We all like to think we have built and nurtured strong relationships with journalists to help promote our organisation.
After all, it is called ‘media relations’ for a reason.
But wouldn’t it be beneficial to have a detailed understanding of what key media contacts really think about the business, its spokespeople, and the service they receive from the comms team?
Sure, you could ask them outright. But when they rely on you for stories and you need them for publicity, will you really get the frank and honest responses you are looking for?
They are of course much more likely to be candid with someone completely independent.
A media audit carried out by experienced journalists can help you gain a true picture of what is working well, identify problems and prevent adverse effects.
Consumer credit reporting agency Equifax recently authorised an audit of its key national and trade journalists in the UK and found the experience valuable.
Anna Perkins, Marketing Communications Leader at Equifax, said: “The media audit was very useful providing us with clear analysis, statistics and results.
“It has not only helped us better understand our current position and relationship with our target journalists but will inform our strategy for the year in terms of areas to maintain and improve.”
So who can carry out one of these audits? Well, we’re glad you asked.
We carried out the audit for Equifax and our expert journalists worked with them to understand the areas they wanted to cover. This included the timeliness of responses to media enquiries; the quality of press releases and media statements; access to spokespeople; whether they were communicating with their journalists in the right way; what subjects they would like to hear from them on and, how the service they offered compared to that provided by their key competitors.
But the audit was not confined to those areas and the beauty of using experienced journalists is that they could pick up on points made by the reporters and develop the conversation to gather more valuable information for the client.
Here’s what else Anna said about our audit:
“We chose Media First to conduct our media audit after working with them for a couple of years as providers of our media training.
“After a meeting to discuss our requirements and supported by their recommendations we created the key questions to form the survey and provided the contact details.
“Media First conducted the survey and managed to contact more journalists than we hoped. They quickly gathered feedback and created a clear, easy to understand and informative report for us.
“I have no hesitation in recommending Media First for any company wishing to undertake this kind of media audit.”
Contact us today and begin to find out what journalists really think of your organisation.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers. Click here to find out more about our highly practical Media Skills courses and presentation training.
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