There’s more to media coverage than 15 minutes of fame. Use it to boost your credibility and extend your marketing for a long time to come.
It might take just a few minutes to read an article or watch/listen to a segment that features your business, but don’t let that be the end of its effect. There are a few things you can do to ensure it lasts.
Media coverage makes your business likeable and can also be a marketing tool you leverage to reach more potential customers, get sales across the line, and more. Part One of this post had some important ways to maximise your media coverage, and here are five more ways to do it.
“5 ways to use media coverage to boost your credibility and extend your marketing” 
1. Be well placed for further coverage
Firstly, after you’ve come down off the warm and fuzzy feeling of being acknowledged, thank the journalist who was responsible for the piece and let them know you’d be happy to help with any future articles requiring comment on X, Y and Z. That gives you a foot in the door for subsequent coverage.
2. Add to ads
If an expert or a journalist has said something positive about you, your product, service or organisation, ask their permission to use a quote on your advertising material or packaging. Books often have cover quotes and movie and theatre posters use selections from reviews to promote a show; think of media coverage as the business equivalent of that practice.
Also mention media coverage on your sales material, including brochures, new business proposals and sales correspondence and/or information packs you send to prospects. You can even mention previous coverage in your media kit to reassure other journalists that you are newsworthy.
3. Save your fame
Preserve your media coverage for future reference by hosting a repository on a prominent, easy-to-access page on your website. When seeking further detail about your organisation, visitors will see it and it will support your credibility beyond the day the coverage was published, posted or aired.
Make good quality scans of print coverage and take screenshots to link to online coverage, whether audio, video or text. If the coverage is behind a paywall, ask the media organisation for permission to republish relevant parts. Be sure to comply with copyright rules.
If you have a few prestigious outlets under your belt, reserve a section on your home page for a column, header or footer of fame, for example ‘As seen in…’ or ‘As featured in…’ followed by the names and/or logos of the outlets.
Also make sure the coverage is preserved in real life. Consider framing and displaying published material in your office and/or reception area and have copies of your print media coverage on the coffee table for people to read before meetings.
4. Boost collateral branding
One piece of real estate often forgotten when trying to boost the media signal is your team’s email signatures. Link to the coverage (or your coverage repository) using an unobtrusive ‘Featured in…’ at the foot of every email and you increase the chances of a client or potential client clicking through to check out your best side.
If you’re regularly featured in the media, for example you have a column in a publication or are a frequent guest on a show, consider including the media outlet’s logo on your business card and a line about your involvement, or a selection of media logos that you have been profiled in.
5. Personal branding
Your bio is another area of untapped potential. If you have an author or speaker’s bio, update it to include where you or your business have been featured. Mention that your business has been profiled and list the most impressive media outlets. You may even be able to include relevant journalist feedback.
Again, you can also add previous media coverage to the bio that goes out in future media kits so journalists know you have experience speaking to the media and you’re a proven performer.
Good media coverage is a precious event, but think of it as just the beginning of the promotional cycle. Use the momentum of positive media coverage to not only extend its reach but its longevity and it will pay dividends for your brand past the day of publication or airing.
“Good media coverage is a precious event and here’s 5 ways to make it last”
About the author
Phoebe Netto is the founder of Pure Public Relations, a PR firm that focuses on outcomes, not output – it’s pure and simple. For over ten years, Pure Public Relations has been bringing big business experience to SMEs and not-for-profits. purepublicrelations.com.au
