This is the second part of our two-part series on PR and media relations tactics. Click here for part one and make sure you are following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram so you don’t miss any updates.

In part one, we discussed some of our favorite tactics for sharing information with media, including: press release, multi-media release, media alert, media pitch, electronic press kit and MAT release – but let’s not stop there. Here are five more that we love to utilize in our PR practice:

A Media Delivery (or Media Drop) is a key strategy in which a brand or company packages their product and media materials and delivers them to media. This enables media to see, touch, taste and feel your product and – hopefully – interest them in a potential story or article.

Why use a Media Delivery?
Media deliveries are a great way to break through the noise of the hundreds of emails, press releases and pitches that media receive daily and entice them to cover your brand or organization in a story or article. Media deliveries can also be helpful in building media relationships as well.

A Satellite Media Tour (SMT) is a sponsored series of TV, radio or online interviews that are completed in one day from a single location. An SMT enables a spokesperson for a brand, company or product to be interviewed by various media outlets around the country – either via satellite or a digital platform such as Zoom.

Why use a Satellite Media Tour?
A Satellite Media Tour (SMT) is a public relations tactic that is often used to guarantee consumer-facing media coverage, particularly broadcast (television or radio), with the company’s preferred messaging incorporated, but positioned as a news story with a key spokesperson. SMTs provide a guarantee of around 15-20 placements across U.S. broadcast outlets and help to ensure that your story is shared via consumer news outlets. This is a strong tactic to deploy alongside more traditional media pitching efforts for guaranteed consumer coverage.

An infographic is a designed informational piece that provides a visually-pleasing overview of a topic and typically includes key numerical facts, statistics and information. Infographics help to summarize a topic in an easy-to-digest format.

Why use an Infographic?
Infographics are best used to visually inform audiences, build brand awareness and communicate research, trend information or insights and can be used across channels including media outreach, social media and internal communications channels. Infographics offer a unique way to tell a story via multiple channels that stands out from text-heavy pitches, articles and posts on social media. An infographic is also easily shareable and can be utilized by multiple audiences.

Media Training is a special form of interview training aimed to share, review and practice strategies and best practices for media interviews with key spokespeople. A media training typically is customized as either a half-day or full day of training focused on reviewing best practices and then practicing media interview strategies and key messages for future media interviews.

A Media Briefing is a short-form media interview prep session that typically takes place once a specific interview is scheduled with a reporter or editor. Media Briefings provide a background on the reporter, the media outlet, the key topics that will be discussed and an overview of key messages and FAQs in preparation for the interview. Briefings ensure that spokespeople are prepared with key messages and strategies to best answer the anticipated media questions.

Does your brand or organization need help developing a PR strategy and implementing these tools? We’re here to help!  

This is the first of a two-part series about PR and media relations tactics. Check back for part two and make sure you are following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram so you don’t miss any updates.

If your organization is new to leveraging public relations as a marketing technique or if you work with someone who says “send a press release!” whenever there’s exciting news to share, this blog is for you. Helping your team understand why and when to use specific PR tactics is crucial to securing the coverage you’re looking for and the business results you need.

These six tactics are some of our favorites from our PR practice. Stay tuned for part two for five more!

Press Release is a tool to make announcements, share crucial information, updates and more – acts as an official statement when sharing the news to the media and stakeholders.

Why use a Press Release?
Press releases are a timely public relations tool that deliver large-scale breaking news to media in a way that is both familiar and succinct while packaging all the information in one place. Media are familiar with press releases, as they are most often used to announce important news, position company developments and share preferred messaging. Media can quickly pull a story or article together from a press release that includes quotes from a spokesperson, announcement information and a brief company background all in one place. Press releases should be saved for major announcements, if possible.

Multi-Media Release (MMR) is a press release with links, images and resources embedded within it that enables easy and quick access to visual assets for media.

Why use a Multi-Media Release?
Media, like many of us, are busy and often work quickly to pull stories together. A multi-media release (MMR) enables all the key assets – from photos to infographics to trend information to research to links to company information – to be embedded in one place that makes it easy for media to pull together a story with all the elements they may need. An MMR also is embedded within an email, making it more likely that visual assets will be seen and reviewed by members of the media.

Media Alert/ Advisory is a tool to notify media of an upcoming press conference or newsworthy event. Media alerts are often laid out like an invitation with key details clearly called out.

Why use a Media Alert or Media Advisory?
Media alerts or media advisories are a public relations tool to use to in conjunction with an event announcement that succinctly outlines the what, when, who and why details in a familiar format for media. Media alerts, unlike press releases, are to-the-point and often serve to announce or promote an event or position a smaller-scale update, such as an award nomination, to media.

Media Pitch is a tool to engage media in the form of an email, note or phone call conversation offering news, insight, data and often a spokesperson for a potential story, article or interview. It can be used in conjunction with a press release regarding a newsworthy announcement, or by itself to pitch the media to inform and secure story placement.

Why use a Media Pitch?
One of the most common and effective media relations tactics, a media pitch is a way to share business stories, insights, research, trends and more that might interest media in a less formal and more succinct way. Typically, media pitches should be tailored to specific media contacts and their interests, offer a unique perspective and story angle, and offer an expert for an interview on the topic. Media are hungry for news stories that best serve their audiences and pitches are a great way to get your company, perspective, insights and news in front of media in a quicker way (which they prefer). Pitches can be used alongside a press release or on its own.

Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is a pre-packaged set of materials outlining a company or organization that is distributed to the media often in conjunction with a press release or news conference event. Often EPKs are shared via a link to a website that houses all materials with links to each for download.

Why use an Electronic Press Kit?
An electronic press kit (EPK) is a public relations tool to use in conjunction with announcements and events that include many assets such as images, videos, infographics, background documents, company information and more. An EPK is an all-encompassing option that captures and houses all the information and assets that media or stakeholders might need or would like to reference in order to build a story or further understand a key announcement, event or company update.

MAT Release is a branded article that is distributed to a network of print and online consumer news publishers. The MAT Release article is written by the company and then distributed through a MAT release partner. MAT Releases are unique because they provide a company or brand with guaranteed consumer media coverage and placements built with preferable content in the form of a sponsored article.

Why use a MAT Release?
A MAT Release is a public relations tactic that is often used to guarantee consumer-facing media coverage, particularly online and in print, with the brand and company’s preferred messaging incorporated, but positioned as a news story. MAT Releases can provide a guarantee of around 800-1200 placements across U.S. print and online outlets. This is a strong tactic to deploy as a complement to media pitching efforts for guaranteed coverage, key message inclusion and SEO.

Check back next week for an overview on how Media Deliveries, Satellite Media Tours, Infographics, Media Trainings and Media Briefings can be effective public relations tools. Does your brand or organization need help developing a PR strategy and implementing these tools? We’re here to help!