The Public Relations Blog

4 steps to help you choose the best media-monitoring platform

Capturing media clips to share with clients is one way a public relations firm shows its success. What many PR firms struggle with is capturing all the media mentions for its clients. No media-monitoring service can capture every media clip or media mention. Some platforms can’t access certain sites, while Google Alerts may capture a clip before the provider. When choosing a media-monitoring platform, it’s important to use the provider that best fits your clients’ needs. Some popular platforms include Agility, Cision, BurrellesLuce, Meltwater and TrendKite.

Finding a media-monitoring platform isn’t easy as each platform offers something different. Here are four things you can do to ensure you choose the right platform for your company.

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2 reasons why you shouldn’t hire a PR firm that guarantees sales

As a CEO, you know that sales are the lifeblood of a company. Using public relations to increase your company’s share of voice within the media is one way to improve your sales. However, if your company hires a PR firm based on its offer to guarantee sales, you're making a mistake for two reasons:

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It seems some companies never learn. They continue to create situations that become public relations disasters. No company is perfect, and we all goof up from time to time. The trick is to learn from your mistakes. Even better, learn from the mistakes of others to avoid making them in the first place. This year’s list of avoidable PR goofs, in no particular order, should be enough to keep your company out of trouble for a long time.

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If you’re not using PR to grow your business, you’ll soon be left behind

 

It seems like every day we are asked to embrace some new product, idea or way of doing business. Each time, we are promised that if we get on board with the new plan, we will change the world. Some things hold true, such as the microwave, the internet and social media; others, not so much. However, there is now a novel approach to handling public relations and marketing that we believe will stand the test of time.

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What to do when the media calls

Too often, companies discount the value of media coverage. Some get anxious about it while others are just too busy, but most simply don’t know what to do. The media has a responsibility to cover business news and industry trends. Your organization has a critical role in this process. With a prompt and strategic response, your business can leverage valuable opportunities for media coverage.

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"What's newsworthy?" It mostly comes down to geography and subject matter.

 

Recently, someone asked me, “How would you define the word 'newsworthy?'” Great question; allow me to elucidate.

 

News elements 
What makes a story newsworthy? Pay close attention to these 10 elements of newsworthiness to see which apply to your particular announcement. These elements are also called "news values" because they give a story news value. Good news stories have more than one of these elements to help increase earned media coverage.

 

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Newsjacking – it’s not a new term, and it continues to be an enticing concept for public relations professionals. Why? Because at its essence, it echoes some of the core operations of smart public relations: Act quick, respond proactively and with valuable information, and aim for results in quality earned news coverage.

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For more information why you shouldn't hire an advertising firm to do PR, see Signs you’re working with an ad agency instead of a PR firm

 

Never let an advertising agency do your PR.

 

The other night I saw a commercial from Apple, in which it claimed that the iPhone is now the most-used camera on earth. Not the most-used camera phone, the most-used camera, which would mean its integrated digital camera has surpassed stand-alone photo giants like Nikon, Canon and Fuji. Added to the number of Google searches, emails and Facebook updates performed every day on smartphones, the popularity of cell-phone cameras is a powerful testament to just how much you and I love and depend on integrated technologies. (Remember when you had to remember your camera, film and batteries? I do.)

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