How do I take advantage of national events, trends or news to achieve media coverage for my company?

By Jennifer Manocchio

Conducting a reactive media campaign is an excellent publicity and media relations strategy and can help you achieve exceptional results.  The key is to strike while the iron is hot, and react quickly to both the opportunity and the media.

Start by developing a list of experts at your company and short biographies of spokespersons who are (or can be) media trained.  In the biographies, call out each spokesperson’s area of expertise.  If you haven’t already, distribute the list of experts, short biographies and a short company backgrounder or fact sheet to your media list.

Secondly, develop Google news alerts on topics that are relevant for your industry and stay abreast of current news. When you identify a relevant opportunity, contact the media quickly and clearly identifying how you can help support the next story on this topic.  Be sure you have done your research and are confident you are not pitching a story angle that ran already.

For example, there are currently three hurricanes/tropical storms in the Atlantic, which are making national news.  If you are a window manufacturer and can provide expertise on how to protect your windows from a potential hurricane, then certainly let the media know and provide some examples of how you can add value to the story.  Maybe you can conduct a demonstration of wind speeds and how dangerous flying objects can be or show a demonstration of how to protect windows with plywood or duct tape.

If you are looking to attract television media, be sure there is a good visual to go along with your story.  Also, if the media does contact you or your spokesperson, be prepared to act quickly.  Otherwise the media will move onto the next industry expert.

Want to develop a reactive media campaign and need support?  Contact me at jennifer at sweeneypr.com or 910.772.1688.