Brian's B2B blog...

However, a strong and current news section shouldn’t be the only reason why a journalist should visit your website. The best sites go a lot further, providing excellent ‘Thought Leadership’ content that examines the broader aspects of the specific marketplace a particular company is competing in, like generic industry data, latest market stats, research material, insightful commentary of new legislation or regulations, all of which provide that all important thing for a journalist―context. Those same sites also tend to feature regularly updated blogs, downloadable podcasts, tweets and YouTube videos. Anything to capture, and keep, the media’s attention. But whatever you do provide on your website what you see first should always be current.

Do you use your website as a platform for that kind of useful media content? Or is it just a shop window for your products and services? There’s nothing wrong with the latter, especially if a journalist is only after some basic facts-and-figures. But It’s surely a missed opportunity to stop there. Within any organization there are usually some highly-knowledgeable individuals who can provide the kind of market knowledge, context, and wisdom that journalists are desperate to get hold of, and leverage in their stories. The obvious analogy is with those financial analysts who produce regular market updates and research studies that are snapped-up by the media. And guess who gets a name check along the way? Actually, you don’t need to guess as it’s pretty obvious!

If you do want your website to be a gateway to the media and starting point for conversations with journalists (and as PR resources are stretched ever thinner websites are a cost-effective way of getting strong messages over to the press) then whether it’s the latest news, insight, or unique market research, make sure you give them something to think about…and use. And the more you provide, the more likely they are to keep coming back to you.

Once a year, large corporations create an annual report, usually available as a PDF on the company website and as a glossy publication. Sadly, all-too-often it ends-up unread in a dark drawer…or the digital equivalent. Yet look inside any major company report and you’ll find it a fantastic repository of facts, figures and commentary that can help you deliver a strong narrative to the media. Need to prove you’ve increased production? Or boosted profitability? It’s all in there, and not just facts and figures.

Annual reports also often contain statements from a chairman or CEO confirming corporate strategies, onward business focus, core messages, market conditions and future commitments. They’re a veritable gold mine.

Moreover, the information within them will have been approved (or should have been!) by the corporate communications team, as well as the accountants and auditors. So it’s ‘safe’ to refer to.

But there’s an even more important reason why you should read it—because a journalist can too. It’s the quickest way to get valuable ‘background’ on a business ahead of an interview. That’s not all they’ll read either. Your quarterly results, investor statements, press releases, website, social media pages. In fact, anything you’ve recently put into the public domain they could ask you about. So you need to absorb it before they do. After all, you wouldn’t want them knowing more about your business than you do…would you?

But how can you make all that information work for you? The answer is to create a ‘Knowledge Box’, a handy place for all the recently published corporate material your business has put out which you can refer to and use whenever you need to create messages ahead of an encounter with the press. It can be in a folder within the company’s intranet, or even a simple box-file with hard-copy literature.

Only don’t keep it to yourself. Share the knowledge amongst your colleagues and they could well have useful business information you were unaware of that you can use the next time you talk to a journalist. And don’t just restrict it to corporate information. Put in business surveys, media articles, Government reports, anything that can help establish you amongst the press as a ‘thought leader’ in your market sector.

Better still task someone in your organisation to be the official keeper of that knowledge box—someone who’ll keep it regularly up-dated and encourage everyone to contribute to it too. But whatever you put in it, the very first thing should be the annual report. Just make sure you read it first…