After the buzz: 5 strategies to keep your brand in the news cycle
Your brand is in the news. Explore ways to maintain media presence with creative strategies for continued organic coverage.
After the initial buzz from a press release fades, the challenge is to keep your brand in the public eye. One recognized approach is to launch a series of press release campaigns. However, the real question is how to maintain interest in your brand after the initial excitement has settled. This period is crucial for transitioning from a momentary spotlight to sustained visibility.
In Content Collision (C2), we've helped more than 200 tech companies build their presence and maintain their credibility. Based on this experience, we've found that there are at least five key strategies to keep your brand in the news after a major media appearance. These strategies focus on maintaining media engagement and public interest, ensuring your brand continues to be a topic of conversation beyond its first big break.
The goal is to keep the conversation around your brand alive. Doing so helps your brand not only make a one-time splash but also maintain ongoing visibility.
This consistent presence helps solidify your brand as an authority in its field and maintain trust with your audience. It's about creating a lasting narrative that keeps your brand relevant in ongoing discussions.
By implementing these strategies, your brand can achieve more than just temporary attention; it can become a regular point of reference in the news.
This approach requires a focused effort to engage with the media and public continuously, ensuring that your brand remains a trusted and authoritative figure in your industry.
Partnering with KOLs
Working with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) helps your brand reach more people after press releases. When you partner with KOLs, their followers, who usually trust what they say, can learn about your brand. This means more people talking about your brand, keeping it in the spotlight and building a community around it.
This strategy is about more than just getting KOLs to talk about your brand. It involves working together on creating content, KOLs taking over your social media for a day, or KOLs starting conversations that fit with what your brand stands for. These actions help keep your brand in ongoing discussions and give you insights into what your audience thinks.
Choosing the right KOLs is crucial. They should share your brand's values and appeal to your target audience. If there's a mismatch, or if the KOL has previously said things that don't align with your brand, it could hurt your brand's reputation.
In short, using KOLs in your marketing can make more people aware of your brand and engage with it. But, it's important to work with KOLs who match your brand's values to maintain a positive image and foster genuine conversations.
Sustain thought-leadership initiatives
Maintaining a spot in the ongoing industry conversation is key, and a smart way to do this is by leading with your expertise. Thought leadership initiatives let you show off what your brand knows best. Whether it's through articles, blog posts addressing current issues your product or service solves, or updates that continue the story you began in your press release, you keep your audience engaged and informed.
There's a variety of ways to kick off these thought leadership efforts. The main aim is to be seen as a go-to source of information and solutions, which can lead to more features in media stories well beyond your initial press release. Being recognized for your insights and expertise in your field is the goal.
Don't limit yourself to content on your own platforms. Branch out by creating white papers or e-books in partnership with brands and partners that share your values. Educational content, like infographics and videos that tackle problems and offer solutions within your industry, also raises your profile. Joining online discussions or guesting on podcasts hosted by industry influencers are great strategies for reinforcing your brand’s authority.
By engaging in these activities, you ensure that your brand remains a relevant part of media narratives and cements your position as a leading voice in your industry. Thought leadership isn’t just about being seen; it’s about providing valuable knowledge that sets your brand apart as a reliable and informative source.
Falencia Naoenz
Maintain social media activities
To keep your brand in the public eye, it's important not only to post content on social media but also to prioritize meaningful interactions with your audience, media contacts, and influencers. These interactions help strengthen relationships and build your brand's network.
By engaging in activities such as Q&A sessions, polls, or joining in on trending topics, you can increase your brand's visibility and ensure it stays part of relevant conversations. These strategies make your brand more approachable and keep your audience engaged.
For B2B brands, LinkedIn stands out as a key platform for connecting with a professional audience and fostering industry-relevant discussions. It’s a valuable space for establishing and maintaining connections with professionals and other businesses in your field.
Overall, maintaining active and interactive social media practices is a straightforward way to boost your brand’s presence and keep it engaging for your audience and potential business contacts.
Actively participate in events and sponsorships
By attending key events, hosting panels, or sponsoring conferences, your brand can showcase its expertise, connect with potential partners, customers, and media contacts, and underline its position as an industry leader.
Sponsorship opportunities, in particular, allow your brand's executives to take the stage and demonstrate how your products or services offer solutions to industry-specific issues. This visibility not only positions your brand as a key player but also ensures your name is recognized among influential figures in your field.
Moreover, sponsoring events signals your brand's investment in industry developments and trends, helping to cement your reputation and keep your brand top-of-mind among attendees. It's an effective way to associate your brand with innovation and leadership in your sector.
Participation in these events, especially in the B2B context, often includes networking opportunities where attendees exchange contact information. These interactions boost your brand's visibility, show your commitment to industry conversations, and provide a valuable avenue for generating leads. Engaging in these events is more than just a visibility exercise; it's a way to actively contribute to and shape the discourse in your industry.
Participate in an awards and recognition programs
Simply being a part of these programs, regardless of winning, can raise your brand's profile and attract media attention. Being recognized by these awards acts as an endorsement from a third party, enhancing your brand's credibility and authority in your industry.
Moreover, involvement in awards programs is not only about gaining media exposure; it also signals to your audience and potential customers that your brand is reputable and trustworthy.
This recognition can be instrumental in attracting new leads and opportunities for your brand, demonstrating that your participation in these programs is a multifaceted strategy with numerous benefits.
The bottom line
The effectiveness of media outreach strategies depends on how accurately you can define your brand's role within the industry and its ability to provide solutions to the problems your target audience faces. It's important to know both the landscape you're operating in and the specific needs of your audience to tailor your outreach effectively.
Regular testing and monitoring are essential to determine which strategies engage your audience most effectively. By employing methods such as A/B testing and analyzing audience responses, brands can discover what resonates with their audience and what does not, allowing for continuous improvement in outreach efforts.
The key to engaging an audience is genuinely offering solutions to their problems. When brands consistently show they are focused on addressing these issues, they earn their audience's trust. This trust motivates the audience to share the brand's message, naturally extending its reach.
Content Collision provides performance-based digital PR services and B2B content marketing services for tech startups in APAC and beyond. Book a discovery call to learn more.
