Why Connecting With the Media is All About the Long Game
In marketing and business, we’re often encouraged to have fast results. Increase traffic, drive sales, grow your list and so on. Numbers talk, and they generally lead to profits. However, being shortsighted often leads to disaster. You see, in business and marketing, it’s really a focus on the long game that not only earns profits but ensures sustainability. If you want your business to be around in five years, then the long game is where you want to focus.
What is the long game?
In golf, a long game is a player’s ability to hit the ball from a distance. In business and marketing, the long game refers to focusing on long-term goals – specifically it refers to relationship building. And whether you’re building relationships with leads, prospects, or customers, or you’re building relationships with the media, the long game matters.
Relationships Aren’t Built Overnight
Relationships are built on trust. Trust, generally speaking, is something that takes the time to develop. In marketing and connecting with the media, trust is built by consistently proving that you are a credible resource. That you know what you’re talking about, that you understand the needs of your audience, and that you are a brand or business that can be counted on. For any media representative to want to represent you, to talk about you favorably in a story, they are putting their reputation on the line. You need to be trustworthy and to have proven that you offer value.
Timing is Everything
Often, getting a sale, or getting a “yes” from a media representative, is a matter of timing. First, you have to earn permission to connect, and then your messages have to be in the right place at the right time. This process takes time. It isn’t accomplished overnight after a Facebook conversation with a reporter. That’s just the beginning.
Being Consistently Remarkable
The third phase of the long game and the one that many businesses struggle with is being consistent. Every time you reach out to a media representative with a comment, an email, a pitch, or a press release, the information has to be not only consistent with your brand, but also consistent in value. One slip here, one lazy pitch, and you run the risk of ruining your relationship with the journalist and discrediting all of your hard work.
This is why it is important to not only understand that media relations are a long game process but to actually strategize and plan for that process. Commit to building relationships and then follow through in your actions.
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