“How do i improve my relations with the media people?’ is a frequent question asked by professionals in the public relations, corporate communications and media relations (spokesperson) fields. Most of the times the term ‘media people’ refer to the news unit (Journalists, Editors) of a newspaper or television channel. However in reality the media organization is linked to the PR agencies in more ways than traditionally considered.
In order to better understand and appreciate relationship with a media organization we need to understand the business dynamics with a wider scope. I would generally classify the media relationships across three interest areas/business functions:
1. Journalists/Editors
2. Media Planning & Marketing
3. Media Buying
Since all of them would belong to a media organization of some type, it would be wise to start by knowing the main details about the policy and school of thought of those organizations. This will help in understanding the main thought-stream and approach of its reps. You will then be able to tailor your approach accordingly keeping everything ‘politically correct’.
Secondly each professional stream has its own orientation.
Journalists/Editors professional interest lies in providing their organizations with exclusive/competitive news/analysis content. Thus in order to influence them one needs to have a very strong knowledge and clear perspective to various knowledge domains and specialized knowledge about a specific domain like pharma, telecom, food etc. Make them want to listen to you, voluntarily!
Media Planning and Marketing reps. are responsible to deliver revenue targets to their organization. There are two approaches to them. One is simple and straight; You are a media manager with big budgets. This is however getting blur partly due to mass media brokers and an increase in client numbers and budgets thus more clients running for fewer slots. The second I believe more effective approach is to know the media planning dynamics amongst competing media houses. This includes competitive knowledge of media ratings, rates, commercial orientation of programs, life cycle of programs etc. This would put you in a position to understand the hopes and fears of the marketers and favorably place yourself in a win-win situation. Again you would win relations, rather than deals, that are based on an acknowledgment of your professional excellence and fairness. If a marketer later called you and asked for your advice for designing a marketing pitch to a new client, you have done it.
Media Buying reps that represent a media buying house are a tough breed. Reason being they are already in the competitive environment, know the industry, meet almost everyone and have decent and diverse client base. Here again, one there is the competitive market knowledge and secondly your capability to demonstrate how your partnership will make a difference in his market clout and competitiveness. For this one needs to know the market picture for client budgets, client movement patterns and the simple realization that a media brokerage needs to keep adding to their account since without a miss their current clients are going to go to a new house one day.
In all of the above relations the following are common aspects:
1. Thought Leadership based on knowledge and analytical edge
2. Image as a friend, a fair person and a solution provider
3. Sound business associations and relationships
With the aforementioned leadership aspects and a good sense of the business interests a PR agent can develop inter-supporting relationships with the media industry in general that would help in not only connecting better but also creating value.
