Media relations: how to get your story out into the world

Quick summary: This article is part two of a two-part series on the value of media relations. Part one provides an overview of the Australian and New Zealand media landscape and how building relationships with journalists can benefit your business. Part two discusses what makes a good story and how to get the right story in front of the right audience to make a meaningful impact on your business pipeline.

Growing your business with the help of good media relations

Media relations is a big part of doing business. While the saying usually goes that any publicity is good publicity, that’s not strictly true; when people are talking about your business, you want them to speak positively and keep to your key messages. Anything less could be damaging to your brand reputation and lead to a loss of customer base and revenue, particularly with the rise of cancel culture. As such, strong media relations can significantly help your brand and business, especially when it comes to getting the right message in front of the right audience in the right way at the right time.

Building relationships with journalists is a big part of this. Being on good terms can encourage friendly journalists to write positive stories about your business, as well as proactively approach you for comment or contributions that can position your business, and its spokespeople, as trusted industry thought leaders. While building relationships with journalists takes time, there are things you can do to demonstrate your value to them, including ensuring your spokespeople have up to date media training, are available for comment when pitching stories and including relevant facts and figures to enhance the story.

Despite how good your journalist relationships may be, they won’t always be guaranteed to result in media coverage. You need to ensure that what you’re pitching holds value, and is shared in the right way to engage your audience and pique a journalist’s interest so they want to know more. When it comes to knowing how to get media coverage in the New Zealand and Australian media landscape, it’s important to consider two things: the key is a good story; and audience is everything.

Media Relations tip one: the key is a good story

For example, a product announcement alone may not resonate with a journalist and their readers. However, a product announcement that clearly demonstrates the direct impact it will have on consumers, businesses, and/or the local industry will be much more appealing. If a journalist can see real value in the story you’re telling them, they’ll be more likely to publish it.

It’s essential to consider what will actually resonate with the audience, not just what news is important to your business. It can be tempting to release all news and industry recognition to the media to ensure you’re always getting your name in front of key industry media. However, media fatigue is a real challenge, and it can be make or break for your business in a media industry that is as competitive and small as Australia and New Zealand.

Working with a public relations (PR) and content marketing agency can help you craft the right messaging for your business and ensure that your story gets cut-through when you need it. They’ll also be in a position to guide you through the evolving New Zealand and Australian media landscape to ensure your finger is on the pulse of change. Because PR agencies engage with your target media daily and have strong media relationships, they’ll know who is open to stories, when, and what they’re looking for. They’ll also know what trends are capturing attention in the local market and understand how to frame your business news for the right media to get better journalist engagement.

Media relations tip two: audience is everything

Even if you know you have a good story, you need to find the right audience for it, so it’s important to understand the differences between publications in the New Zealand and Australian media landscape and recognise what type of news they’re looking for before you engage.

For example, C-level executives may be used to easily securing interviews in other regions, such as the United States or United Kingdom where there’s a plethora of media publications. The New Zealand and Australian media landscape is much smaller and tends to be more discerning. While business media will often be interested in speaking with CEOs and other C-level spokespeople, it’s important to understand that they won’t do so for nothing: they need a story. The local media industry is highly competitive, so your spokesperson must be able to contribute something new to the conversation to secure coverage in top-tier publications. This is especially true for publications which cover general news for the entirety of Australia or New Zealand, such as The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, or the New Zealand Herald.

Comparatively, a specialist business, IT, or industry-centric publication will be more open to speaking with visiting executives to understand what they see in other markets compared to Australia and New Zealand, and the changes they’ve witnessed in the broader industry. They’ll also be more likely to publish your industry recognition and business updates, as well as thought leadership content from your company spokespeople.

However, even when you have the right audience in mind and you’ve lined up the right media publication and journalist to handle your news, you need to have a good angle and know how to pitch a story to a journalist. For the best chance of securing media coverage, your story must be clear and contextualised to demonstrate why it matters to the journalist’s audience. Your spokespeople must also be readily available for comment (and properly trained on how to handle media).

How to get media coverage

To get the most out of your media strategy, it’s essential to engage with a dedicated PR and omnichannel marketing agency that has a deep understanding of the New Zealand and Australian media landscape. They have existing relationships with journalists and spend all day every day engaging with media. They know what makes news and are best placed to guide you through the changing media market, as well as to help you understand what news will play well in the market, when, and why to help you better plan for future campaigns.

For B2B organisations, it’s also critical to engage with an agency that has demonstrated experience in your industry. A generalist agency can only take your business so far without knowing the nuances of your industry and how to effectively engage with the key media personalities that cover your news. Comparatively, specialist pr agency will already have strong industry media relations that they can leverage to secure coverage for your business.

Recognition PR—part of The Recognition Group, Australia’s leading group of PR and marketing specialists—has more than 35 years of experience in building relationships with journalists and helping B2B professional services, IT, and financial services companies across Australia and New Zealand reach their audiences and tell their stories.

For more information on how Recognition PR can help your business better understand the value of journalist relationships in the New Zealand and Australian media landscape, download our latest whitepaper or contact the team today.