Reaching the Media

It’s an interesting time at the minute with all sorts of new software bouncing around for those in the media industry and it can be very difficult to know which to choose. 

However there is a new platform that looks really appealing from both a client and PR perspective. It’s called mediawasp and it’s this that I’m going to look at today. 

One of the age-old issues with media relations is the challenge that comes with getting your message out to as many relevant journalists as possible. 

In an ideal world, each story would be sold in one-on-one with a slightly different angle for each title, but when the hook is not unique and of broad appeal, it is more efficient to issue the story to a larger number of journalists in one go, often using a database that journalists have registered their details on and that the PR practitioner pays to access. 

But this is where controversy lie

s. 

Media complain of badly targeted press releases that are irrelevant, have large attachments and clog up inboxes. Then there are the bouncebacks, firewalls blocking access and journalists changing the subjects on which they write.  

When you’re working across regional, national, trade and online media and a range of clients, it can be difficult to keep up and know each title as intimately as you’d like. 

The good news is that there are new and better ways to help PR practitioners connect with journalists and mediawasp is one of them. 

In essence, this online site provides newsrooms for clients that can be branded appropriately and host all their press information in one location. 

News bulletins, press releases, photos and videos can all go on there and social media sharing options ensure everything can be managed under one portal. 

The offer is particularly appealing for any business wanting to ramp up its marketing efforts and raise its profile with key media. As journalists visit the mediawasp site to search for stories, it is easier to be seen on there than to try and attract influential writers to a stand-alone website, no matter how extensive and well designed the media room on there.  

It’s more than a one-off press release hit too – via mediawasp, journalists can be proactively targeted with a link to a story to drive them to the newsroom, where the story and all the other company info and news awaits so they see a much bigger picture. 

From there they can download any copy, imagery and videos made available, getting around the issue of unwieldy email attachments.  There is an obvious benefit for those companies that only have a basic or out-of-date website or no website at all and no immediate funds to progress one because it plugs that rather significant gap. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to every media platform but this one, for a reasonably low cost, offers an effective stand alone or complementary service for those keen to increase their media presence and get a higher hit rate from their press releases.  

Good archive facilities, a daily news feed, a ‘direct request for information’ button for journalists – all these things have been designed with the media in mind and create a compelling product offer. 

When you consider that 80 per cent of journalists look online first when researching a story, it’s probably worth having a peek.