Consider this – if you’re in business today, the media is your customer. For communications professionals, the media is often their primary customer. However for everyone, really, the traditional and new media have become at a minimum a key influencer in the buying decision.
Earned media is still one of the most powerful tools in an integrated marketing toolkit. With stories at a premium, you’ve got to understand not only your customer’s experience but the unique aspects of the media’s buying cycle as well.
Anyone in business today will have to understand and work with the media at some point. Digital marketers may encounter them on social media. New business owners may want media to write about their launch. Brand managers might choose earned media (or native ads) as a way to create or change a perception. It’s evident that now, the media is your customer.
We all know that buying cycles are becoming increasingly self-directed and the media is perhaps furthest along in this transformation. For some reason, people think that just spewing press releases and pitches at media will work. It doesn’t anymore. Some media folks get as many as 100 to 200 pitches a day or more.
Of all the personas we work with as integrated marketers, the media is the one that doesn’t need our help finding stories anymore. It’s out there for them to find, from viral videos to social media buzz. And since dealing with “marketers” was never the fun part of the job, it means that we could be left out.
To reach the media, I would argue that you have to influence them from one step of their buying journey to the next, just like anyone else.
Here are a few things to remember when the media is your customer:
Repeat to yourself three times:
The media is my customer. The media is my customer. The media is my customer.
Now, get out there and greet your customers at whatever point they are on their customer journey.
This article, written by Bonnie Harris from Business2Community, originally appeared in Wax Marketing Blog, and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.