Most of the time multimedia content passes us by like dust in the wind. But there are a couple times a day when we stumble upon a must watch video on YouTube like “Great White Shark Surfing,” or some awkwardly “wrong” video with Louis CK. Maybe, for the enlightened ones, a good educational video.
As marketers, we tend to notice quality business-oriented multimedia content when it’s time for us to try and tell our company’s story. Instinctively, we already know that creating a multimedia news release will have a greater impact than a simple traditional text press release.
But how do we create a plan in order to ensure that our multimedia news release campaigns are successful?
But just in case you doubted your gut, here’s some data to let you know that your media relations efforts are not in vain when we integrate excellent photos, infographics and video in to our multimedia marketing content (data provided by “The Power of Visual Storytelling” by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio):
Related Article: From Hello to Close: How Content Marketing Is The Salesman Evolved
Have a Plan (and an Outcome in Mind)
Your ultimate objective is to get people to read your content. So when you initiate media relations’ efforts, it’s critical to have a multimedia content marketing strategy that produces great content and gets in the right hands.
Write out what your objectives are for your article and how you are going to determine if it’s going to be successful. Possible metrics include:
- Number of media outlets who will place your article or blog post
- Number of views
- Social shares or likes
- Video plays (if applicable)
Related Article: Lights, Camera, Action: Ways to Add More Value to Video Marketing
Lets’ Get to Work (Producing Great Content is Easier Said Than Done)
When we see it, we know it’s great, but for some of us, myself included, creativity doesn’t always come easily. So, here are a couple rules to ask yourself when you are creating a story:
- Is your article entertaining or educational?
- Far to often, writers forget why people read. We can be so self absorbed to think that someone actually is interested in our new cereal box color, or that our company has hired a new CMO. Yawn. Well, if we can remember that everyone is self centered, then we can consider, “what will want to make someone read this article?” Our stories need to either make someone laugh, cry, get angry, think or learn something new.
- Would you want read it?
- Generating quality content with awesome multimedia is tough. And it’s easy as marketers to “check the box” and not push the envelopes. My first tip, for bosses, is always reject the first draft. People can always dig further. For all you writers out there, dig deep in to your personality and create your own voice. Don’t try to be all things to all people; you’ll end up being nothing to no one. If you are funny, be funny. If you bring passion, then bring it. And after you’ve created your masterpiece, ask yourself, do you like it?
- Will the title grab the readers?
- We are all familiar with the cliché, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” yet we do. And the “cover” for your article and content is your title. If they aren’t intrigued or there is no spark, they may not even get to your article. This is another reason why your multimedia content is so important. Often users will see a photo or frame of a video and that will initiate interest.
- Is you multimedia content unique?
- Listen, any multimedia content is better than none. But, if you think that your article is going to take off with the use of stock photography or a bland chart, think again. Create original infographics on Piktochart, snap your own photos (you’ve seen the iphone6 ads, right?) or even a rustic, natural video can be compelling.
- Does your multimedia content evoke emotion?
- Your multimedia content needs to deliver the same emotion as your written content. Kittens and cute kids sell. Why? Because they evoke emotion. Jack Black and Will Ferrell get people to click. Why? Because they are funny. A presentation by a thought leader or product endorsement can be very powerful if they are bringing new insights.
Related Article: Putting Strategy to Work: Comprehensive Content Marketing Checklist
Where are You Going to Push/Post Your Content?
And after you generate that killer story, you’ll have to consider how and where you are going to deliver the content. Here are some places to push your content:
- Social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
- Blogs
- Traditional Media outlets (find journalists on Twitter and pitch them)
- Multimedia sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo, etc.
How are You Going to Manage Your Multimedia Content?
Remember, a high res image can be 10-20MB, which is large. And a video can be 500MB or larger. That creates a whole new challenge in sharing and delivering content. While it’s a victory to have a reporter want to cover our story, we still have to give them these big files in the proper format, and that’s a pain.
But that’s a part of media relations, right? So how can we do that?
- File sharing solutions: Dropbox, box and YouSendIt are decent solutions when you need to send a couple files to a small number of people.
- Multimedia news release: Solid solution, albeit expensive, if you want to push your content out to the wire. Business Wire and PR Newswire are the only real serious players in the market.
- Website/ microsite: You can integrate all your content in to your website, or create a microsite with multimedia content marketing platforms like ISEBOX that are a bit easier to use and don’t cost quite as much.
Your Final Round Checklist Before Pushing out Your Multimedia Content Marketing Campaign:
- Ask yourself, is my story interesting?
- Does my story have a solid title and intriguing subject line?
- Does my multimedia content evoke emotion or teach me something new?
- Do I have a plan for where I’m going to distribute?
- Social?
- Blogs?
- Media outlets?
- How am I going to manage my content and large files?