Promoting your company through the media is an effective way to establish a positive reputation. Achieving press coverage helps inform more people of your products, services, mission, and identity through media channels they trust.
Lucy Mercer, Account Manager at Passenger’s PR agency, Liz Lean PR shares her top tips for boosting your brand’s media presence.
1. Have a clear goal.
Your first step should always be to understand the ‘why’ behind your PR efforts. For example, are you trying to attract new customers? Or build brand awareness and establish your business as a reputable voice in the industry? Determining a clear goal will help you understand which stories you want to promote, and who to.
2. Understand your key media targets.
Once you’ve set your goal, start building a list of media titles that are targeted towards the right audience. It’s also worth looking at what journalists are writing about and selecting those who write similar, relevant stories to your brand.
3. Pick newsworthy stories.
Look at what types of stories your key media titles cover to get a feel of what would be of interest to them. Examples could be company charity initiatives, impressive staff milestones, company anniversaries and of course, interesting new product launches. However, be mindful that not all stories are newsworthy, and editorial opportunities should not be used as a marketing tool. Journalists will be instantly turned off by stories that are overly promotional, and use ‘marketing-speak'. 
Rye News coverage of myTrip
4. Plan ahead.
Timing is key, so it’s worth putting a plan together for any news you’re aware of coming up in the business so you can give the media ‘new news’. You could create a simple content plan to plot upcoming business activities, with estimated timings for when you might issue the news to media and post on your social channels.
5. Use hi-res imagery which reflects the story you’re telling.
Images should be at least 1MB in size/300 dpi resolution and be up to date! Don’t forget to show people abiding by the latest COVID regulations if required.
6. Perfect your pitch.
Journalists get hundreds of pitches every day, so make sure yours stands out by:
- Keeping your information succinct and to the point
- Not being too self-serving about the brand itself
- Including stats for credibility
- Timing your release issue wisely, ideally first thing in the morning
7. Collaboration is king.
If your news story involves a third party, collaborating with them on any PR activity can help boost your audience reach and give your story more credibility. This could simply be a case of asking them for a quote for your press release or aligning on your media targets – where you may focus on local journalists, the third party could focus on their own national trade contacts, for example.
Finally, don’t forget that you can use the resources in your Operator Marketing Pack, which include suggested copy for blog posts or press releases, to get you started. Once you onboard, consider sending a press release to your local media, letting them know that bus users in your area can now easily buy tickets online and get live bus tracking to help them plan their journies.