From time to time, many companies unknowingly fall into an unproductive cycle in their PR efforts.  With the launch of each new product or service, they shift into a "hype mentality." News releases are issued and some news coverage may appear.  While this is an important element in garnering media coverage, this should only represent a portion of the PR effort.  It is the rare news story that is revolutionary rather than evolutionary.  Evolutionary stories need the support of an industry infrastructure to earn coverage.  An ongoing initiative to consistently develop relationships and build credibility is essential to driving your PR efforts beyond a few lines of "news brief" coverage.  We call this "influencing the influencers."

While ideas like infrastructure-building and corporate image-shaping may seem like long-term, pie-in-the-sky concepts that have very little to do with the day-to-day operations of your business, there are a number of actions you can take immediately to develop a roadmap that will lead to your ultimate goal of gaining greater market presence:

 

1. Brief industry analysts and enlist their support to comment on your company, your products, technology and/or services, and the market.

 

2. Nurture customer references who can talk about your company, and your product, technology and/or service's direct impact.

 

3.  Relate your products, technology and/or services to current events and important industry trends.

 

4.  Form relationships with complementary vendors who can remark on the importance of your offerings to the industry.

 

5.  Conduct an external audit to understand your corporate image, comparing your perceived image to real industry perceptions.

 

6.  Facilitate relationships with top-tier media, by conducting consistent proactive media relations.

 

7. Develop a feature news release that presents your company's unique value within the context of a pressing industry issue or trend and issue it over a leading news wire for broad reach.

 

 

1.  You will be able to solicit valuable feedback which will help hone the message for the market at large.

2.  You will have cultivated a rich resource that will blossom into references for the media, credible quote sources in news releases and respected by-lines for articles about your company and its market standing.

 

It's time to put hype in the right perspective and aim for the top with strategies for a winning story.  Seven tips and you're in the game!

 

Best,