With all the ways brands can communicate with consumers — owned media on their websites and social channels, paid media on search engines and across the web — earned media still remains the most credible channel. Earned media refers to publicity gained through efforts other than direct advertising.
So how can brands earn a spot in the press, a great source of earned media, even if their product launches aren’t quite as hyped as Apple’s latest?
With content marketing. Here’s how to make it happen:
Research
Find a journalist covering the space, and go a step further and introduce yourself properly. Start with a short introductory email and an explanation of your business.
From there, you can see if the journalist is open to receiving a few ideas about what it is your business does and what’s happening in the industry. This can open to the door to a more specific pitch down the road.
Provide an Expert
Your brand needs to be an expert (or provide one) in the area or industry of coverage. If your sources are only surface deep, a good journalist will know and ignore any other query you send his way in the future.
This is a great time to feature the people making things happen behind the scenes: an engineer bringing a new product to life or a developer responsible for a new app. By featuring these experts in your content marketing, whether it be through Q&A articles, video interviews or informational podcasts, you can showcase their star quality to reporters and journalists.
The key here is to make sure you offer someone who can speak intelligently about not only your product or service, but about why it is important to readers, as well. For example, a new trend or a way to make their lives easier that happens to involve your product is often a great route to take.
Check out this article from Polygon, which interviews a legal expert about Pokemon Go.
Provide Numerous Formats
Journalists want to stand out amongst the noise online, too. Videos, fact sheets, b-roll, tour logs, photos and infographics can help you snag a top spot in the news. Branch out from your standard blog posts and start producing audio and visual elements as well. Never underestimate the power of intriguing images and sound bites when it comes to the news.
Ready for your brand’s name to be up in lights? Quality content marketing in a variety of formats that showcases experts is bound to earn you some well-deserved media.
