Gaining Media Attention and Coverage

It’s one thing to say your company has a life-changing solution that helps cure a pernicious health problem. It’s another thing to show with data how the use of your technology or solution results in the remediation of the problem.

Do you believe in what you’re doing? Do you have dramatic stories of customer success when using your products?

If you do, then turn these anecdotes into powerful data using research methods. Data illustrative of the results experienced by your clients and patients will increase the credibility of your claims to have a life-altering solution or a cure for the common cold. 

Why is data helpful?

Journalists cannot simply take your word for something. If you’re wrong, the outlet’s credibility is called into question.

If you called the New York Times health reporter with a claim of having the cure for the common cold, and all you have are your own words, would they believe you? Not likely. However, if you have well-researched, credible findings from a documented process that quantifies results, then you might be interesting. Of course in the case of medical miracles, you will need third party review to improve credibility and confirm sound research methods.

We were recently invited to assist a potential new client with media relations to gain earned media placement for their firm. We recommended an in-depth study and analysis of the statistical results to document positive outcomes from using the client’s services. Gaining this data would allow for the development of a factually based story focused on how the client’s services led to a cessation of symptoms, curing a specific, long-term health problem. This story would have been compelling and distinctive and of help to millions.

Show, don’t tell. Use facts. Use data, graphs, charts

Journalists need charts, graphs, and data. You must go further – giving journalists a full array of materials to complete their story. You can provide snippets of interviews in video format as well as an executive summary and detailed report of the methodology of the study and the analysis of the findings. 

Over the last years, media outlets have fractured and morphed. New channels and leaders have emerged. Consumers have found new places to turn their attention to journalists who are now going direct to audiences through outlets such as Substack newsletters. 

We have written in the past of how you can develop a fully fleshed out story that gives journalists all the materials necessary to write a complete story. These maxims still apply today more than ever.

CEOs are not always aware of the amount of work which leads to a successful media placement. It is not uncommon for us to hear from a potential client about unsupported claims of being “the best”. Anyone can say they are the best. But can they prove it? That’s the key to creating news. To making news. Or as your grandmother may have said, the proof is in the pudding.

Findings must be so irrefutable

Getting the data

Ask your clients to take a survey to gain insights that can be analyzed and presented in a manner to quantify the results they have had from your products. Create the survey in conjunction with someone experienced in marketing research and use valid statistical methods to compose and then analyze the survey items.

You can also use focus groups, many of which are conducted online. Again, use valid research and interview techniques to elicit findings which will be credible.

And finally, call on professionals like the team at Charleston PR & Design to help you gather the insights and present them with supportive materials. 

Ensure your website is updated with your latest news

What honors and awards or news have you gained? 

One of our clients was recently quoted in several international news outlets. However his website didn’t reflect those citations. How are his prospective clients to know about his media mentions without reading about them on his website? 

We proposed adding a new section to his site in order to share his earned media mentions. Now, after the work has been completed, his site is fresh with the latest news.

How long has it been since you updated your website with your company’s news? Do you still list staff members who have long sailed on to other firms?

Keeping a website updated simply requires a plan and ongoing assessment.

You may have someone on staff at your firm to keep your site up to date, or you may contract with an outside consultant or agency such as Charleston PR to post your updates on your behalf. The important thing is to make sure these positive accolades and news are publicized.

Steps to keep your website content updated:

  1. Once a quarter: invite staff to review your company website and note what needs to be updated or posted. You can create a Google Form that collects input into a spreadsheet and notifies you of those updates. This way everyone’s comments and notes are collected and organized.
  2. Decide which assets you need to post new content. You may need new personnel headshots, or scans of certificates or digital badges that note awards or accomplishments.
  3. Gather assets and notes about the accomplishments and transmit these to your digital content manager or webmaster or public relations and marketing agency.
  4. Once the new content has been posted, be sure your social media marketing person is aware of them so they may use this new content in your social media.

Need assistance? Give us a call. Or make an appointment to chat about our services. We simplify keeping your site’s content fresh.

You Gotta Have Heart, Especially When Cutting Jobs

Heart and soul. That’s what committed, passionate employees put into their jobs. But what happens when a company needs to let employees go? How do they show that heart and soul? Not be doing what HuffPost did.

The international media company cut positions, but in a ham-fisted manner.

Notifying employees via a meeting invite to attend a virtual gathering and then telling them that those who did not receive an email by a certain time would be assured that they had a job is no way to appear concerned or caring. And it sure isn’t right. It’s wrong at every level.

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You can go your own way…

The days of decades of corporate loyalty are dead. Long dead. Employees, nor employers are faithful to one another. Everybody can go their separate ways at any time. Some states offer more protection for employees, some less. South Carolina is a “right to work” state where employees may be let go for no cause, without notice. But the ability to separate employees from your company does not call for heartlessness. It calls for compassion. Being let go is a source of grief. Panic. Fear.

If you’re in the working world, you surely have experienced the loss of a job. It’s a difficult experience. One which provokes many feelings: Of loss, of grief, of fear. To be told you no longer have a paycheck suddenly feels like the (financial) floor has been pulled out from underneath you. Because let’s face it, we work for money, not fun. Yeah, we get told that we can have fun at work and that our work should be fun, but the paycheck is the vital quid pro quo that most of us expect. As adults, we do know we ought to save money for a rainy day, like when our job is cut, but many work paycheck to paycheck.

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During the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic, companies have had to cut jobs. People understand this. But cutting jobs with a personal touch is imperative.

Show compassion

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Companies who care show how they care with carefully thought out methods of notification, outplacement services, and support for departing employees gain. Simply saying to someone, “You’ll know you have a job if you don’t get an email,” ignores compassion. It displays a distinct lack of caring.

A brand is the sum of every interaction someone has with your company or product or organization. You can have the best products, the best sales staff, the best corporate HQ and leave policies, but if you eliminate jobs in a heartless manner, showing no compassion, it will impact your brand reputation. Brand reputation is an essential part of the value of your company. But showing your company’s humanity is not about money, it’s about being decent. Doing the right thing. For the right reasons.

Be human. Respect the people. Be caring.

If you find your company in the difficult situation of having to cut jobs, stop and think of how the departing employees feel. Build compassion into the process of notification and separation. To do less than this will create a crisis for your firm. Guaranteed. As with HuffPost, you’ll find your company at the center of a social media crisis. You’ll receive vastly more negative attention than you anticipate. Most likely, the savings you may have gained by cutting positions will be lost from your brand equity because you did not plan in advance. And the company will have a more damaged profile among job-seekers. Because they will know that their heart and soul is not respected at your company.