Ch.

23

Media Relations
presented by DaRon Smith
WILMA K. MATHEWS

The message in the medium

Marshal McLuhan introduced the world to a concept that the medium is the actual message.

He stated that of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs (1965, p.8)
In todays society the media is a supportive tool for an organizations relationship with the media and their targeted audience.

What is Media Relations???

Media Relations is defined as:

A number of applications essential to this orgazational communication strategy

News

Before the advancement of the media, news was defined by the editor or producer to meet target audience needs.

The audience demographics of a television newscast on a major network directed a news program to focus on:

Government Business Breaking News

Defining News

Defining news for your target audience is helped by judging the news value of the information that you are sending.
The product, event, issue, personality, or program you are promoting should have some of the following news values:

Impact- how many people are affected by the idea or event? Novelty- the people or events may be interesting therefore newsworthy Prominence- the bigger the name the bigger the news, names make news

Proximity- make it close to home, keep it in the community Timeliness- news is supposed to be new, if news is relevant and useful, it must be timely

An Alternate Definition of News

With the explosion of television, talk radio, and do it yourself online media has altered the definition of news into large groups of topics:

Crisis

Celebrity
Conflict Controversy Crime Corporate Misdeeds Crashes

Media Relation Tools

Technology has not just added new media to the mix but has provided ways to help PR professionals use traditional media relations tools in new ways.

Audio and Video News Releases

Backgrounder and Briefing Information

Blogs Editorials, Op-Ed Pieces, Letters to the Editors Editorial Board Visits Interviews News Releases Photographs PSAs Subject Matter Experts

Measuring Your Results

Its not enough to just push your news out the door. As a professional communicator, you will want to measure your results,

The way to not measure your results is through impressions.

This way suggests that if your story gets placed in a newspaper with a controlled audience you will have to continuously have to do impressions. You will loose your audience because a lot will stop reading.

Impressions are an output-only measure.

Measures for Overall Effectiveness

For your client organizations these methods prove to be effective:

Your relationship with reporters, editors, columnists, and freelancers Make your messages have an impact on the public The amount of people you reach via the media The way your message is perceived to your audience How much media you use in tour message Which media is used The value to different organizations

Case In Point: More Than Mangos Company A native of Columbia transplanted Launch to Calgary, Andres Herrera wanted

the volume and variety of fresh fruit. After discussing the idea of starting an exotic fruit import business with his wife research was done. Among the research they scored produce markets in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and other exotic communities looking for competition and consumer interest. In 2007 the couple launched there import business: More Than Mangos Inc. (MTM). Andres and his wife, still owning a relatively small business, decided to add leverage to the business by adding buzz through media publicity and use MTMs unique selling point to gain popularity. In 2007 Andres and his wife, Belinda de Wolde, developed a large media event to welcome the first exotic fruits shipment to Calgary and launch the company. As noted in the chapter measurement is the key to media relations. A combination of formal and informal measurement tools were used to evaluate the impact of media coverage on the business.

Quiz
1)

What is the author of this chapter?

a) b) c)

Patricia Whalen Jennifer Frahm Wilma Mathews

2)

What is the definition of media relations?

3)
4)

What are the 3 basic demographics for news focus?

Technology helped what kind of professionals?
a) b) c)

Mass Communication Public Relations Broadcasting

5)

What is the name of Andres Herreras wife?