Friday, 23 March 2018
Agency of public communications Perfect PR has started effective cooperation with western European media, on the pages of which it effectively provides news for its clients. We talk about how to successfully develop media planning, which media to focus on, and how to achieve the most effective results.
Paid or free publication?
There are two ways to publish articles – commercial and non-commercial. Here are some of the features to keep in mind.
Most often, the need to reach a foreign audience appears in companies that are expanding their business, offering a foreign franchise, looking for an investor, or seeking to attract Western traffic to the site. Therefore, priority will be given to online publications, the materials which can be disseminated on social networks.
If you have a budget for publishing an article for your customer company, the task is simplified. In this case, form a media list from the prior media, and send a request to each of them to provide a media kit with advertising opportunities, conditions, and cost of publication. Usually, the media kit clearly defines the media audience with demographic, gender, and age indicators. Therefore, you will understand how vital this particular media is for you.
“Not all journalists and editors of European media speak English, so be prepared that you may need the help of an interpreter. Separately talk to the media about all the organizational issues, including how you can make a payment, and prepare a list of required documents. This stage requires the most time and sometimes effort,” says Natalia Ulynets, CEO of Perfect PR.
95% of letters remain unanswered
If you want to get a publication in the media for free, you should be patient. After all, hundreds of companies and projects compete for the attention of foreign media editors every day, so 95% of media outlets do not have time to respond to 95% of letters. Sometimes the response from the editorial office comes within a month, and this should also be taken into account when developing media planning.
How to choose the topic of an article?
To get to the online pages of foreign media, you should work hard on choosing a topic. It should be relevant and essential for readers. Only in this case will we find a response in the editorial office.
With the Google Trends analytics resource, you can keep track of recently popular and relevant topics that you can relate to an article or news about your company/project. Before writing a letter to the editor, make sure that the media writes about products or companies similar to yours.
Be sure to prepare 3-5 headlines in the publication style in which you want to publish the article. For the headlines to be successful, you need to research the media and understand which section you wish to publish the article.
When preparing an article, also use the aggregator site PR Newswire. You will be able to read the publications sent by your competitors recently. And with Google News, you’ll understand how the media reacted to these publications.
How to write a letter to the editors correctly? In the letter, briefly introduce yourself and the company on whose behalf you are writing or the product you want to discuss. Immediately explain the purpose for which you are writing. In a few sentences, describe what the company is doing and about which event or product you want to publish an article.
Post the finished text of the article in Google Docs and share it with anyone who has the link. Add good-quality images that will visually reinforce the article.
And at the end of the letter, thank you for your time, ask if the journalist is interested in your topic, and show your willingness to make corrections if necessary. Emphasize that the article has not been previously published in other media, so you provide the editorial board with an exclusive.
And importantly, do not write in a template. Always prepare an individual letter for each media – the editors should understand that you are interested in publishing on their resource.
Good luck!
