If you want to build a platform for yourself, company or cause, media coverage is the best and most cost-effective way to make that happen.
Not only does media coverage increase your awareness, it establishes and builds your credibility; something ads can’t do. When people hear you being interviewed on a local radio program, read a newspaper article where you’ve been used as an expert source, or watch a television segment featuring you, your book and your expertise, the audience is engaged. And an engaged audience will pay attention. Most people skim right over ads in magazines or newspapers, ignoring them. But interviews and stories… people read those because they want to; because they trust the source; and because they want to broaden their horizons.
That’s where you come in, but first you need to get media coverage.
Whether you’re dealing with Good Morning America, Dr. Phil or your hometown TV station or newspaper, having an online press kit is the key to getting media coverage. Why? Because the media is, and always will be, busy!
From the smallest to the largest outlets, the media is hammered daily with experts, authors and business owners vying to be sources in their broadcasts, blogs and in the pages of their newspapers and magazines. Having an online press kit gives you an edge by making the media’s job easier. Journalists don’t want attachments; they want everything organized and at their fingertips. When you link to your online press kit you can easily — with a click of a button — show the media just how newsworthy you are, while making their job easier.
Here’s how an online press kit will make the media’s job easier and help you increase your credibility:
Organization
When journalists visit your online press kit, your Homepage tells them why you are important and why they should be interested in you. Your About page provides three different biographies for three different media purposes. Your News and Story Ideas and Questions to Ask pages give them interesting angles they can cover on you and your expertise or book. An online press kit organizes everything the media may need to use you as an expert source and makes the media’s job easier.
Professional Presence
You’re an expert and you have to present yourself as one in every way. Journalists don’t work with sources they think aren’t professional no matter what they have to offer. Do you wear flip-flops and cut-off shorts to an interview? Of course not. An online press kit shows the media that you’re the go-to person when they need information on a topic, whether it’s breaking news, product or academic reviews and analysis, or a source for human-interest features.
Story Ideas
The media serves their audience, so you have to show them how you differ from the competition and how your story fits in with trending topics. Story ideas help the media see how you fit into the latest trends, conversations and breaking news.
When you’re building relationships with the media you need to use everything at your disposal to give yourself an edge. It’s much easier these days where everything is online to put yourself and your ideas out there for the media and public to see.
But if you want to shape your image in such a way that can boost your exposure, you have to position yourself as an expert with a unique perspective with something different to offer.
An online press kit allows you to do this in a way that’s professional and easy for the media.
