Media relations is only one part of public relations. Photo credit: Yan Arief
Not surprisingly, the typical person has trouble distinguishing media relations and public relations. Ask them what PR is and they’ll probably mention sending press releases to reporters. Surprisingly, even some people in PR have a similar viewpoint.
Media relations and public relations are definitely not the same.
The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Those “publics” can be various stakeholders: customers, prospects, competitors, investors and employees — essentially anyone who interacts with or is impacted by the organization on any level.
Media relations, a subset of PR, entails interacting with journalists at print as well as electronic and online media.
Separating public relations and media relations
In the past, publicity in traditional print publications or broadcast media was the most effective and cost-efficient way to spread an organization’s story. As a result, media pitching became the default PR strategy, tactic, and technique. Even now, many PR pros automatically include media pitches when they design PR plans. Have a consumer product announcement or other news? Send news releases or do media pitches. Have a technology product? Target the tech trades. An advertising product? Pitch to advertising publications.
Using media databases and pitching to selected publications can be an ineffectual attempt at audience segmentation and targeting, writes Kevin York, president of York Communications, in a LinkedIn Pulse article. PR people, and their clients, frequently misunderstand the publication’s readership, he argues. There’s a good chance the target audience doesn’t read the targeted publications.
Millennials are not heavy subscribers to newspapers, magazines and trade journals. They rely mainly on social media, word-of-mouth and search engines – not traditional media — to research products and services.
Today, relying solely on media relations for a PR plan can seriously limit PR success. Publicity in traditional consumer or trade publication, while still valuable, often misses large segments of the target audience. With the availability of owned and social media, PR can now better communicate their organization’s news, opinions, and product education directly to interested consumers and B2B decision-makers without the intermediation (and potential misinterpretation) of journalists and their publications.
The key is to acquire intimate knowledge of what people might purchase your product and targeting communications directly to them, not just to publications that cover your audience’s industry. After all, the publications receiving your pitches are rarely the target audience; they’re just a vehicle to reach the target audience.
Why the media pitching obsession in the new digital/social media age?
Why does PR continue to include media pitching as a mainstay? Public relations was not originally based on obtaining media coverage, York notes. Early PR pros focused on informing and educating the public. Although they used media coverage, it was a means to an end, not a goal in itself.
The CEO or the client may ask for a media coverage plan, even though press coverage may not always be the most effective communications strategy. Complying with the CEO’s perspective may be easier than educating him, but that may require curtailing other more effective aspects of the PR plan.
Counting press clippings might be the easiest way to justify PR value. But that’s the old way. PR now has tools that support sales and even drive sales.
Go beyond the press release
Experts agree that successful PR requires more than sending out press releases.
“Sending press releases out to the media promoting your restaurant is smart; however, if you don’t have a crafted public relations plan, then you’re wasting your time,” writes Jim Thomas, director of business development for JC Thomas Marketing Communications, for QSR magazine. “Any successful marketing plan must be reinforced with a well-researched public relations plan.”
The first step is to understand your audience and its demographics, followed by identifying key influencers and establishing relationships with them. Think about what behavior you want to influence.
PR pros can employ many different strategies. For a local business, possible strategies can include a rewards program with a percentage of sales benefiting a local elementary school, a sponsorship of a little league baseball team, or a partnership with area employers in community outreach programs.
While headline-catching events with great press coverage are great for awareness, a “shaking hands and kissing babies” approach to your local-store public relations, Thomas advises, will impact sales and encourage great word-of-mouth marketing in your community.
Bottom Line: Should PR ignore media relations? Absolutely not. Media relations continues to be an effective PR tool – and sometimes is the most efficient way to reach the target audience and communicate the organization’s messages. But publicity is only one of many techniques in the PR toolbox. By relying too much on media relations, PR runs the risk of missing large segments of the target audience that seldom reads consumer publications or trade journals.
In today’s communications environment, utilizing other PR tools can greatly boost PR success. Owned media, social media, content marketing, search engine marketing, and events all deserve more attention from PR and more support in the PR budget. Those PR tools often produce bottom-line results that traditional media relations may no longer deliver.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
