In September 2018, Cision, a leading public relations and earned media software company and services provider, commissioned Forester Consulting to understand how marketers perceive their communications’ teams and the value of earned media. Its surveys quantified marketing perceptions, providing unique insights. These insights allow us to adapt our positioning or behavior to either continue supporting the perception or attempt to change them.
This report, titled, Influencing Through Earned Media, garnered many valuable insights and I recommend taking a moment to review it in its entirety. However, the findings about the value of earned media and the approach to media outreach warranted further reflection.
Earned Media Plays a Significant Role in Achieving Marketing Goals
When marketers were asked how significant a role earned media played in helping their organization achieve its business priorities, 98 percent said it is critically or very important. For comparison, 98 percent said paid media is critically or very important.
These data points revealed that marketers find earned media as important as paid media. While media relations and securing articles in relevant publications is only a portion of what communications teams do, it is typically a key component of their work, and these findings solidify its role in the overall marketing strategy. It also highlights earned media’s ability to impact the bottom line and drive business initiatives.
When working with an organization, the foundational element we seek to understand is business objectives. This then influences the strategies we recommend and execute. For instance, we once had a client that was interested in growing revenue and a potential acquisition. In order to do this, we worked to secure articles in top-tier publications, place bylines by the executive team, and hone messages to highlight the company’s value proposition. Ultimately, these strategies helped raise awareness for the brand and established credibility in the product, as well as the leadership team. The company was acquired by a major public company that noted the company was a “media darling.”
Half of Marketers Expect Journalists to Reach Out to Them
Admittedly, this statistic surprised me. Surveyors inquired about how an organization’s PR team is integrated with overall marketing strategies, and while there were a variety of responses to this question, 52 percent said they rely on journalists to reach out to them. Waiting for journalists to reach out could result in a lot of missed opportunities.
Proactively reaching out to journalists has many benefits. First, it can place a story about a company or a trend relevant to the company which can assist in raising awareness and building thought leadership. Additionally, by proactively reaching out, you can establish relationships with key media. Not every touch point with a journalist will lead to an article, let alone a response, but providing them with opportunities and updates, and sharing information that is relevant to their beat demonstrates that you are working to service them with valuable and compelling information.
This proactive outreach, if done strategically, can lead to mutually beneficial relationships for both the brand and the journalist. Ultimately, establishing the brand, or a spokesperson, as a reliable and informed source for a journalist will lead to them reaching out. That said, it is possible that marketers at big, established companies that frequently received media requests could have skewed this data, however, proactive outreach still enables communication teams to develop trusting relationships with the media and influence story ideas or secure inclusion in additional articles.
This report demonstrates the value of PR and strategic communications as earned media is just as important as paid media. But if communications teams want to be successful in securing earned media, they need to be creative, strategic and proactive in their approach by sharing compelling and relevant story ideas with the media.