Ready to compete
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Before you line up in the high-performance game of inbound PR, you need to understand the rules of competition.
Inbound PR has rules similar to inbound marketing, with some specific differences. This is a simple guide for PR professionals looking to master this medium.
1. Write for journalists
With any inbound content, you should always write for your reader. What separates inbound PR from other forms of inbound content is that your reader is not the destination (or version) of your content. You’re writing for someone who themselves want to create compelling content to captivate their readers. It’s why there needs to be a clear line of separation for content that you write on your website for consumers and how you present your brand or organisation to the media.
2.Use content to raise your media profile and placement on Google
Most newsrooms and media centres underperform because they don't follow the basic principles of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If you don't follow the basic principles of SEO, then your stories won't be discoverable through organic search results.
The inverse is also true. Suppose you follow SEO's basic principles (e.g. keyword/phrase usage, frequency and volume of content, metadata and descriptions on images and videos). In that case, you can dramatically increase both the volume and quality of inbound PR journeys and media coverage.
Aimed at the media
Getty Images/iStockphoto
If you want more media coverage, then you need to create content with the media in mind and make it available in a newsroom.
Aimed at the media
Getty Images/iStockphoto
If you want more media coverage, then you need to create content with the media in mind and make it available in a newsroom.
3.Make content sharable
In a recent survey, 70% of journalists cited that 'content that follows a trending storyline is sharable'. 68% said that 'images in stories make them sharable'. It's great if you have a story that allows both. However, illustrated content can deliver a similar outcome if your article doesn't follow a trending storyline. This is equally true for content published in major news portals and shared socially.
4.Let your stories be your voice
With over 600,000 members from 140 countries in the international federation of Journalists, countless more journalists, influencers, and podcasters are searching daily for new story ideas. Your newsroom or media centre is where you get to tell your stories your way. It's an opportunity to control the narrative while connecting with more people with the influence and reach to tell your story to a much wider audience.
Grab and work attention
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Photo editors will tell you that the right images are essential in capturing and holding the reader’s attention. Use images and video to lead and punctuate your media friendly content.
Grab and work attention
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Photo editors will tell you that the right images are essential in capturing and holding the reader’s attention. Use images and video to lead and punctuate your media friendly content.
5.Illustrate your stories
The average headline takes more than 3 seconds to read. An image can be understood in 13 milliseconds. It's why images and illustrated content now dominate all forms of media. If you want to capture and hold a journalist's attention, illustrated well-written content works much better than just well-written content.
6.Incetivise the media to amplify your stories
The whole purpose of PR is to get your message out to a larger percentage of your intended target audience. If you provide the right content to support the end goals of the media while overcoming their production challenges, then you have will participants in this process. Moreover, you also create opportunities to collect essential and up to date contact info while you're building enduring media relationships.
Achieve the seemingly impossible
Getty Images/iStockphoto
For many PR professionals’ inbound PR seems and insurmountable leap of faith, when in reality there are simple rules to follow.
Achieve the seemingly impossible
Getty Images/iStockphoto
For many PR professionals’ inbound PR seems and insurmountable leap of faith, when in reality there are simple rules to follow.
7.Write great discoverable headlines
This is where PR professionals shine. They have a lifetime of experience writing compelling headlines for press releases. However, inbound headlines have an additional consideration; they need to take advantage of the keywords/phrases that journalists use in searching for story ideas. If you're unsure which keywords to focus on, use one of the many keyword research tools available to help you with this process.
8.Communicate in layers
Journalists, influencers, and podcasters will scan your stories to see if something catches your eye. This is where breaking your stories into blocks and using images and video for punctuation helps. A compelling headline with an eye-catching image, a description and even hashtags can help seal the deal.
Deeper user experiences
Getty Images/iStockphoto
If you want journalists, influencers, and podcasters to dive deeper into your stories, then you need to create layers in your content.
Deeper user experiences
Getty Images/iStockphoto
If you want journalists, influencers, and podcasters to dive deeper into your stories, then you need to create layers in your content.
9.Always use captions on photos and videos
As a journalist scans your stories, images capture their attention. A strong title and description create a context around the image, which leads them to read the entire story. These descriptions are an essential part of the qualification and compliance process that journalists need to determine if a story and images can be published.
10.Provide self-service media workflows in your newsroom
Journalists work crazy hours to meet even crazier deadlines. They barely have enough time to find new story ideas, let alone the resources they need to create well-crafted compelling content. Your newsroom or media centre solution should be a place where they can work uninterrupted. By having workflows and discovery tools that inspire their content and providing secure, but frictionless access to the images and videos they need to illustrate their content, you create a media-friendly environment they will return to again and again.
Play within the rules
Getty Images/iStockphoto
One of the main reasons stories are not chosen is because they don’t have the images and videos with the right compliance documentation to be published by the media.
Play within the rules
Getty Images/iStockphoto
One of the main reasons stories are not chosen is because they don’t have the images and videos with the right compliance documentation to be published by the media.
11.Compliance
This is where most inbound PR strategies fall flat. The media needs to follow strict rules about publishing. If they don't, they risk potentially devastating legal actions. When it comes to inbound PR, they need approved access to content and the appropriate attributions and usage rights. Lookatmedia™ allows you to create content and provide secure, registered access to this content in our media centre, dramatically improving chances for your inbound PR strategy to work and building more productive and rewarding media relationships.
12. Monitor the metrics of your media centre or newsroom
If you have a new generation newsroom solution like Lookatmedia™, you will easily access the metrics that show how content performs and traffic sources. When you overlay this information with usage stats around individual journalists' downloads of images and videos, you start to build a more granular understanding of what really works. This then provides a roadmap to future content journeys.
