Keep the Media on Your Side
Many business professionals are afraid of the media. There’s no reason to be. Like an elephant, they’re big and noisy, but often helpful and mostly harmless. Get ‘em angry and they’ll do some damage, for sure. But a pocketful of peanuts and some professional help can help you keep things copacetic when it comes to your Tampa Bay media relations.
Media relations doesn’t mean you have to spend years getting all chummy with reporters and anchors – we’ve already done that for you. You should see our smartphones.
What it means is making your company media-friendly – giving the media positive reason to pay attention to you.
There’s nothing the media loves more than a ready made story. It takes time to think of ideas, track down information, compile the pieces and get the whole ball of wax ready to air or print. We can help make it easy for the media to work with you.
Ways we can help you prepare your company to make the most of the Tampa Bay media’s friendlier side:
1. Launch a new product or service, especially one without much traction in your market.
2. Tie-in your product or service with current trends in business or society.
3. Promote things that are different about your business. Are you a family company that’s been around for more than a couple of generations? That’s newsworthy! How about ‘minority owned’ in a field where that’s atypical? Definitely appealing to the press.
4. Promote things that are ever-fresh about your business. People are always looking for tax tips, advice from experts – we’ll help you find what’s different and newsworthy about what you do everyday.
5. What’s your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? What separates you from the pack? If you don’t know, we’ll show you.
6. Are there unknown stars in your midst? Maybe you’re a natural media maven, maybe your employees have unusual hobbies or volunteer projects. Maybe your company has taken a stand that goes against the grain – all great fodder for the media.
7. Won any awards or reached any milestones lately? The press eats that kind of stuff up.
8. Does your firm have connections to Tampa Bay or celebrities? Maybe you’re an decorator who just did the Mayor’s remodeling project. Maybe your auto dealership is the official vehicle provider for a major golf tournament. We’ll poke around until we find something.
9. Are you involved and invested in local charitable causes? That’s guaranteed good press.
People assume you can’t be shy and be on television. They’re wrong.
Diane Sawyer