Whether you’re looking at implementing a business marketing strategy or trying to decide what degree to study at university, it helps to understand the part media relations plays in a public relations strategy. To help save time, money and confusion, we have explained the two.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations is the process of managing all communications elements between an organisation and its audiences. These could include, but are not limited to, any relevant stakeholders such as customers, prospective customers, employees, investors, unions, governments and suppliers. A public relations strategy encompasses many different processes and activities to help publicise a brand’s story, mission or goals. For example, some of the activities which a public relations agency such as The Ideas Suite can offer an organisation include:
- Media Exposure and Media Management
- Media Training
- Issue and Crisis Management
- Promotions
- Social Media
- Advertising
- Social Media Promotions
- Social Influencer Engagements
- Sponsorships
- Email Campaigns
- Stakeholder Announcements
- Stakeholder Issues and Crisis Management
- Copywriting
These activities help an organisation connect with their customers and stakeholders and build credibility within their markets. One of the greatest advantages of an effective public relations strategy that includes these types of activities is the ability to gain new customers. Successful public relations activities can significantly increase market reach and help customers discover more about a brand, which ultimately builds greater trust in the brand.
Media Relations
Media relations can be just one single element of a wider public relations strategy. Media relations focuses on delivering news and current affairs through media outlets such as radio, television, newspapers and online news platforms. Media relations involves developing effective relationships with media outlets to help promote an organisation to the public. This can play a crucial role in building brand awareness, increasing credibility and establishing relationships with new customers. If a newspaper, radio or television outlet believe your service or product is interesting enough to publish a story on it, the public is likely to as well.
Another benefit of a strong media relations program or campaign is increased online business traffic and improved search engine optimisation (SEO). An effective public relations strategy which incorporates media relations can help increase the amount of times the public visit a company’s website or social media pages. Often media outlets will publish a story which provides a link to the social media or website referred to in the article. This is known as backlinking. When a member of the public clicks on that link, they are taken straight to the website or social media page which, in turn, increases the company’s online traffic. Improved search engine optimisation increases the visibility of an organisation’s website or social media page when people search for specific terms.
Effective media relations can also be extremely beneficial and play a crucial role in crisis management. In the unfortunate event of an organisational crisis, if the crisis is not controlled effectively through the media, the organisation is at risk of serious reputational damage. Having strong relationships with the media can help control the message portrayed to the public.
A public relations agency such as The Ideas Suite can help an organisation gain media exposure and effectively manage media relations. We have extensive relationships with the media and meet regularly with journalists and producers. Our media releases are designed for high-volume coverage in major media to specifically match a brand’s audience.
