Building on my last post about following up until your follow through, one thing that many companies forget to do is research. They know their company/product so well inside and out that they can go on and on about how well it will work for me. What many forget to do is tell me how? That is of course, until I ask.
Many media houses have “media kits” it’s an industry standard brief synopsis of the media house with a breakdown if its distribution and demos. Unfortunately, as I said, they are standardized. So while it’s great that you know your market, how are you so sure that it aligns with my company/product. Some do in fact know this but they leave it to me to conclude from the media kit and to put together my own decision. I can tell you that the media partners that get ahead take that media kit and break it down for me on how exactly my brand aligns with it.
The only time a standard media kit should be sent out is if I am reaching out to a new media partner. But even then, the account rep should do their due diligence and reach back out to me at a later date with the customized media kit.
In case I’m not wording this correctly, I’ll give you a working example. I have had potential partners reach out to me and tell me how well their platform aligns with my brand. They break down their demos for me and remind me how great it is that they can reach these markets. But then, here’s the part that some lose me. The representative then tells me that they know we have annual events and they’d like more details on this to show how they can better target our potential audience.
You see, a good potential partner will research such things. An annual event is just that, annual, meaning they happen every single year. Most of our annual events have happened for at least 10 years, the oldest event is creeping up on 50 years! So when a partner is extremely confident that they can hit on all of our markets yet do not know staple events of the company, that’s an issue.
The companies that come out ahead are extremely proactive and remind me of where I should be. The most successful media partners actually immerse themselves in the events by attending and really understanding what it’s all about. After all, what better way to understand an event than by attending it? My favorite partners always call to tell me 1) that they know a particular event is coming up and ways that they can help free of charge like by posting flyers of the event within their company (a small gesture that works! 2) by reminding me of their favorite parts of the event from prior years and 3) by telling me how they can supplement our event with their platform to reach a larger audience.
These things sound simple enough but I can’t tell you how often these things do not happen. If you are in the position of reaching out to businesses, just show interest, real, it just makes a world of difference!
Althea Frye 