SMEs can reap the benefits of business growth and credibility with a well targeted media campaign, says Profile Media Managing Director Sue Papadoulis.
It’s a strategy often overlooked by SMEs who are more likely to look to social media, traditional advertising or reliance on word of mouth and referrals, she says.
Papadoulis will reveal how to get what you want from the media at the CCI Growth, Strategy and Investment Forum, which will feature a panel of experts, on March 21.
“It’s a public relations strategy that uses publicity to grow a business and gain credibility by increasing awareness of themselves,” she says.
“Reaching out to the media isn’t always an obvious thing and there are a variety of reasons for that but it’s actually a positive strategy that can have a multitude of good outcomes if you do it in the right way.”
But Papadoulis, a former journalist, and her team of ex journalists from television, radio, digital and newspapers know exactly what the media wants and target campaigns for clients accordingly.
“A lot of people when they are reaching out to the media think of it as a self-promotional tool and the media doesn’t want to be thought of in that way because it’s not,” she says.
“It’s about engaging with an audience. If you can create information and content that helps the media engage with their audience, then you will get what you want, which is promotion.
“But it has to be interesting for an audience to engage with – it is flipping on its head what most people normally think of when they consider promoting themselves in the media.”
Papadoulis says it’s not obvious what the media wants unless you have worked in the industry.
“It’s a different take on what is traditionally thought of as PR, which seems to be more about promotion and hype, whereas we are of the ‘no BS approach’ to getting publicity.
“Journalists have the ability to understand exactly what the media wants, so if our ex-TV journo is pitching a story into TV they are speaking in acronyms that only TV people understand.”
She says delivering ‘a story on a plate’ to an industry under pressure is not only helping out media outlets in the changing environment but gets clients the exposure they want.
A psychic who was spending $150,000 a year on advertising turned to Profile Media 18 months ago and has since shaved 10s of thousands of dollars off the bottom line.
“We send a press release out every month with a different idea and she’s been in the media every month since then. It’s led to regular spots on radio, TV appearances, she’s often in digital news and is across the board quite frequently.
“Last month she shared her Google analytics with me, which showed in the first 12 months with us her website visits doubled with the spikes directly relating to the dates she was in the media.”
“That’s at a time when she has reduced her advertising spend, so she’s saved an awful lot of money and grown her business.”
The panel will also include WA Leaders CEO Rupen Kotecha, CFO Centre’s Chris Cooper, Inbound Marketing’s Adam Rowles and Leap Consulting’s Zaun Bhana.
