Month 8 and The End?
As I reach the end of month 8, I must say, I learned quite a bit on how to make a brand more accessible to the media. Starting with week one, I enjoyed compiling a list of journalists, bloggers, reporters, etc. For the longest time, I always thought the news came to you. Through what I learned in week one, that was hardly the case and it starts with making a list of “media” members who would be interesting in reporting on your brand. Doing this research brought up some names and different avenues that I would not have thought of taking outside of this research.
In week two, it was further emphasized to me that the news just doesn’t randomly report on something that isn’t “breaking” or “headline” news. You have to give them something about your brand to start that conversation. Revisiting the press release was a great tool because it gives an overall narrative to what you are trying to pitch. Once you have that overall story though, the challenge is the elevator pitch. This consists of pitching a story in a condensed 100-200 words (and essentially 15-20 seconds in person) to a media outlet. Because they are media, they hear hundreds of stories each day and it is up to you to give them something that stands out. The exercises this week were definitely a great learning experience for that portion of the business. In week three, we covered the handling of a crisis. It is almost inevitable with every brand you represent, that something will come up and you have to make sure the company comes out in the best light possible. Researching different crises situations and then going through an extensive list of possible scenarios ahead of time, definitely gave me some ideas on how I should prepare to represent any brands in the future. To ask yourself questions and find answers before the media asks puts you ahead of the curve and shows confidence and a solid foundation in the brand.
Lastly, on week four, we covered the media kits. Media kits to me were never thought of before this lesson. To have media assets on the ready and basic facts about your brand go a long way with the media. It kind of gives them a head start and gives them the basic knowledge of your company before diving into the bigger story, if that makes sense. Unfortunately, being in an event-based company right now, I didn’t get to really dive into the interview portion which will dock me quite a few points in this assignment. But, because I cover all the media for these events too, I have a lot of b-roll footage to use in the future and just because I missed the mark on this assignment, it won’t hinder me in getting some interviews to have in a press kit going into the future. On a final note, this I where my journey will end for now in this program. A lot of high stress situations with family and my personal life have hindered my academic abilities and my representation with my capstone project brand. Because this is the end of the semester, this is the perfect pause. I will be stepping away for now but who knows where the new journey may start. It is ironic that my journey ends on Thanksgiving week because I want to express how thankful I am from what I have learned so far. “I get to where I want to go by walking away from where I have been” – Winnie the Pooh