Why should you work with the media to create custom content?
Because the impact will be so much greater than sending out a stock press release! In this session, Bikerumor.com founder Tyler Benedict provides an inside look into how brands can work with the media to:
- Increase reach
- Build brand authority
- Grow awareness
- Capture email addresses
- Nurture consumer trust
…and more! Using Bikerumor’s content packages as examples, you’ll be inspired to think more creatively about how to get your brand’s story out. This is especially useful when trying to remain relevant and top of mind between product launch cycles and other big news events.
Takeaways – What to do now:
Tailor your content marketing to each specific media outlet’s audience. Think about who’s reading, ask the outlet for demographic data and what types of stories get the most clicks. Design around that.
View your relationship with websites, magazines and news outlets as a marketing partnership where each party delivers what the other needs: Media has an organic audience hungry for information that will improve their lives, and the brands have the budget to create those stories. Together, you can deliver them in impactful ways that build a brand and sales!
Check out what your competition is doing on their own content/social channels, and figure out how to apply those tactics to your own brand.
Look at the types of content each media outlet produces and think about how to integrate your brand into it organically.
Reach out to editors with random bits of expertise on trending topics. This will help you get more interview placements, which positions your brand and people as the experts on a subject. Generally, this translates into your products being perceived as the best solution, too.
Content structures that work:
- Contests and giveaways (captures email address)
- “Ask Me Anything” (captures consumer data)
- Product placement in editorial features (implied endorsement)
- Offer expertise for “explainer” articles (builds brand authority)
- Host media for product launches (usually guarantees better coverage)
- Reply to comments on stories about your brand or products
- Pay for company profile stories or factory tours (keeps you top of mind, but has to be interesting)
When and how to use Paid Editorial:
Sponsored content can be done ethically regardless of whether it’s done well. The important part is creating content that’s worth reading in the first place. It has to provide value to the reader first, the brand second, and then the media outlet.
Banner ads still have a place, but using content-based programs like those listed above generally have better engagement and a much, much longer shelf life. Pay for a month of banners, and they’re gone in a month. Pay for a good story and it’s there forever, with a productive shelf life of one to ten years depending on the topic and format. Consider that in your cost/benefit analysis.
Paying for editorial based marketing (as opposed to sending out press releases and hoping for free coverage) gives you more control over the message, its timing, and its placement. Brands should NOT expect to control the editorial completely, but paid efforts put both people at the planning table. Media want good stories to tell that will drive traffic to their publications, and brands want good content because it will reflect well on them. Those interests are aligned, but the media has to maintain their readers’ trust, which means editorial integrity must come first.
Paid media also acknowledges and respects an outlets’ authority in their space, the fact that they own the audience, and that their coverage acts as third party validation for your brand. That last point is key. If you’re only putting content on your brand’s channels, you’re not building as much trust as you could be. And you’re probably not getting the organic reach you could be either.
What about driving traffic from social media?
Speaking of organic reach, Bikerumor’s traffic comes primarily from organic search and direct traffic. Less than 5% comes from social media posts. So if you’re only posting on social and hoping to reach people, it won’t work (unless you’re paying to boost it). Even then, consider the cost equation of reaching 10,000 people per day on Facebook versus posting something on a site that sees 250,000 visitors per day. (That doesn’t necessarily mean all 250,000k will see it each day, but that’s quite a few million opportunities per month on a platform that likely has more reader trust than any social media platform).
Need help with your media outreach?
The session video shows how Bikerumor packages paid content, but we do a lot of custom stuff, too. If you’re trying to figure out how to work with media in your industry, contact me, I’m happy to help!
Connect with Tyler
Linkedin // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // YouTube
View All Sessions:
- Opening Keynote: Why Create Marketing Content?
- Session 1 – How to Create Unlimited Content Ideas
- Session 2 – Go from Startup to Household Name
- Session 3 – Maximize your Content’s SEO Value
- Session 4 – Leverage Feature Length Films for your Brand
- Session 5 – How to use the Media to Amplify Your Content
- Session 6 – How to Analyze Content for Search vs Social
- Session 7 – Create Video Content that Works on Any Platform
- Session 8 – How to make Diverse & Inclusive Content
- Session 9 – Creating a Complete Content Marketing Campaign