Getting in the news is just one part of media relations. Here’s how we turn press coverage for non-profits into content.
You found the news angle and drafted a stellar press release. You crafted the perfect pitch and reached out to exactly the right reporters at exactly the right time. Now, you have beautiful press coverage that puts your brand in the spotlight. So now what?
Getting prime coverage is great. The right placement, on its own, can put your brand at the forefront of your audience’s mind. Simultaneously, it can lead to an immediate increase in sales, donations, enrollments, or social engagement. But, you can extend the impact of your media placements.
Modern Press Coverage Examples
Identifying press coverage used to be easy. If your client or your organization was featured in a newspaper article, interviewed on the radio, or covered on the 5 p.m. news, you had press coverage. Usually, press coverage was the direct result of your actions–a specific pitch, a media advisory, or a news release.
In the modern media landscape, there are a lot of things that can land your brand press coverage. If you’re a clothing company and Drake wears your brand, you might find yourself in the news. Or, you may have a new spring collection launching so you send gift baskets and teasers to fashion influencers. Regardless of how you secure that press coverage, it can come in many forms–a podcast, YouTube clip, blog post, Instagram reel, TikTok video, newsletter roundup, listicle, or review.
Nowadays, press coverage can be defined as any time your brand or a representative from your brand is mentioned, without any kind of sponsorship, by a media outlet on any of their platforms.
You’ve Secured Media Coverage, Here’s How to Make the Most of It
The impact of a successful media placement is enough to celebrate on its own merit. With just a few extra steps, though, you can turn one piece of press coverage into an SEO-boosting webpage, shareable social media content, or a business-winning case study.
1. Put Your Coverage On Your Website
First and foremost, you need a dedicated section of your website where press coverage lives. This can be in the form of a dedicated newsroom that links out to earned media coverage alongside press releases or you can use your existing blog to share your press coverage. Either way, you should make room on your website for media wins.
Posting your earned media wins on your website not only gives you an easy place to collate your press coverage but also gives you the ability to get some ownership of the media placement you’ve secured. You can’t change anything about the content of the placement, but you can optimize your webpage to a more specific keyword–something you have no control over when the placement is first posted.
2. Make Social Media Content Out of Media Placements
Press coverage also makes for amazing and shareable social media content. Whether it’s a blog, podcast clip, or a traditional print placement, you should leverage any press wins on social platforms. You’re usually talking about yourself on your social media channels, but by posting a media placement on your platform you’re showing your followers that other people are talking about you, too. That’s why media placements posted to social media typically boost engagement numbers, all while increasing your brand authority.
You can make multiple posts out of one placement, depending on the type of press coverage it is. If your CEO is quoted in a round-up of industry leaders on IndustryDive.com, that is good for at least one post on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and even Instagram. Let’s say that same CEO sits down for a 5-minute interview with a local morning news broadcast. You can break down this one placement into multiple clips, soundbites, still images, and quotes. Each broken-down asset can be used for a boatload of posts.
Each post is a chance to strengthen your relationship with the media outlet that covered you, too. Posting about your press coverage and tagging the reporter or outlet that published the story, potentially expands the reach of that publication. It also shows them that you’re excited about their coverage and increases the likelihood they respond to your next outreach.
3. Use Media Clips to Create Customer Winning, Promotion Worthy Case Studies
When you’ve secured particularly impressive press coverage–maybe in a story that goes viral, a front-page feature in a renowned outlet like The Atlantic, or a strategic campaign that results in multiple pieces of coverage across multiple outlets–it becomes a prime candidate for a case study or white paper. Whether you’re at a PR agency or in any kind of communications role for an organization, case studies are your opportunity to demonstrate your work while showing tangible evidence of its efficacy.
Saving your press coverage and collecting the data around your media placements will give any potential case studies eye-catching visuals and undeniable quantitative impact. Case studies and white papers make for great web content that can be further optimized for SEO. Just don’t forget to use them as sales materials to earn new clients or get you promoted.
4. Make Sure Your HR Team Knows When You’re in the News
We tend to think of media relations as a marketing tool. It boosts brand awareness and leads to more donations, event RSVPs, sales, or enrollments. It’s important to remember that strong press coverage can be a huge morale boost for current employees and attract top-tier candidates.
Employees love to see their company talked about by other people, especially if it is in a positive way. Your social followers always hear you talk about you and they engage more when others talk about you. The same logic applies to your employees! Making sure your HR team knows how to leverage press coverage for internal communications will help you boost your credibility in your team and get your employees a little more excited about their work.
Don’t overlook how effective press coverage can be when hiring new employees, either. A great placement can catch the attention of your next superstar better than most job listings. You should leverage these placements in job openings too, show prospective hires that your company is doing attention-grabbing, buzzworthy work.
5. Show Off Your Coverage Directly to Your Brand’s Stakeholders
Whether your key stakeholders are financial donors, tireless volunteers, or influential board directors, you need to make sure they see any press coverage you secure. You might think that posting your media placements to Instagram counts in this regard. For this audience, though, you should try to be much more direct.
Media coverage also provides a touchpoint for fundraising professionals to continue conversations with individual and corporate donors. A media placement provides additional credibility and support from the community. So you should be working in collaboration with your development team to advance fundraising goals through storytelling.
If you have a donor event, compile your placements into a highlight reel to show off as they mingle. Maybe you have a volunteer newsletter that goes out–use that to include media mentions and links to press coverage. Regardless of how you do it, remind your key stakeholders that people are taking notice of the organization they support. This will help reinforce their commitment to your organization.
Securing positive press coverage takes hard work and is impactful. That being said, you can take your press coverage so much farther if you leverage the tactics we’ve talked about to turn placements into additional content. To see how Scatena Daniels has made the most out of the press coverage we secured for non-profits, head to the results page of our website. If your organization needs strategic communications assistance, contact us.