Today there are more brands than ever trying to tell their stories to drive commercial outcomes – be those sales, reputational gains or something else entirely. To do so soley relying on media misses an opportunity to build your own follower base long-term. 

Building your own group of fans to continue talking to sits at the heart of what we believe is the best in PR strategy. 

We believe in the power of earned media to inform and inspire audiences and deliver results. Earned media’s reputation and objectivity can’t be beat. 

But news production today is a different beast to years gone by. The stories that news desks seek, tell, print, broadcast and air each day have fallen into a pattern of promoting just the information needed to go about one’s daily lives in a COVID world.  

What does that mean for you? Once, where there would have been an opportunity or space in a newspaper, online publication or even two minutes of the news bulletin for a brand or PR agency to take and show the world an incredible brand story, there’s now only room for health, political or event coverage. Thousands of brands are now left fighting for the same one spot in any given publication.  

That’s where owning your own news is critical. Your PR strategy should not only be targeting journalists, but also be building newsworthy content for your own channels. Because if you can bring your audience to your channels, you have a chance to retain them and directly convert or influence them.  

Our team is filled with ex journalists and brand specialists who create content for brands to broadcast across social media, websites and EDMs among other channels.  

But it isn’t the case of just filming an interview. Consumers can sniff out a branded marketing piece. That’s why media works so well – it is intensely non-commercial. The art and science is in crafting your story as a journalist would, balancing your message with the news agenda and adding value to the audience. 

A dual owned and earned approach gives brands more bang for buck and means that if they invest in a key event or moment and media are called elsewhere, their story can be packaged up for their channels and also distributed to media – meaning they can still get that coverage. 

So next time your brand has something newsworthy to say, consider how to tell it not just to media, but also on your channels. Video, written assets, photography – all amplified via smart targeting to build your audience. Now that’s great PR.