blogs, magazines and newspapers. Try to understand the key elements that would make a source interesting to your research and classify the available material. A Shortlist of journalists that share similar stories to yours could help in order to reach out to them.

Keeping too much information in mind is not the easiest task. Don't try just to remember everything! It’s helpful to document tasks and material; write down journalists' emails, phone numbers, and their recent work.

 

Building strong relationships is key, regardless if there is a direct interest or not.

Connecting with journalists on a personal level, can lead into asking favours and preferable treatment.

Think ahead of time; about sixty percent of publishers value personal connections when they are about to make collaborations.

To connect, start following them on Twitter and Facebook, send personal emails, send In-mails on LinkedIn, meet face to face and be available to them.

 

If the term does not sound familiar, a PR stunt is any planned event with a sole purpose to attract public attention for a specific cause. Usually, such stunts are organized by professionals.

You have to consider the impact and prepare strategically the next steps

There’s a difference between making an impression towards consumers and media.

The right combination of creativity and prudence will be most favorable in the process of creating the PR stunt.

 

Usually, the norm is to follow trends, but a courageous move would be to be oppose to them if the timing feels right. A lot of times, controversy brings more room for discussion.

 

 

Research those trends that correlate in a way with whatever your brand is about and evaluate how you can utilize them.

 

OneTeam’s media relations experts have well-established professional and personal relationships with many individuals that work for the media, including journalists, reporters, publishers, bloggers, and influencers.