Press coverage of your company is important for a variety of reasons. Living in a data driven society, however, we tend to look only at the numbers, in this case, the number of articles and not what's in those articles.
We need to shift our thinking away from quantity and focus more on the quality.
Focus needs to be put on several factors including:
- Tone, type and positioning - As we've discussed previously, not all press is good press. It is important to ask yourself and your team questions on the tone, type and positioning of the article: Is it a positive or negative story? Is your company being positioned in a good light or surrounded by a controversial or negative news hook? Is your company being featured in the story or just mentioned (mentions are necessarily a bad thing, especially when you are mentioned with other strong companies)
- Message pull-through - With earned media, you aren't guaranteed to have the story told the way you want. But it is important to understand which of your messages are coming across in the stories that you appear in and which messages may need more work for future interviews and articles.
- Resonating with your audience - Everyone wants a story in a top tier newspaper or magazine like Wall Street Journal, New York Times or Fortune, but it is important to ask whether that type of story will actually help achieve your business objectives and if it is appropriate for this particular time for the company. This starts with knowing your audience and targeting the publications that these decision makers read regularly.
You might be stoked for a front page feature article in the business section of a top tier daily newspaper, magazine or blog but if your company/product/executive is being associated with a negative topic, does it deserve the same value as a positive mention in a smaller, more targeted publication that all of your prospective customers, partners and investors read?
It's time to focus on quality over quantity.
