Magic
That old black magic
Last week a colleague returned from an intake session with a new client. During the conversation, the client said, “I don’t really know what you do. It must be magic.” Although an innocent comment that gave us all a laugh it got me thinking about the art and the often under-appreciated, seldom talked about, science of media relations.
Does a client’s perception of media relations as magic matter? Yes, it does. The practice of media relations has fallen under a false perception that it cannot be quantified or measured like other business functions. Perceptions can be changed if media relations’ professionals put in the work to share the science.
Without greater understanding of the science communications departments will continue to be under-resourced and under-prepared to address rapid industry changes.
She blinded me with science
I can break the science of media relations down into three repeatable steps. It begins with defining the communication goal and delivering the right story, for the right reporter at the right time to reach the right audience, through:
Step 1. Media Analysis
Think about the last interview you staffed or participated in. How many of them are accompanied by a media brief?
The media brief is a synopsis of a much larger media analysis done to hone in on the right reporter and outlets for a story. The brief contains insights on the reporter, the publication, what’s been written by the reporter in the publication on the topic, the reporter’s point of view and possible questions the reporter may ask. All of this information is taken from bigger media targeting database.
The media-targeting database is a hierarchy of reporters and outlets that have been scored based on influence, reputation and ability to reach target audiences. The database is a living document that is updated with experience notes and reference points that can be sourced whenever an interaction occurs with a reporter or outlet.
Also, within the database are relevant editorial calendar items of note that can be tracked along with things like percentage of coverage and rate of pitch successes or how many times a publication has covered the topic and included you or your client in the story.
Many practitioners do not keep a media analysis database. It is a cumbersome task to set up. However, those that do find it to be an invaluable treasure trove of information that makes their pitches stronger and increases story conversion rates.
Tip: If you haven’t already, start a media analysis database in an Excel spread sheet. Ask yourself, “What do I need to know?” and create a column for each thing. On a monthly basis review the publications you’ve pitched, the interviews and the stories assigning the data points in the spreadsheet. Then once a quarter look at the numbers. What was your highest performing publication? What is your pitch to story ratio, i.e. how many pitches did you make to a publication and of those pitches how many turned into stories. Look at the results in the database monthly and quarterly can help with better targeting as well as in identifying gaps and opportunities to build stronger relationships with reporters.
Step 2. Publication Analysis
“If it’s not the Wall Street Journal, I don’t want to do the interview.” Have you ever heard this? One way to persuade a client to talk to other publications is through publication analysis.
When considering a publication media relations professionals look at multiple factors. Among them, the publications reputation, its audience, social following and subject matter influence. All of these elements factor into the recommendation for the best publications to help clients meet business goals. While The Wall Street Journal is a phenomenal outlet, a client’s story may be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Publications analysis gives you the tools to have that conversation.
Publication analysis is about understanding your target audience and going beyond the surface to reveal what drives buying decisions and where information is sourced. By taking the time to break down a publication, you can see the demographics, but also psychographic and the sociographic details that make up the subscriber base.
Demographics are easy, age, income, education, employment status and location. The tougher two are psychographics, the interests, activities, attitudes and values of subscribers and sociographics, which look at the individual, personal needs, attitudes and passions. Taking a target audience down to the level of the individual we can rank and categorize publications to determine which ones are the right vehicles for the story we’re telling.
Use publication analysis, the next time a client insists one outlet or another is the only one they’ll talk to, you will be armed with data and analysis to refute the opinion and be able to point them in the right direction in terms of doing an interview that will help them achieve their business and communications goals.
Tip: Sit down with your client’s quarterly and review not only results, but also top performing outlets against established communications goals. Understanding the media is your job so being able to show a client the value of different publications, ones they may not have considered, is a valuable way to keep a client more focused on business outcomes and less on leading brands.
Step 3. Trends Analysis
“Here at ABC Company, we call it [insert whatever inside baseball term you can think of].” Media relations’ professionals use trends analysis to help clients get out of their own way. What ABC Company calls Product X is not as important as how the media talks about the product. This is not to say the media is right and the client is wrong. It is to say if you want an opportunity to educate the media you first have to be invited to the conversation, which means using common vernacular.
To make the point, let’s look at something basic, fake news. This term, which inundates just about every corner of our lives, is relatively new, made popular in the last presidential cycle. Historically, fake news was known as yellow journalism. Not as catchy.
To be included in a story about the deliberate dissemination of disinformation or hoaxes you need to use the accepted terminology. There aren’t many stories being written about yellow journalism, but according to a CNBC survey 70 percent of people are “worried about fake news.” Trends analysis and information about what stories are being covered, the terms used and how a subject is being handled by the media is critical to successful pitches and interviews.
One final note on trends analysis has to do with timing. Besides what we’ve discussed it is important to stay in sync with what’s happening in the news cycle and understand the best time for a story to drop. Before the 24/7-news cycle media pros would drop bad news on a Friday afternoon and pitch reporter’s great stories on Sunday. Now we have to be craftier and key into the news cycles of our target publications.
Tip: Use Google Ad Words as a resource on trending topics and a reference point for possible key phrases to include in pitches. Trending topics on Twitter is another good resource.
If you’re woke you dig it
I am near a “woke,” college student who will find my use of the great William Melvin Kelley’s If You’re WokeYou Dig It; problematic without proper attribution and respect. To be clear and avoid ire, for my purposes here, woke implies a heightened level of awareness around the socio-political context communications professionals find themselves in when talking about value delivery in a data driven world.
In this era of alternative facts, news has taken a hit. The Edelman Trust Barometerfinds 59 percent of people are unsure about if what they see in media is true. Although people are confused and in some cases skeptical, the news is still relied on for an unbiased representation of facts and information that can be used to make decisions. In the paid, owned and earned cycle, earned media, news coverage generated by a reporter, contributes to buying decision more than 45 percent of the time.
The value a media relations professional provides is the unique ability to connect the dots, see the big picture and understand how a storyline is going to play out in Iowa as well as EMEA. That’s not magic. That is using data combined with creative thinking, emotional intelligence and human connection to bring a story to life. It’s hard work, tenacity and taking what you don’t know and turning it into answers.
While it may give us a laugh when a client says, they don’t understand what we do, it must be, “magic,” I think we need to wake up and see these exchanges as opportunities to educate and enlighten. There is an art to media relations and there is a science. If you’re woke, you’ll cease upon the opportunity to demystify the craft and help those seeking to understand grasp what a communications professional working in media relations does to get a story.
