Media Relations





AHA Creative Strategies is a public relations agency. We’re communicators. We’re social media participants. We’re brand journalists. We use video, video news releases, b-roll, podcasts, photography, articles, news releases, media and blogger pitches, news conferences, media tours, speaking tours, speeches, special events, trade shows, community meetings, annual reports, newsletters and so much more to assist our clients in communicating with their stakeholder groups. (Notice I said “with” – not “to” – that’s very important.) We are in the business of informing, educating and creating conversation. As importantly, we’re in the business of listening and responding.



I mentioned in Monday’s blog post that I would focus on some of the tools we, at AHA, provide to clients and why they are of value. I think before I do that, I should take a step back and define what good public relations is – to us. (I don’t want this blog post to be too long, so next Wednesday I will focus on the specific tactics. Although, I have to warn you, I got a bit carried away – today’s post is a little long!)



Good public relations is working in partnership with clients. Even when it is challenging, we tell them what they need to hear – rather than just take orders and deliver what they want us to. We identify what they need (which isn’t always the same) and we approach what we do with optimistic realism. Timelines, deadlines, client resources and budgets also have to be taken into consideration.



Please visit our blog to read the rest of the post.

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Whether it’s a speech, a news release, a white paper, an article for your website or to send to media, a video news release, a video series or any other communications vehicle – it is all about the story. It is one of the opportunities and one of the challenges of public relations. An organization needs to really dig deep and build a credible story to interest stakeholders.



To help determine your story’s news value, ask yourself the questions below.



Is the story timely and relevant? It’s surprising how many things are put forward as great ideas and when we dig a little deeper, we realize that it’s not timely. With few exceptions, there is a time element attached that makes the story “old” before you realize it.



Does the story have significance to a trend, a cultural standard or shift? What does the story mean in the bigger context of your organization, industry or the world? Does it show a shift in how things are done? Is it a part of a growing trend or does it buck a trend that most people are starting to see as a standard?



Who will care about this story? We have had clients with “news” that makes their team jump and down with excitement, but outside of their organization, it means nothing. Understand that what might be of interest within your industry, may have no value to the larger business community. It’s still may be worth telling a story to a specific audience, but it’s important to know who that audience is.



What is the best way to tell this story? This is all relevant to the specific story and the audience you want to connect with. Sometimes video is the right medium, other times, an editorial style article or a white paper provides a more relevant way to share the information. Deciding how to tell your story first starts with finding out what stakeholder group you want to tell it to, then identifying how this specific group likes to receive information, and then determining the best way to tell the story. All of these elements have to come together and create a compelling “package” for the story. If you create a video for a demographic that doesn’t watch video, you likely won’t get many viewers. However, it may be that you have multiple stakeholder groups and need to tell the story through several mediums – a video, an article and a Q&A with experts.



How can you expand and extend the reach of this story? It may be as straightforward as telling the story through different mediums. It can also be telling the story from different angles through those mediums – the technical aspect, the human resources aspect, the collaboration and teamwork, or the business outcomes. Once you have defined the story and the primary audience and mediums(s), take another good look and search for additional opportunities. Is there a complementary approach that would let you create something that can be shared with your board of directors, with government, or used in sales meetings or speaking engagements?

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[caption id="attachment_4056" align="alignright" width="248" caption="AHA Has NEWS!"][/caption]



There is a great deal of energy at AHA today – right across the country – from our offices in Gibsons and Vancouver to our long-term contractors in Calgary, Toronto and Halifax. Today, we officially launch our Brand Journalism services. You can check out some information on these new services here.



The fact is – Brand Journalism has been around for several years; McDonald’s CMO Larry Light coined the phrase in the early 2000s. There are many definitions out there. Some we agree with; some have a different approach than we do. Our definition can be found here.



At the heart of what we bring to clients with our new AHA Brand Journalism services is the opportunity for you to tell your story to your stakeholders in a credible, engaging and interesting way, using the right medium for the right audience. That also means getting it out to your audience through the right distribution channel – whether that’s a social media network, your website, YouTube or other avenues. (There is also a crucial measurement component and the expectation that content created through the Brand Journalism approach will support the organization’s business objectives, but that’s for another blog post.)



At AHA, we’ve always had a focus on creating credible, relevant content for clients – whether it was for a news release, a targeted pitch, a video interview, video news release or other communication vehicle. It had to be newsworthy, it had to meet news values and whatever the topic, it had to be a compelling story. Identifying and packaging great stories has always been at the heart of great public relations and what we do here at our agency. But now, we’ve put together a world-class team of print and broadcast journalists and strategic communicators. You can see the team and our bios here. I will be blogging shortly about the Brand Journalism Team. The skill sets, expertise and experience on this team are exceptional and we’re incredibly excited about each person and the combined talents.



Back to the topic at hand. We all know that the world has changed drastically when it comes to communication. A decade ago, the most strategic way for an organization to get its story told was to generate media attention. While media relations is still an important component of what we do, there are additional opportunities to tell your story – directly to your stakeholders. This is where Brand Journalism comes in. We work with you to define goals and objectives and identify great stories about your organization, your brand and the people – employees, your senior executive, customers or clients – who bring your brand to life. We also help you to develop a clear understanding of your stakeholders – from staff to potential and current clients or customers, to industry influencers and thought leaders, to your board of directors, to media, and to government. This includes reaching out in the way that specific stakeholder groups expect or need to be communicated with – and when. We don’t just create great content and walk away. We help you to reach out to your target audience and engage. We measure your success and challenges every step of the way so that we can refine or evolve the program. We also look at how we can effectively maximize and repurpose the use of the content – making the most of your human resources and budget. It’s all about providing great content, great value and telling a great story.



This is the first blog post outlining the value of Brand Journalism and showcasing the new AHA Brand Journalism services. Over the next few weeks, we’ll blog about how Brand Journalism can augment, support or extend your media relations campaign, how much we respect and admire journalists and bloggers (Brand Journalism isn’t about replacing the media), and about our Brand Journalism Team and what the benefits might be to your organization.



There is a great deal of passion behind our new Brand Journalism services. We strongly believe in the value of these services. We are confident in our ability to deliver exceptional, professionally produced stories in a range of mediums that will engage and interest your stakeholder group(s) – not to mention the positive impact it will have on your overall brand’s reputation.


We’d love to hear what you think about Brand Journalism.



If you think your organization would benefit from our services, please send me an email or give us a call at 604.303.1052.

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At AHA, we have spent a great deal of time focusing on what makes a great pitch – to media, to bloggers and, depending on the objective of what we’re working on, to other external and internal stakeholder groups. A good pitch tells a story. It should be a short story, but it is a story – one that piques curiosity and provides relevant information through stats, facts, details and writing that paints a picture. More and more often these days, you can also use video or audio in a pitch. We often create video news releases or pitches for clients and have experienced strong success in this area.

There is a great piece on Ragan.com on how to create a great pitch. It’s worth a read.

Before you head over there, I want to focus on additional opportunities that can come from developing a good pitch. Over the past year, AHA has done quite a bit of research on the art of the pitch and how pitches to a range of stakeholders, including media and bloggers, have evolved. It has been an interesting process and, in part, our discoveries here have led us to develop a new area at our PR agency. We’ll be “soft” launching this tomorrow, so I won’t say any more about this yet. I hope you will check us out on Wednesday to learn more about this great, new opportunity we are offering clients.

The world communicates differently these days – the majority of your stakeholders have online access and use it regularly. This is a given and it’s time to embrace the fact that online communication is at the core of how the world communicates.

When you develop a good pitch – one that is newsworthy, that showcases your organization, that is authentic, interesting and even entertaining, that provides a glimpse of your brand personality and of the people that work in your organization – it is important to look at it from different angles of how that story can be used, how it can be told, and who would be interested in hearing it. Creating interesting and engaging pitches for journalists and bloggers is one component of communication. For our clients, we often look at how we can take an interesting pitch – which, I must repeat, is a concise story idea put into a style and format that works for the specific journalist or blogger – and use it for other stakeholders, if it doesn’t get picked up by media.

Newsrooms are shrinking; bloggers are overwhelmed with good (and bad) pitches. Generating traditional media coverage or having a blogger write about your organization isn’t a given – even if you have a great story that would/could/should work for them. Sometimes there just isn’t space to cover your story; other times there isn’t enough time or person power to do so. It is just the reality of the times we live in.  However, that doesn’t mean that the story can’t be told; it means you have to think of other ways you could use the content.

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