Just a little more than a week ago, my colleague Jason Snyder aptly wrote about the “why” being far more important than the “how” when it comes to executing a successful public relations campaign. 
I’d like to build upon that framework in the context of our strategic media relations work for clients. Anyone who hires outside consultants for media relations wants to know how the collaboration will provide true value and justify the money being spent. In other words, what’s the ROI?
That’s righteous. We get it and welcome that discussion. The better we can demonstrate the worth of the services WordWrite can provide, then the more likely it is you’ll stick with us for the long haul. Measurement and metrics in terms of how our agency can assist with business development and growth are wonderful.
Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, potential clients (and even some existing clients) have attempted to peg our work to just a single metric: number of media placements.
The cause-effect relationship between earned media and business growth depends upon so much more than the frequency with which your organization’s name appears in the news.
As Jason wrote about in his aforementioned blog, your business goals dictate the strategy. Once you establish that earned media placement is in fact a goal, the path to get there must first be paved with quality content creation.
Many of our clients across the manufacturing, energy, health care, technology, professional services and public affairs sectors seek to position themselves and their people as industry experts.
We want to get the opinions of those thought leaders read, heard or seen by as many people in that organization’s target market as possible. Therefore, where you share that content within the rapidly changing media landscape trumps frequency of content development alone.
Like real estate effective media relations is all about location, location, location.
In terms of some specifics, let’s look at the manufacturing sector several of our clients occupy. Suppose their names are mentioned 52 times in the New York Times in a calendar year. Does that make our work for them a success? There’s no doubt that level of frequency in such a high-profile publication raises public awareness for any company.
However, what if all the articles are crisis related and we’re merely trying to put out fires? Frequency of mentions doesn’t take into account tone. Frequency also doesn’t take into consideration whether key messages are being conveyed that might influence someone to purchase services from a company. More important, is the New York Times really the ideal place decision-makers in the manufacturing sector look for analysis on what are often highly complicated and technical products and processes?
Our experience tells us the answer is most often no. Instead, in the business-to-business world, manufacturers are often selling to other larger manufacturers. They’re the food providing the sustainability to an even bigger dog.
An example of the New York Times as far as perceived value for our manufacturing clients might instead be a concrete, asphalt, construction, pavement or contracting publication.
But don’t forget: Even placing an article, opinion piece or blog with key messages in a high-value publication won’t be enough if you don’t remind people it’s there.
It’s imperative to share and repurpose any earned media through targeted email blasts, social media updates, website posts and individual correspondence aimed at your most valued clients/customers or potential clients/customers.
Increasingly, we’ve found inbound marketing to be the most effective integrated platform to monitor engagement with key stakeholders and to “get found” by the targets that mean the most to your business. Inbound best practices tell us that all your company’s marketing and business development decisions are driven by creating quality content meant to attract potential customers and convert them to qualified sales leads.
We can help you create such quality content. We can assist with introducing your story to reporters and editors at outlets that are the most ideal for your business development needs. So if the “why” needs to drive the “how” in a public relations plan, then the “where” needs to trump the “how much” in earned media for companies focused on B2B audiences.
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Jeremy Church is an account supervisor for WordWrite Communications. He can be reached at jeremy.church@wordwritepr.com and on Twitter @churchjeremy. 
