In a professional service firm’s marketing toolbox, public relations is a Swiss Army knife. Not only can public relations be used to raise your firm profile and bring in new clients, it can attract talent, build firm culture and morale, provide an opportunity for your team to cross-market, and much more. Knowing the basics is essential, but new PR strategies are cropping up and evolving all the time – think of these as the new extensions to the Swiss Army knife. For firms looking to obtain media coverage, your response shouldn’t be to reinvent the wheel, but it does mean going about things differently.
Adjusting Pitching Tactics in an Evolving Media Industry
It’s well-known the media industry has been struggling in recent years, and the pandemic didn’t do it any favors. As reported by the New York Times, more than 360 newspapers closed in the U.S. between late 2019 and May 2022. Even digital news sites took a hit. Ultimately, this means less staff and increased writing responsibilities for reporters.
With journalists stretched thin, there has become an even greater emphasis on doing your research to craft personalized, targeted pitches based on their coverage area. Your pitch needs to clearly explain up front why the topic is important to their readers or viewers. If it’s not going to get clicks and views, it’s not going to be of interest to the reporter.
One way to align your pitching efforts with a reporter’s beat is news monitoring, or what’s known in the industry as “newsjacking.” For example, if a topic – like a court ruling or trend in the financial space – is making headlines, position your experts to provide their perspectives to news outlets. Being prepared to comment on trending news in real-time can result in a steady stream of media placements.
If you’re relying solely on press releases to get your firm’s name in the news, the opportunities are likely going to be far and few between these days. Whether you’re getting quoted or published in an article, focus less on touting your successes (although this is still important) and use media as a means to educate your clients and prospects while positioning yourself as a thought leader.
Growing Importance of Multimedia in PR
Take your pitching one step further and incorporate visuals. If you can provide photos, videos or other media that would add to reporters’ coverage of the story, this could increase your chance of piquing their attention and getting that coveted placement.
Multimedia is especially important when pursuing broadcast coverage and can be a key piece that helps you stand out among the sea of emails producers receive. Broadcasters must show something on screen, so make their lives easier and offer them a visual. Too, providing video examples of past interviews can show that your professionals are comfortable speaking on camera, and can present information in an interesting way.
Partnering Up for Media Coverage is a Win-Win
Most of the time, reporters want to include different perspectives in their stories; they don’t want one voice. Consider ways you can bring a complete story to them – like partnering with a client and/or referral source in another industry to offer as additional interviews. This prevents the reporter from having to seek out other sources which could potentially delay publication. Securing positive media coverage for a client or colleague also reflects favorably on you and your firm.
This strategy also works well for bylined articles. Co-authoring an article with a client can strengthen your relationship and create more marketing buzz for them. Similarly, collaborating on an article with a colleague in a different practice group can help in cross-marketing the firm. Alternatively, bringing a junior attorney on board to co-author can introduce them to marketing and business development early on, demonstrates that your firm is willing to mentor and invest in growing their practice.
Leveraging AI Platforms
It may seem as if artificial intelligence (AI) platforms popped up overnight, but in fact, these tools have been around in some form for years. While AI has slowly become a larger part of our everyday lives, we don’t see it replacing human involvement.
ChatGPT is a great example of an AI tool that can be used as a foundation for content creation – it can help get you started writing press releases, media pitches, email subject lines and social media captions. However, it ultimately requires a human touch to ensure the content aligns with your firm’s branding and objectives.
Sourcing stock images has been a longtime pain point for marketers, as no one wants to use the same (boring!) photo of a handshake or people walking up stairs. AI allows you to create custom images without having to be a professional designer. This is one of many examples of how AI can enhance your marketing and PR efforts. And if you’re thinking to yourself that AI is not for you, consider that many said the same thing in the early days of computers and social media, and look where we are now.
Boosting Your Recruitment Efforts Through PR
The talent market for law, real estate and financial service firms is very competitive these days, so the more you can showcase your firm in a variety of ways, the better you’ll be positioned to attract quality candidates. The visibility and recognition achieved through public relations can be used in recruiting conversations, demonstrating the firm’s expertise and successes to candidates, as well as letting them know they have a great marketing & PR resource at their disposal if they come on board.
Amplifying Successes via Social Media
With YouTube quickly rising as the second most visited search engine and half of adults getting their news from social platforms, social media can be an attractive way to get your firm’s PR successes in front of new eyeballs.
But since any social media campaign takes time, resources and consistency, putting together a plan of action is key. First, consider who you are targeting. Then, assess whether reaching them through the latest tools like Instagram Reels or new platforms, such as Threads, would be effective. Just because there is a new social trend or platform feature doesn’t mean it will resonate with your target audience.
Also, keep in mind that different content and formats work better on some platforms than others. If you implement it properly, creating “platform-first” content that approaches native audiences in a platform’s preferred tone and format may help you see increased reach and engagement from your efforts.
Final Tip – FOCUS
As you embark on a PR campaign, and continue with it, it’s (generally) best to stick to a plan. As the PR tools at your disposal evolve, adjustments and tweaks may need to be made along the way, but don’t lose sight on the big picture by getting sidetracked by the latest trend.
Firms often try to accomplish too many things at once or implement strategies that don’t align with their goals. For example, they may see their competitors on every new social media platform and think they should be too. In reality, focusing time and resources on the tools that align with their overall strategy will return greater results.
Partner with a Trusted Los Angeles Marketing and PR Firm
Berbay Marketing & Public Relations has nearly three decades of experience providing law, real estate and financial firms with marketing and public relations services that propel your business forward. Berbay’s dedicated team has demonstrated success securing media placements, achieving nominations and rankings, revitalizing websites and social media, obtaining speaking engagements and more.
Looking to grow your firm with Los Angeles’ proven Marketing and PR team? Contact Berbay at (213) 855-4957 or info@berbay.com.
