For Best PR Agency Results, Tie Tech PR Strategy Directly To Tactics

Best PR Tactics

YEAR-FORWARD POSITIONING: We position clients as they wish their firm to be perceived in a year.

One method for attaining higher quality results is a PR process that embeds strategy within the tactical documentation for the client. MediaFirst identifies the desired future positioning for a client. This is a view of how the client firm wishes to be viewed in a year. Since most of our clients are privately held corporations, we work for executives that have shareholdings in their firm and want to increase valuation. To succeed we use a technique applied by excellent, venture-backed companies.

This technique establishes:

a.) the qualification and capability of the management team,

b.) the value proposition,

c.) the pursuit of market size and growth, large enough to generate revenues worthy of investor interest, and

d.) the team's ability to execute effectively across creating customers, competitive offerings, revenue growth, and high margins.

Our approach drives valuation, which enables attractive funding or exit, by communicating your successes to investors in their language. This has led to the acquisition of many MediaFirst clients. This positioning also supports a merger, acquisition, or Initial Public Offering (IPO).

TARGET AUDIENCES: Reaching the desired audience is the prime goal of a client. Reaching the audience generates awareness and knowledge of a client's offerings, value proposition, and successes. We reach target audiences through media outlets: magazines, newspapers, Websites, blogs, social media, news wires, etc.

Therefore, a targeted Media Outlets List is one of the first strategic decisions in PR. Embedded in the tactical, working documentation, the Client's Editorial Calendar (EdCal), it becomes the basis for researching potential news stories - yet to be written over the next year. The tactical Client EdCal evolves into a tickler of opportunities for a client to be covered in an upcoming article. Each opportunity is a chance to "sell" the client's story, spokesperson, case study, offerings, etc. to a reporter or editor.

The result is an interview with the specific reporter or editor assigned to the story. This connects the reporter with the client spokesperson - and possibly the client's customer, alliance partner, technology provider, or industry analyst. The scope of work is proportional to the number of targeted media outlets.

Metrics that MediaFirst uses in assessing performance include the quantity of EdCal opportunities that "fit" for the client, number of interview opportunities acquired with reporters/editors, number of interviews conducted - or missed - by the client spokespersons, and the quantity and type of press coverage obtained by the client.

STRATEGIC INITIATIVES: The Proposed Press Release Schedule is the tactical document that MediaFirst uses to capture strategic initiatives of the client, scheduling the release of news and positioning each initiative in ways that match the desired positioning. We use this schedule consistently to release information on the client, covering the:

• Management Team press releases describe how the client has the top talent that enables success. This includes announcing awards, promotions, hiring, and other newsworthy recognition of the executive management team.
• Offerings include hardware, software, or services (products and services) that reflect the client's ability to deliver what customers want - recognizing the emerging needs or opportunities for customers. MediaFirst writes (press releases, newsletters, Web pages, brochures, etc.) in ways that prove that the client understands the needs of the marketplace and executes to provide better value for the customer.
• Market: our writing describes the market served by the client and the importance, size, and client success in meeting that industry's needs. In addition, MediaFirst writes to position the client as a thought-leader in identifying and meeting the emerging needs of customers.
• Ability to Execute: Demonstrate the ability to execute through press releases that announce: new clients, alliance partners, new product or service offerings, winning awards, speaking at industry conferences, hiring the right people, and growth in revenues, profitability, or staff. For private firms, we may describe growth in percentage increases - avoiding disclosure of exact revenues. Quarterly growth - or quarter over quarter growth over the period of a year - are examples of other, flexible ways to describe growth.

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