Recently, I was having a debate with a colleague about the power of media relations. Every PR consultant can spew the statistics (editorial coverage positively impacts the purchase decision cycle by nearly 300 percent; positive blog reviews do the same by nearly 900 percent, etc). But, it doesn't impact the sales cycle by itself.

Ask yourself this? You've got the clip. Now what do you do with it? Merchandising the clip after it posts is what will ensure the above statistics work for your company.

I ran across an interesting article on Hubspot today, written by Anum Hussain entitled 4 Content Creation Lessons Marketers Can Learn from Journalists.

The opening paragraph brought me back to that debate:

Because content creation is core to inbound marketing, part of being a marketer now means being some form of a journalist. Therefore, to find success in inbound marketing, marketers must now master the art of marketalism.

Marketing + Journalism = Marketalism.

Marketalism [mar-keht-uh-liz-em] noun, verb:


1. the merge between the rudiments of traditional journalism and using content for marketing


2. to create content that is relevant and timely for professionals in a specified industry

Hussain goes on to explain four lessons to take from journalists: frequency, research, beat organization and audience needs.

The comments also add some additional lessons, like how to adhere to a deadline. Sadly, promotion is not one of the lessons.

Here are my tips for promoting a media hit after it posts.

At minimum, do these three things.

1. Post the URL to your online newsroom. Don't have an online newsroom? Get one. And include somebody's actual contact information, not just a form.
2. Send the link to all of your fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Post the clip to your intranet

Want to go above and beyond? Include the news item in your customer newsletter. And, my favorite: Order reprints and arm your sales force with them for better customer presentations.

How do you merchandise your media hits?

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