In the digital marketing age, public/media relations has evolved. Today’s it’s less about pitching stories to editors and more about building relationships and creditability through great writing and storytelling. At Synchrono Software, this strategy prompted editors to come to us for bylined articles, unique content for print/online placement, and requests for feeding our blog to their readers. As a result, we were elevated to thought leadership status in our category and drove meaningful traffic to our website and landing pages for deeper engagement.

Another win-win-win PR strategy deployed at Synchrono was to involve our customers. The only types of pitches made directly to the media were to promote clients as technology innovators (citing innovation and quantitative results achieved through using Synchrono software). This not only garnered media coverage for clients but in several cases, industry awards. Synchrono received great ancillary coverage and developed strong marketing-client relationships. Another big benefit was to the sales team, who could point prospects to case study/ROI coverage for validation. It also paved the way for strong reference clients and those proud to host site visits showcasing the company’s software.

While at VisionShare, our PR strategy extended to public affairs and capitalizing on issues and concerns relating to the Affordable Care Act and state-level healthcare reform. At the time, there was so much noise and contradicting information published on these issues that the strategy was to serve as the definitive voice; providing clear direction to customers/prospects on what was happening, what they needed to do, and by when. This strategy also contributed to the increase in market share mentioned earlier. In addition, I was able to get our CIO on a federal panel focused on health information security.

In essence, today’s media relations strategy is about generating demand through education and thought leadership. In working with agency partners, the goal is to build campaigns that do so while creating social chatter and a sense of community.