Effective PR

There are a number of attributes required to be an effective PR. From the development of strong creative ideas, to having your finger on the pulse when it comes to the ever-changing news agenda. Key for any PR worth their salt, though, is the ability to understand the media landscape, and in particular, understand the needs and requirements of your target media.

You may well have a strong creative idea or a valuable piece of content, but if you’re not positioning it to media in an effective way, in a way that sells, then you’ve only won half the battle. The angle, or position, you take when selling in your content to media can be the difference between a few pieces of coverage and a bucketload.
Take what we do at Square In The Air… Amongst a whole host of services, one we offer to clients is Digital PR.

Week-in, week-out, our talented B2C PR team interview a myriad of talent – from ex-sports stars to showbiz and television personalities – on behalf of clients ranging from established sports betting operators to rising affiliate brands, with the aim of creating effective and engaging content to sell-in to media for coverage and backlinks to bolster and enhance SEO efforts.

We could be sitting on what we think is a goldmine of great quotes from an interview, but if it doesn’t fit with what media are on the hunt for, then it’s content that could well prove to be wasted.

But what is it exactly that media want?

If we use the example of the sports press, right now, between the end of Euro 2024 and the start of the new Premier League season, a large chunk of their daily and weekly focus is on transfers, transfers and more transfers. As football fans, we love nothing more than speculating about exactly which players our beloved clubs are looking to sign during the transfer window. Even if we know that deep down a story like Kylian Mbappe opting to part ways with Real Madrid after a few weeks to join Ipswich Town is just a wild, ridiculous rumour, as Ipswich and football fans we’re always going to read the story or click the link.

Football sells for media, and transfers do even more so, so don’t be afraid to hone in on that and make it your key focus if you have football content to sell in.

Tailor your content

With that in mind, how can we tailor our content to fit round the transfer window news agenda?

Which clubs are your target media typically looking to report on? Is it the usual suspects of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, that have a proven track record for clicks, or is it a more localised focus, such as Ipswich Town?

Before tailoring your content, get to know this, get to understand what your most successful route to coverage is. You’ve got your club, but is there a transfer target that’s hot on everyone’s lips right now? Or a position in the squad that quite obviously needs strengthening – that is to everyone apart from the manager.

Pounce on those themes, topics and debates. When building your press releases and media outreach emails, ensure those angles and lines are front and centre – from headlines, to juicy intro quotes, to accompanying copy. If positioned correctly, and sent to the right media and journalists at the right time, having done that initial legwork, your efforts are far more likely to bear fruit.

Now the above is of course just a topline example of how we can apply this style of thinking to anything we create and sell-in as a PR. But the fact of the matter remains: understand your target media, what media want, and you better understand your route to coverage for clients.

Get in touch!

To get in touch and find out more about what Square In The Air do when it comes to Digital PR campaigns and how we can help your brand, email: hello@squareintheair.com