The secret to earning your way into news coverage, earned media as it’s called in public relations, is to give journalists what they need without talking about your company, product or service. You are not the story. 

Every organization looking to grow understands, or should understand, the importance of positive media exposure. As AI search overtakes traditional online search, earned media defines how your organization shows up in AI search results. Third-party validation has never meant more in the world of brand reputation. However, getting there without being promotional is where countless organizations struggle.

Insights Matter

Whether your company is in insurance, technology, financial services or manufactures children’s toys, as an established industry player you are sometimes closer to related emerging issues or trends than the media. You have the ability to explain and contextualize these developments for audiences eager to understand them better.

Your company or your title give you entry to the conversation with journalists, but they cannot be the conversation. What journalists want is your thinking on customer behavior, economic shifts, emerging risks, operational trends or simply reactions to industry news. They may ask what these changes mean for your company, but that is secondary. If you can paint a picture of the industry without mentioning your company, products or services, you will be seen as offering useful intelligence for the journalist and helpful guidance for the audiences. Promotional efforts kill these opportunities.

Own Your Space

Don’t attempt to be a Jack of all trades in terms of topics to tackle with the media. By selecting a few key topics or areas of interest within your industry, you can more likely establish clear positions, opinions and deeper insights than your competition. Credibility means having a strong and unique point of view and the means to support that viewpoint. And that is the stuff of great storytelling that journalists love. 

One way to do this is to demonstrate useful insights when you have nothing to promote. Speak to journalists on background. Help them understand complex issues. Offer to educate them if asked or point them to others who can speak on the record if you cannot. This demonstrates you’re more than an expert; you’re a resource.

Show Up

Journalists will talk to the professionals who show up, have a clear point of view and are willing to be candid and human. But the most important of these traits is showing up. 

Some executives see media interviews as not being central to the organization’s mission. In times gone by, you could make that argument. It no longer applies. AI is scraping media to determine not only how, but who, shows up when customers or clients search for goods, products and services. Media is the first stop in building those search results. Failing to prioritize public relations ensures you will be left behind. That’s not a threat or a prediction; it’s where we are headed. 

Consequently, journalists will work with those who show up with something important to say that also speaks to their audiences. Those who prove unreliable are simply removed from the equation by journalists who need to move quickly to produce good content.

Credibility with the media is earned, not given. That credibility will increasingly prove to be one of a few gold standards that will shape the reputations of organizations and their leadership as AI takes center stage in all our lives.