To establish a good media relationship, we need to understand the needs of the media from several levels. In fact, it's just like doing sales, knowing what users need, and then meeting their needs in different ways.
The needs of the media are nothing more than three: getting important news reports; Personal career development of editorial reporters: media advertising and business needs.
And enterprises need to spread their products and product information to the audience through the media.
In this way, enterprises can find similarities with media needs in the following three aspects.
First, help reporters get news clues.
Media reports news, provides facts and opinions, and influences public opinion. Nowadays, it is more stressful for public relations to do media relations. For example, only four or five years ago, the list of media relations of JD.COM Group was only about 300 people, mostly traditional media. Now, the list has been expanded by 10 times, including a large number of industry media and self-media.
In hot industries such as automobiles and the Internet, it is completely routine to invite 3,500 media for a product launch. On the other hand, the more media, the fiercer the competition for high-quality news. Whoever can provide valuable news clues to the media will get more reports.
So, how to help reporters get news clues?
1. Invite journalists to participate in important news release activities.
If you are a leading enterprise in the industry, the release of important products should be reported by the media first, such as the listing of new Apple products. To do a good job in media relations, we should invite reporters to participate in such activities, otherwise he will say, if I am not invited for such an important matter, how can I help you in the future?
At present, many product releases are live broadcasts, such as the release of mobile phone products such as Apple, Xiaomi and Hammer. Some press conferences have to collect tickets, and all information is unobstructed to the public. So is it still valid to invite reporters to the scene? Of course, reporters can experience the real atmosphere on the spot, and the audience's reaction can make more wonderful reports.
In addition, some enterprises will take a small way to some key media, disclose some information in advance, and provide more background information for the media before the product is officially released, so that when the product is released, the reports of important media will be more in-depth than those seen by the general audience.
2. Arrange an exclusive interview with senior executives for reporters.
The media needs to get valuable information and opinions. They have their own channels and hope to get these contents from enterprises. For the industry media, the content from enterprises, especially leading enterprises in the industry, is particularly important. They also hope to get some privileges, such as interviewing the CEO. For traditional media, including CCTV, people like Cook of Apple, Musk of Tesla and Ren Zheng Fei of Huawei are welcome to interview, which is especially important to improve the media's ratings, reading and influence.
Media reporters also want to know more people who can provide new clues and opinions. When I was a reporter of Xinhua News Agency in London in my early years, I was in charge of economic and sports reports. I especially want to establish contact with economists of some big banks, such as the expert groups of HSBC and American Express Bank. In case of major events, call them and ask their opinions, and then write their words in the report.
Today, you see many media reports, which are based on narrating facts and quoting some experts. These network resources are usually accumulated. If your company has financial experts, technical experts and big data experts, you can introduce them to reporters. When ensuring that corporate information is controllable and corporate experts understand the risks of dealing with the media, they can establish contacts through public relations arrangements.
3. Invite reporters to visit the production and technology development of enterprises.
Experienced reporters always say that although WeChat and live broadcast are relatively developed now, reporters still have to go to the scene, and the feeling at the scene is different.
In the automobile industry, it is one of the most important public relations means to arrange the media to test drive and feel the products, and it is also one of the main ways to do a good job in media relations. Take the reporter for a test drive. The route of the test drive is a special place to reflect the performance of the product. For example, off-road vehicles are on non-asphalt roads, sports cars are on Panshan roads, and cars are on scenic lakes. The experience of test drive is also an opportunity for in-depth communication with reporters.
We often say that travel can best enhance people's understanding, not only the car test, but also the participation in other industries, factory visits and overseas inspections, all of which are opportunities for in-depth exchanges with reporters.
A public relations colleague told me that he took the media to travel to Finland and went to the sauna in winter. The cabin in the snow is particularly romantic. The two men walked out of the cabin when no one was around. As a result, the door behind them was slammed by the wind and they were locked out naked. The service desk is a little far away, so I shouldn't call every day, so I have to cover my lower body and call the Finnish bath service desk to open the door. After many years, when they meet, they still have to be silent for a moment and then laugh.
The purpose of traveling is not to take a bath in Finland, so that the media can see real factories, real products and real business people, so that communication can be more emotional and effective. We often talk about marketing scenarios. For enterprises whose products are relatively simple and difficult for users to reach, we can use the event of manufacturing to escape from Beishangguang for marketing, while enterprises whose products are visible should let reporters understand that feeling.
The American GE Company, where I worked, invited more than 20 cancer patients to visit the R&D Center of GE medical products. GE's advanced CT and magnetic resonance medical equipment diagnosed their early cancer and got timely treatment. This time, they came to [see with their own eyes the people who invented life-saving technology]. A group of strangers, linked by fate. They hug, talk and communicate. The whole process was reported live by the media and made into a promotional film. This kind of situational communication is particularly effective.
Of course, not all factory visits have such a dramatic scene, but only by letting reporters experience the enterprise personally, taking them to the production line and R&D center, seeing the real products, and contacting the people who design and produce products, can we do a good job in corporate reporting and establish closer emotional ties with the enterprise.
Second, help journalists develop themselves.
You may ask, PR and journalists have a working relationship. Can I help them develop their personal careers? Of course, this is also part of Japanese-Chinese media relations.
1 to help journalists establish their position in the industry.
Leading enterprises can help journalists establish their position in the industry.
Look at the powerful team of journalists in the industry. From home appliances and IT in the early years to the Internet and automobiles now, the media has promoted the development of the industry. Journalists themselves are also the beneficiaries of development, and many journalists have become respected experts in the industry.
At the end of 20 16, an eco-enterprise rented a chartered plane to pick up the media to attend the press conference in the United States, which was a peak recommended by the media in the industry. In the past 20 years, large enterprises have helped the media to establish an industry vision and a global vision. Nowadays, the tide is ebbing, many enterprises that have helped to cultivate a number of industry media have lost their aura, and fewer and fewer people patronize Finnish baths. At the same time, the rise of new enterprises has shaped a new generation of media.
In order to help journalists establish their position in the industry, you'd better:
1, become an expert in this industry;
2. Let yourself and the enterprise and the media grow together;
3. Promote journalists as opinion leaders.
In many international and domestic industry high-end forums, top journalists with high visibility in the industry may become performing guests and forum guests. In the process of new product development, the bosses of some automobile companies even ask the opinions of well-known industry reporters.
2. Help journalists change careers.
Journalists, like all people in the workplace, will change jobs and transform. If a reporter changes jobs in the media circle and moves to a new place, he must need the support of his old friends in the industry, and you also need the support of his new media. In this transitional period, providing him with a good industry perspective, interview opportunities and media relations can get twice the result with half the effort.
Some of them want to do traditional news all their lives. For example, my graduate student Wang Xiangwei, a native of Jilin in Northeast China, was the editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Britain a few years ago, and was the first Chinese mainland native to be the editor-in-chief of the international mainstream media. Now he is a consultant of the South China Morning Post. He writes a column every week. His English is better than Chinese.
Today's journalists are particularly young and unstable, and they became the main reporters of China's editorials after 1985, while the average age of journalists in the mainstream media in the United States is 47. Many young editors and journalists may not necessarily do new jobs all their lives. Media conversion has become a hot topic in public relations. Many media people, including myself, have switched to public relations, and some media people have started their own businesses.
Corporate public relations can provide information, contacts and many other help for editors and journalists who are considering their career prospects while working. A dozen media people once asked me to consult corporate public relations, and later successfully transformed into public relations.
Then you will ask, isn't the relationship broken when the reporter stops being a reporter? In fact, this is an opportunity for public relations people to accumulate their own contacts. Your position and reputation in the industry are largely established by media people. Even if these people leave the media industry, your reputation still exists. I have been helped many times by leaving my job to become a journalist. Their own word of mouth and contacts will also have a long-term impact on your corporate public relations.
Third, reasonably respond to advertising and business needs.
The media demand for advertising and business cooperation makes the media relationship of enterprises subtle and complicated. Smart media will make the content solid and more influential, and then wait for enterprises to cooperate; Less media will talk about advertising cooperation with enterprises in a friendly way, and will respect the wishes of enterprises; The worst media is that enterprises explode negatively without advertising.
Almost every publicist has encountered a negative event of being exposed by the media without advertising. Some cases have caught obvious evidence of extortion, which can be solved by reporting and legal means. In most cases, it is a gray area, depending on the understanding and understanding of both sides.
Now, except for the very official media, and the situation that the editorial department and business department like Caixin Media clearly set up firewalls, most media have some gray policies in advertising, soft articles, cooperation and news reports. It is illegal to buy news with money, but it is no problem for the media to report on friendly enterprises.
You must ask, is it easier for companies with money to do good media relations? Not necessarily.
I've been a publicist for 20 years, with advertisements half the time and no advertisements half the time. I don't think this is much different from media relations. The advantage of advertising is to get the good impression of the media and the corresponding positive reports. The risk is that your advertisement will never cover all the media. The more media you vote for, the more media you don't vote for hate you. Therefore, when there is no advertising fee, your hand is open, and there is no advertising fee, which does not mean that the media will treat you differently.
When dealing with advertising-related media, we should pay attention to the following issues:
1. Advertise according to the influence of the media, not according to personal relationships;
2. Deep cooperation is more effective than buying soft articles, and it is more important to use media resources legally to achieve the overall communication goal of enterprises than to bring a bunch of harmless soft articles;
3. Never use advertisements to buy peace directly in the face of negative exposure. If you avoid this robbery and show weakness, there will be more fierce wolves coming at you.
Finally, talk about some problems that should be paid attention to in media relations.
1. Can reporters be friends?
Different people have different views on this issue. My answer is that public relations and the media are partners, sometimes better than friends, and sometimes not as good as friends. A friend is defined as a person for whom you will not give principled support. Public relations should not be unprincipled to the media, and vice versa.
The cruelest words between friends and girlfriends are, [You don't support me at this time, are we still friends? I once met a reporter with a good relationship and said that the leader asked me to ask you for some advertisements. I can't finish this plan this month. Can you help me? I usually refuse this situation, but promise to find a way to help in other things. I have also encountered negative media reports and asked a well-connected editor for help, but I failed to get rid of the negative. There is self-discipline in the industry, there are rules in the rivers and lakes, and many things have to be handled by themselves.
2. Should the media be treated equally or differently?
Journalists are uncrowned kings, and they have the least sense of hierarchy; But journalists also live in reality, which makes you have to be different. It is impossible to arrange too many people to interview the CEO. There are always front and rear seats at the press conference.
Therefore, the principle of dealing with media relations is: treat with equality, reason and discrimination. More consideration should be given to the characteristics of the media. For example, TV media needs a good shooting location, self-media needs to be released quickly, official media needs political correctness, and industry media needs an expert perspective. In terms of travel arrangements, according to the government's treatment level, individual respected old journalists can be given priority.
3. Should journalists who report negative corporate news be closer or more distant?
Look at the reporter's motives. If he only performs his duties, especially the tasks assigned by his boss, there is no need to blame him. If he continues to maintain the relationship and shows your generosity, he will be more grateful. If he wants to report you negatively for immoral reasons such as advertising, such a person should be alienated. But more often, when the two are mixed together, it still needs the judgment of public relations people.
Summarize the content of this lesson.
Establishing a good relationship with journalists requires:
1, to help reporters get news clues;
2. Help journalists develop themselves;
3. Respond to commercial and advertising needs reasonably.
When dealing with the relationship with journalists, we should pay attention to the following issues:
1, brand public relations and journalists are partnerships with the public, and they can be friends with private people, and public and private cannot be confused;
2. When many journalists are present, they should be treated differently according to standards such as rank and industry status and based on the principle of equality.
3. Journalists who report negatively on you need to be rational and distinguish between professional behavior and personal revenge.
Content from: Practical Guide to Brand Public Relations | Li Guowei