Have you read the article “ 51 good ideas to promote your online store ” published here on the E-Plus Digital Marketing agency blog ? In that post we briefly mentioned what's called press relations, which transforms your brand and your products into news. Let's delve deeper into this subject now.
Press offices are organizations that aim to expose your company's brand and products to the general public through media channels such as radio, television, newspapers, portals and magazines, among others, using organic methods, that is, methods that do not require payment to the media outlet.
By leading your company to organic disclosure, the press office is different from advertising and publicity, which also put your company in the media, but as long as you pay lots of money to the corporations that own the communication channels to make this happen. .
Professionals working in press offices are generally trained in Journalism, but they are not journalists (who hold those in power accountable). They are, in fact, press officers who depend on journalists to promote their company.
In an attempt to make journalists organically publicize their company in the communication vehicles in which they work, press officers employ several resources, including:
– The press release: This is a text that explains the qualities and benefits of a new product, service, or event from your company, and is sent to journalists from various media outlets. When journalists become interested in the subject, they transform the press release into a news story, thus promoting your product, service, or event for free within the article.
– The mailing list: a list of email addresses of writers, journalists, and editors from small, medium, and large media outlets, which may include radio stations, TV channels, newspapers, blogs, portals, magazines, etc. The press officer sends the press release to an appropriate mailing list in order to obtain better results.
– The follow-up: after sending the press release about your new product or event to the mailing list, the PR professional can call some important journalists and ask what they think of the project and try to get a story published about it. This contact enhances the effect of the press release and increases the PR professional's know-how , allowing them to create more relevant texts in future opportunities.
– The interview: press agents can schedule interviews with journalists from specific media outlets so you can talk about that new show, new DVD, new event, etc.
– The invitation: when your company holds an important or large-scale event, the press officer can invite the most suitable journalists to cover this event in media outlets.
– Clipping: After creating a press release and sending it to the mailing list, the press officer begins to collect news articles about the topic in question that have been published in specific media outlets. This is a way to determine if the press relations project was successful or unsuccessful.
For a press office project to succeed, the press release and the press release must be guided by the so-called “news value”, which points out that for a story to be successful, the topic must have characteristics such as:
– Reach: generate interest among a large number of people;
– Current relevance: showing signs that it is something new;
– Eccentricity: standing out for being original and unusual.
In addition, the degree of relationship that the advisor has with certain key journalists who work within the topic of your business is a preponderant factor for the press office project to work.
In my view, this publicity work via the press office is valid for the launch of virtual stores and for electronic commerce that have extremely innovative products.
It's worth a try. But before starting, however, know that a communication project in this field can take between three and six months to show the first results.
