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Media relations form part of strategic public relations activity – focused on building, nurturing and maintaining a company’s relationship with the media.

This requires an understanding of how the media works, what drives the news agenda and how companies can make the most of their interaction with journalists – whether they work for local, regional and national media or specialist trade publications.

Working with an experienced media relations agency is an effective way to navigate the often challenging – but also rewarding – relationship a business can develop with relevant media.

How we help you make the most of media relations:

Knowing the media and what drives their agenda
Understanding what makes a news story, feature article or opinion piece (and, equally important, what doesn’t)
Writing high quality and newsworthy press releases and features that stand out and earn media coverage
Working with and gaining the trust of your company’s technical and subject matter experts: translating often complex B2B topics and messages into something the media – and their readers/listeners/viewers – can understand and relate to easily

Building a long-term, trusting relationship with journalists on behalf of your business means:

Ensuring both sides get what they need from media relations activity, i.e. the media gets a story and the company conveys its key messages to a relevant audience, with the implicit endorsement of the publication
Encouraging inbound media requests for comment – based on building your spokespeople’s reputation as authoritative experts
Obtaining an increased share of voice in your market via the media

What does the media want from businesses?

Metamorphic PR keeps up to date with the changing media landscape and what the media wants from businesses.

Insight from the editor of a well-respected B2B trade publication outlined what type of company media relations output will resonate with journalists and, in turn, their readers:

Celebrating what “good looks like” in your industry
Providing stories that matter to readers and their jobs
Helping readers do their jobs better and improve their professional lives
Showing what is having an impact and influence in the industry
Sharing real innovation
Demonstrating the context around what a company is doing, what makes it valuable and different

The editor also noted that a bona fide business story is one that transcends the company and, therefore, is both interesting and of value to a wider audience.

The ongoing value of media relations today

According to Edelman’s 2020 Trust Barometer – a trusted, global research report based on 34,000 respondents – 63% of people in the EU trust traditional, mainstream media. This is greater than internet search (55%), owned media (43%) and more than double the percentage for social media (29%).

The Trust Barometer adds that more than a quarter (26%) of people consume news either weekly or more often and 50% of them are “amplifiers” – this means sharing and posting several times per month the news they read.

With such an engaged media audience, businesses can and should invest in media relations activity – and that also means leveraging the wealth of knowledge and expertise among their employees.

Edelman’s research found that 68% of people, when forming an opinion of a company, said that hearing information from a “company technical expert” is the most trustworthy source – more than an academic, general company employee or CEO.

Making your experts effective media spokespeople

Identifying, training and developing your business’ technical and subject matter experts to engage with your media relations agency and the media is a great opportunity to communicate with an audience predisposed to trust what they say – and help build trust in your organisation.

As Edelman’s research shows, the mainstream media – local, national and specialist – is still an important factor in people’s search for information they can trust.

Business leaders and marketers need to recognise that well-planned and executed media relations activity retains its relevance and its value in 21st century communications. Therefore, distributing stories and in-depth features that resonate with the widest possible audience, across different media platforms, is essential for companies’ media relations activity.

Data-driven PR – Appleyard Lees

Appleyard Lees is a leading UK intellectual property (IP) law firm serving international companies through expertise in patents, trademarks, intellectual property, etc. The data-driven report creation and media relations activity we undertook with the firm won the Gold award for Corporate and Business Communications Campaign at the 2022 CIPR North West Awards.

Media Relations – XCELLR8

XCellr8 is a GLP-accredited laboratory committed to animal-free safety and efficacy tests for the cosmetics, personal case and chemical industries. Its clients include high street retail brands, large ingredient manufacturers and fast-growth SMEs.

Media Relations – Zurich Insurance

Zurich is one of the UK’s leading insurance companies and one of the world’s largest insurance groups.