You’ve just completed a fantastic brand video. You were able to capture the perfect ambiance to sell your company’s vision and steal your audience’s breath away with breathtakingly beautiful visuals and the perfect song. Above all, it’s the ultimate expression of you, your business, and your mission. So, how do you get the word out to the general public?
Of course, public relations! You have a third distribution option in addition to blasting your video out across all of your owned and paid best way to promote YouTube videos advertising and distribution sources: earned. You may also get your business video published on major blogs, websites, and even the rare TV news piece with a razor-sharp PR strategy.
However, any email with a video link will not suffice. To get your video recognised in prominent magazines, you’ll need to be intelligent, patient, and strategic with how you display it. It isn’t called “earned” for no reason!
Here are some of the best tactics, tricks, and public relations strategies for getting your video seen and featured by the most popular earned media outlets.
1st step: Make your video stand out by including a clever premise, hook, or value proposition.
If you really want to stand out from the crowd, the first (and greatest) tip you can use is to come up with a PR-worthy topic before you start shooting your video. While this “secret” may be too late for those of you who already have a finished brand film, it’s still worth noting, especially for your future video.
So, what exactly is a PR-worthy concept? You’ll need to think like a journalist to figure it out. What, for example, about your business or video is timely? Consider the cultural trends and societal challenges of the moment, even if timeliness is difficult to forecast in advance. What are the issues that people are coping with? What aspect of your company’s objective stands out as the most important to customers?
What about the future if you can’t conceive of a timely viewpoint for your video? How will the future be shaped by your company’s vision? Are you attempting to tackle a problem that will arise in the future, or are you addressing a current issue that will have an influence on people’s lives in the future?
Next, consider your video’s human-interest perspective. Is it your company’s purpose to make a good difference in people’s lives? What can you do to assist? Can you demonstrate how your company is now affecting the lives of individuals in need
You might also try to develop an educational video. If your video contains facts and data that are relevant or intriguing to the readership of a magazine, it may be useful to the journalist reviewing your pitch — Especially if the film is instructional rather than promotional in nature.
Finally, if you have the money or connections, consider enlisting the help of a celebrity or influencer as a spokesperson. If your film has a celebrity, most journalists will at least watch it, even whether they aren’t sure if they will run it – and that can be your foot in the door.
Step 2: Craft a pitch that will get you noticed by the media.
Once you’ve made a video with a compelling standpoint, it’s time to pitch it — that is, submit it to relevant media outlets and journalists who might be interested in including it. As previously said, submitting a link and requesting to be featured isn’t enough.
Consider your pitch as though you were writing the article yourself when drafting it. What is the plot of your narrative, and what is the hook that will entice your readers to read it? Consider the timing – why now? Consider human interest: why should we be concerned?
Use as few words as possible to convey as much information as feasible. Also, remain sceptical. You’re marketing your video, but there’s got to be more to it. Why would you want to read this post with your video embedded in it? To be extra exact, the subject line of your email should be the same as the article’s heading. They will not click if it does not entice them to do so.
Step 3: Find the relevant writers and publications to pitch.
You’ve put in the effort to film your video and write your pitch. Don’t squander it by pitching the incorrect publication or writer! Do your homework instead. Look for videos from other businesses in your field. What publications have they appeared in? And who reported on it? What publications and networks are covering such themes if your video and firm are focused on a specific issue or mission?
Make a media contact list of at least 25-50 people. It’s not enough to email your film to five people and hope for a magical “yes.” If you want even a few people to open your email, you’ll need to contact as many people as possible. Furthermore, make certain that those contacts publish about your topic! Nothing is more irritating to a journalist than receiving pitches on issues unrelated to their area of expertise. They’re not going to cover it, and they’re not going to open your next pitch, either.
You might eventually get a response after reaching out to enough of the right people with the correct pitch. “I’m not interested in this at this time,” or “I’m not interested in this at this time,” are two common responses. “Can you tell me more about X?” or “Can you tell me more about Y?” Prepare to answer some tough questions — they’ll put you to the test to see whether this article has substance, because their editor will ask them the same questions to ensure it’s not just a promotional fluff piece.
You might even get a couple of “yes” responses from time to time. When that happens, it’s up to you and the writer to figure out how the story will be covered. Even rarer, you may receive no response at all from the journalist. Your video may be used as part of a larger article by a news organisation or media source. Accept it!
Step 4: Make a pitch to influencers about making or featuring your video.
Skipping the intermediaries and getting straight to influencers is one of the best methods to gain earned online eyeballs. While influencers lack the reputation and clout of a well-established media organisation, they do have their own communities, which can number in the thousands or even millions, and which they cultivate over time through their social media profiles.
You can ensure that your video will be seen by their followers by working with an influencer to promote or even star in it. If the influencer agrees, you may even offer to promote the video with more ad spend.
You should expect to pay a fee up front for these partnerships, so be prepared to haggle. You can get around steep video feature rates by providing value to the influencer, either for themselves in the form of products or trips, or for their fans in the form of products or discount codes.
Step 5: Include your pitch in a larger narrative or as a guest post.
Why not go all out and pitch a full-fledged story now that you’ve already drafted your proposal? You may establish yourself as a valuable voice in your field by writing guest posts for other media outlets on industry themes, and you can use your video as one of your important points.
Step 6: Include a link to your video in a press release.
While it’s an older strategy, you can always put your brand video in a news release sent out by a wire service as part of a broader company-wide announcement. Most journalists still receive newswire release updates relevant to their beats, so it’s not a bad way to go, especially if you have another noteworthy announcement to make.
Add Comment