In 2018, marketing teams have decided to make some good resolutions! For sure, they will focus their efforts on influencing the opinion leaders that specialist media represent, offline and online. More than ever, press relations remain at the heart of the strategy!
Proof-based messaging
The purpose of press relations is to grow the brand's visibility in the media landscape and across its markets, among its various audiences. They involve a continuous, long-term effort to build a climate of trust and cooperation with the press. By seizing opportunities for targeted communication, the aim is to encourage journalists to take an interest in the brand and its message, and to raise awareness on an ongoing basis of its trades, its innovations and products, and its news.
The brand's spokesperson
« When we run influence programmes with the trade press, we commit to advising the brand and bringing our communication expertise to help define the company's identity, thereby establishing a PR strategy consistent with the media landscape and the target markets. » explains Emmanuelle Pangaud, press officer at Convergence.
As the company's true mouthpiece, the press officer implements the strategy and ensures its day-to-day follow-up, in order to:
- Selecting the information and topics likely to interest editorial teams
- Defining the angle, designing and writing the messages
- Informing the press, safeguarding the consistency of the communication themes being championed
- Organising targeted encounters: interviews, press conferences, site visits
- Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with journalists, acting as an interface
- Actively monitoring editorial calendars in order to offer tailor-made, personalised information
- Responding to journalists' requests and stimulating their interest
- Compiling press coverage reviews, monitoring the effectiveness of the activity
The objective is to build a network of partner journalists, enabling long-term identification with the brand.
To ensure their actions endure, the press relations programmes offered by the agency run in annual cycles. The work begins with a kick-off meeting - a who's who - designed to soak up the company's culture and understand everyone's expectations. This exchange makes it possible to plan the annual programme: strategy, key moments, provisional calendar, tools and materials… From there, Convergence helps brands build a « core audience »: a network of partner journalists able to react quickly to every piece of news, who will spontaneously come back for special issues, thereby enabling genuine long-term identification with the brand.
Ready to take action? Book a meeting with one of the agency's account directors!