4 Reasons Why Media Relations are Important in Public Relations
Public Relation is one of the fields in marketing that has grown a lot over the last few years. Especially with the lockdown, brands have been investing more and more time and efforts into this field. The benefits of PR are undeniable. When used effectively and timely, PR can benefit the brands in many ways.
For PR professionals, media relations are a very important part of their job. It is essential for them to maintain relations with the media to serve their clients to the best capacity. Let’s discuss this at length, and try to understand why media relations are a vital aspect of public relations.
1. Brand awareness
One of the primary reasons why media relations are important in PR is that it can help to increase the brand awareness among the target audience of the brand. Now how does this happen, one might ask. PR professionals spend an ample amount of time building relationships with people in the media fields. This also includes journalists in major media outlets. When a brand comes up with a new intervention, they often need coverage in the media. PR professionals, through their contacts in the media world, identify the relevant media channels that match with the intervention, and try to get positive coverage for the brand. This coverage then reaches the target audience. And since a lot of research is put into identifying the relevant media channels, the news is more likely to reach the target audience. This hence, increases brand awareness among new and potential customers for the brand.
2. Third-party intervention
When something is advertised to the audience, no matter what the form of advertisement is, people usually know that they are being sold to. The communication happens directly between the brand and the consumers. But in PR, as media outlets write or talk about the brand, a third party intervention takes place. The audience is more likely to trust a third party praising or talking about the brand and their new intervention, than the brand doing so themselves. When this happens, the consumers tend to see the brand as more credible and trustworthy. Especially if the third party we are talking about is a source that they tend to trust a lot. Being the best PR agency in Delhi, we understand the importance of media relations in PR, and what it can do for a client.
3. Crisis management
When a company is hit with a crisis, it can often become a challenge to control the situation. And crisis communication is one of the most important functions that PR tends to perform. The communication that takes places during such times can often make or break the brand. Media relations can help a lot in such times as well. Brands need to deliver many messages in such times to the consumers. And media mostly becomes the carrier of that message. Media relations ease out that process. Further having good media relations also can help the brand to take control of the narrative. As often the narrative gets altered by various mediums, when brand get to control the narrative, it can help them out in a major way.
4. Increase in website traffic
A positive piece of media coverage can benefit the brand in many, many ways. One such way is that it can drive more traffic towards the brand’s website. Especially if a reputed and trusted media source is involved. It can even increase the reach of the brand’s social media handles to an extent and can help them grow. And this too can happen because of media relations. As discussed before, customers tend to trust a third party more. This is the same reason that positive media coverage can often mean higher website traffic for the brand.
These are only some of the core reasons why media relations are such an important aspect of PR. And there are many more that can be discussed. The conclusion that can be drawn is that building relations in the various fields of media is an important part of the job of a PR professional and can help them serve their clients better.