Media Relations

It is a well-known fact that media is a key opinion maker and its reach as well as impact is immense. The role of media in shaping public opinion and creating a well-known and accepted brand has been well documented. Hence, media relations have always had a major role in corporate brand communication. But deploying media relations and maintaining it to build an entity is like walking a double-edged sword. On one hand you need to engage journalists by providing them the information they seek and at the same time you need to ensure that the information communicated is correct and in tandem with the positioning you seek to project. A loss of balance could lead to more harm inflicted to the brand than the complete lack of deployment of media relations in most cases. A well planned and sustained media relations strategy will lead to desired positioning and branding of the company and its spokesperson.

Media relations is a long term relationship

Media relations is a long term engagement that the company / brand develops with the media fraternity. A few months or a year long relationship does not suffice and it needs to be carried forward steadily to accomplish the goals set during the initial days; this holds particularly true while trying to establish a brand name / reputation for a new and evolving brand. A good and popular example to cite is of Infosys and Mr. N.R Narayanamurthy, who right from the early days of IT's growth in India established strategic, strong media relations and is now witnessing those efforts bear fruit. Infosys and Mr. Murthy have generally received good coverage and is considered to be a mentor, thought leader and opinion maker, earning this reputation across industries. Hence, discontinuing ongoing media relations will not lead to achievement of desired objectives.

Lack of consistent media relations and enthusiasm in media relations = sparse coverage and spoilt media relations

The lack of enthusiasm in media relations after a certain period of time can also hamper the progress made towards achieving all the goals that we set out with. After the initial momentum and frequency of coverage, the company / brand should still continue on the path of attaining coverage, but it can or rather should be more customized. After the initial profiling and when the brand awareness has been established, the focus of media relations should be changed according to the company's set of goals. It could be diverted towards more niche and selective coverage or be concentrated on coverage in trade media or coverage outside the city / town where the company is established etc. All said and done, the efforts and enthusiasm should remain the same as during the initial days; otherwise it would be seen in the results achieved (or rather not achieved).

Media has its own way of functioning and should be handled by the experts

It has been a frequent occurrence and a common lament of communication firms and agencies that subsequent to meeting a few journalists and attaining coverage from them, the clients tend to divulge unnecessary information or sometimes expect and demand certain information from the journalists with the assumption that they have established a close rapport with the journalists. This becomes a point of helplessness and frustration for the agency team because sometimes unknowingly the company divulges certain information to the journalists, which could have been leveraged well after planning and deliberation. At other times, the company makes certain demands from the journalists which either irks them depending on their seniority and stature or which as part of their company policies they are unable to provide. All this leads to unwanted friction and halts the smooth drive of media relations. Hence, what the company should keep in mind is that once they have delegated the media relations to a team of professionals, then it should be totally managed and handled by and through them. Any interference with this arrangement leads to diversion from the targets laid down to be achieved.

There is no big fish or small fish in the media

Another fact to be kept in mind is that at no point of time a company should pull back or be unable to provide information, which was assured to be delivered to the media, even if it is a lesser-known or smaller publication. During a particular instance or situation it may appear as though the news and/ or the media house is trivial and hence, of no use, but one may not realize that the same media might turn out to be of crucial importance for the company at a later stage. Here, the example of Tehelka can be mentioned. Until the time they undertook the sting operation and brought it out to the masses, they were an unknown entity. Though at that time they were the small fish in the sea of media, they were able to cause intense damage. Hence, the small fish can also play an important role when it comes to media. In conclusion, it can be stated that with the explosion of media not just in the national, but also in the regional and specialized trade segments, strategic and a well-planned media relations campaign will only witness results. The companies rather than implementing short term media relations campaign should opt for a long term relationship that will ensure maximum visibility and have a better impact with respect to their marketing strategies.

Priya M. George