Building valued relationships with individual journalists
Getty Images/iStockphoto
To a journalist, a simple Press Page indicates that you are not media friendly and that you see relationships as one-sided and transactional. A Lookatmedia™ online newsroom makes media relationships mutually beneficial.
There is an AdWords campaign for an online newsroom solution that starts with the line 'don't overpay for PR software'. While this may seem an attractive promise, it's leading to organisations committing to PR software solutions that fail to meet the needs of enterprises. In life, there are few exceptions where cheap means better, and when dealing with the reputation of multibillion-dollar originations, cheap is never better.
If you want to win the hearts and minds of journalists
Your PR team's success depends on its relationships with individual journalists. Individual journalists write stories, not the media groups they represent. Your digital presence and the resources provided to journalists are increasingly the lynchpins that keep these relationships vital. With increasingly short deadlines, more beats and fewer resources, there is an opportunity for you and your PR team to gain more ground and coverage by providing online resources that better align with the media, and a press page alone will not cut the mustard.
What’s missing?
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Image human brain processes images 60,000 faster than words. 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual. Yet, most online Press Pages or Newsrooms treat images and video as an annoyance rather than a critical part of a PR strategy.
What’s missing?
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Image human brain processes images 60,000 faster than words. 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual. Yet, most online Press Pages or Newsrooms treat images and video as an annoyance rather than a critical part of a PR strategy.
WWJD
What Would a Journalist Do if they were to design your online newsroom? Would they settle for a news or press page? Would they include a newsroom as an add-on to a press release service, or would they start with a clean slate and build a working environment for journalists?
Clean slate
Lookatmedia™ flipped the paradigm of online newsrooms on its head. Rather than a simple way for PR teams to post their old press releases on your website, we started by reviewing how journalists find story ideas and what they need to complete a story. We found that 70% of journalists' story ideas begin with online searches. We then found they wanted destinations they could return to again and again to find new story ideas. They also wanted instant access to resource material, and (most strikingly) they wanted much greater choice in images and videos to create visual narratives for their articles. Interestingly, we found that the pictures they could access in existing newsrooms failed to comply with editorial publishing guidelines.
Lessons learnt
Getty Images/iStockphoto
In 1993 Apple launched the Newton PDA. It took another four years for the 3M Palm Pilot to be released, becoming ubiquitous and the forerunner of the Smartphone. Lessons learnt. Lookatmedia™ is the next generation of newsrooms.
Lessons learnt
Getty Images/iStockphoto
In 1993 Apple launched the Newton PDA. It took another four years for the 3M Palm Pilot to be released, becoming ubiquitous and the forerunner of the Smartphone. Lessons learnt. Lookatmedia™ is the next generation of newsrooms.
WWLAMD
We took this knowledge and built a branded online newsroom platform that caters directly to the needs of journalists. We made stories easier to discover through online searches. We created intuitive and clever ways for journalists to drive their own stories to discovery journeys. We invented intuitive ways for PR professionals to illustrate stories, primarily using the images and videos already available within their organisation's collections. We incentivised journalists to provide their contact details by giving secure 24/7 access to all the resources, photos and videos needed, with all the compliance information they require for publishing. We made it simple for journalists to add important dates and events to their calendars. In short, we created the ideal environment for journalists to discover content journeys and leave with an illustrated story of their own ready for publishing.
What about PR teams?
Even if a PR professional can gain a journalist's interest with a story, that opportunity can be lost simply because the story cannot be put together in time for the publishing deadline. This is especially true when time zones separate journalists and PR professionals. The Lookatmedia™ solution is to automate all actions that would otherwise act as speed bumps for journalists. Research documents, Press Releases, Images and videos, and compliance documentation can all be securely accessed by approved journalists 24/7, allowing PR teams to create more compelling content for journalists across more beats and time zones.
PR teams
Getty Images/iStockphoto
PR teams are at their best and most productive when storytelling, not managing image requests. Lookatmedia™ is designed to allow PR professionals to perform better with fewer resources.
PR teams
Getty Images/iStockphoto
PR teams are at their best and most productive when storytelling, not managing image requests. Lookatmedia™ is designed to allow PR professionals to perform better with fewer resources.
Expanding your media database
Media databases are delivering diminishing returns. Many journalists are changing beats, jobs, and even leaving the sector. Lookatmedia™ is designed to attract more new and appropriate media contacts. That includes drawing journalists and media representatives from traditional sources and citizen journalists. Bloggers, influencers, and podcasters play an essential role in today's media landscape, and Lookatmedia™ is an effective way of making those connections.
Why a press page or cheap newsroom is a waste of everyone's time
How can organisations undervalue the role of the media in the success so much, significantly, when they invest so much in digital transformation in every other area? Lookatmedia™ allows brands to build profiles and relationships with the media that are consistent with the value of their brands and reputations. Anything short of a next-generation customisable online newsroom like Lookatmedia™ is a waste of a journalist's time and your money.
