By Mark Macias
With my media experience in TV at both the local and national levels, you’d think I would want to tell business owners that media contacts are our selling point. It’s true, I do have reporter friends and former colleagues across the US.
But here’s the honest word: media relationships are only part of the story. Strategy always beats connections.
You can be best friends with the Executive Producer at Good Morning America. (Ironically, I am friends with the Executive Producer of GMA. We both were producers at Inside Edition and American Journal at the same time). But guess what – if I don’t have a good idea, he’s not going to return my call. This is where strategy comes into play.
Earlier this year, I spoke with a US Senate candidate and he told me with confidence, ‘I know your media contacts can get me coverage.’
My media experience makes that narrative an easy sell, but it’s misleading. My media contacts don’t drive our media placements. The client still needs a great story to sell. This is where our media experience gives your business an advantage.
We know first-hand how to frame a story for coverage. Our team leverages critical thinking and creativity to conceptualize angles the media will cover. And we’re always on top of the news cycle, looking for timely topics to position our clients with the media.
Questions to Ask your PR Firm
If you’re researching the best PR firms, do your due diligence on their background. Ask the critical questions, and if you’re not sure of those, here’s a list of questions I would ask my PR firm. My experience inside the media is the driving force behind those questions.
Finance Monthly and ACQ5 5 – an international industry award – named Macias PR the 2017-2019 Strategic PR Firm of the Year, and PR Firm of the Year – USA. This was the third year in a row that Finance Monthly recognized our firm. The founder – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. He is also a PR contributor with CNBC, providing media analysis, insight and crisis advice on timely business topics.