Building a content-rich media newsroom establishes your business as an important resource for journalists. You also reap the rewards of buzz you just can't buy. These five elements help you build a quality media newsroom that will have journalists turning to your company first.
Include Your Company's Press Kit
Your media newsroom will feel empty if you don't include your company's press kit. If you have multiple press kits available for certain products, add them to your online newsroom as well. All of this information is helpful to journalists who are deciding if they're going to give your company free publicity or someone else's.
Post the Good and the Bad Press Releases
If your company's in a negative spotlight, you've probably issued a press release. Post all press releases in your online newsroom. Trying to avoid the media by not putting certain press releases in your newsroom doesn't work. Plus, it looks like you're trying to evade the problem instead of addressing it head-on.
Link to Your Corporate Blog
Your corporate blog posts may be newsworthy to the media. Journalists may be missing out on news you haven't put in a press release because they don't know you have a blog. You never know what the media will find interesting enough to publish so use your corporate blog as another tool in your PR efforts.
Create a High-Resolution Image Gallery
Emailing journalists your high-quality images is a waste of everyone's time. Upload images of your corporate executives, products and logos to an image gallery in your media newsroom. Reporters meet daily deadlines. If they're having to wait for someone in your PR department to find a certain image and email it to them, you're costing both of you precious time in this fast-paced business world. Make your images available for instant download.
Don't Forget the Contact Information
You may have a dynamite newsroom that gives reporters exactly what they need to know. But you can never guess when a question will pop up at the last minute and they need to contact someone in charge of your PR. Create a contact page in your media newsroom that gives your phone number, mailing address, cell phone numbers, instant messaging account names, email address, etc. Always ensure this page is updated.
Working with the media is much easier when you make every attempt to give them the information they need to run a story without them having to pick up the phone or send an email. Reporters who can turn to your site for immediate answers start looking to you for quotes and news over your competitors.