Why you need an online pressroom.

 

In one of our earlier episodes we covered your online media kit where you need to have the bios, photos and logos you want others to use. This is a continuation of that topic. Your online pressroom is about credibility. When you have credibility, it adds to your authority, which adds to your trust which means more people will trust you with their business. This page should be linked from your online press kit and be maintained regularly. It can includes all types of content where you or your company was interviewed, reviewed or mentioned. This includes:

• Radio interviews
• Podcast interviews
• Television interviews
• Video interviews
• Magazines - print and online
• Newspapers - print and online
• Professional organization posts
• Complimentary posts by others about you, your product, your company
• Reviews online
• Testimonials

Tips to include these on your page:

Create a page with sections for the types of coverage. People that are prone to watching videos, or listening to audio files would want them all grouped.

You may list and link to the original source, but also save a copy for yourself. The reason why is sometimes these sources go away, close down or reorganize their sites. When that happens you have broken links and it can actually undo the credibility you are trying to build.

When you are including audio files, include a way for people to also embed the episode or at minimum share it. Same with video.

If you have an outstanding interview, you may want to include the transcript from it in txt or rtf format.  If you do include that as a download, be sure to BRAND it.

Magazines in print and newspaper, scan the actual article for your records and include the magazine logo, newspaper header, date, etc. Go to the online version and print to PDF for your own records and then you have back up. In your list, link to the online version as a thank you to the publication, have a link to the PDF version of the article from your scan or the version you printed to PDF online

Magazines:

Family Circle Magazine | June 1997 | (author) | “She’s Got ‘Em Covered” | PDF

Podcasts:

SLMA Radio | May 2016 | James Obermayer | Strategic Volunteering | EMBED

 

If you require permission for people to use any of the PDFs, audio or video interviews, be sure to state your policies on this page, too. Usually this statement is only needed on your Online Press Kit page.

Periodically have someone check the links on this page to make sure everything is working. Simple things such as when a site finally gets HTTPS compliant can break a link if they haven’t handled the transition properly.

On this same page include a form for people to fill out to request and interview or speaker.

If you have people on your team that do speak regularly, you’ll want a table with a thumbnail of heir headshot, name, title, and link to their bio from your press kit page.

Set up a watch on your company name, key leadership and your product names through something easy like Google Alerts. I’m always surprised how often my non-profit, Binky Patrol, is mentioned in small community newspapers. I’d never know about more than half of the articles without Google alerts. Even small mentions can make a big impact. I think back to a tiny side column article in Family Circle in 1997 and 45 second mention on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996. We still have credibility because of those two small items in such a huge venue.

If you need help setting this up, please let me know. More tips can be found on my website: https://susanfinch.com/rootedtips/