Rethinking the Media Centre

Proxy

Have you ever read a press release?

How often have you thought, “How boring? Where are the pictures? Do I really need to read all that footer junk—sign-off information and legalese?” It’s a truly horrible and uninspiring experience for the reader.

Now, look at social media leaders like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They’ve created a reading experience that is compelling and addictive. All the commercial messaging on these platforms is essentially doing the same thing as a press release—providing official information from a company or brand in bite-sized chunks.

Isn’t it time for those creating and distributing press releases, brand stories, etc., to make their content more attractive, digestible, and even a little addictive?

What could this look like?

Let’s start with images.

Every press release should include a relevant image, video, or graphic. There’s almost no reason not to, except outright laziness. If PR folks argue that “media outlets want it without images,” those outlets need to get with the program.

Fact: People want images and pay more attention to articles, posts, or releases when there’s a picture. PR and media people, are you listening? Often, it seems not.

How about shorter releases?

Twitter mastered short-form communication with 140 characters. A lot of people find it challenging to convey their message within that limit, but with less fluff and marketing jargon, most press releases could do it. Then, link to longer-form content if needed.

How about video?

TV news figured out long ago that people prefer watching news to reading it in newspapers. PR has largely moved online but seems to have forgotten video. PR folks and brands could turn press releases into TV news-like videos, and we’d love them for it.

In the tech world, companies often use videos to announce product releases. Here’s a great example from Hubspot.

How about building your own media center or channel?

Whether your audience is journalists, trade partners, or consumers, a media center can act as an outlet for your messaging. Combine traditional word-heavy press releases with short-form stories, images, and videos in a single channel.

You may already be doing this on platforms like Twitter or Facebook. However, on social media, you’re competing with other brands, ads, and trolls. Why not create a brand-controlled media channel or portal? Bring users to your space, keep their attention, and make it easy for them to return with a branded URL, good SEO, and simple subscription options.

This requires planning, effort, and engaging content. While you don’t need to engage users 24/7, being present with authentic, trusted content when they seek your brand is key.

We’re all media companies now!

In PR and marketing, we need to think like media companies. Produce content consistently, like Marriott did when they famously claimed “We’re a media company now.”

Marriot's Real-time Command Centre

Focus on creating valuable, on-brand content, and distribute it through a channel you control. Use tools like Brandkit to build a Brand Portal or Media Center, or use platforms like WordPress for a blog.

Remember: it’s the content, story, images, or video that matter—not the “chrome” of the website.


I’m David Vaassen, founder/CEO at Brandkit. These views are my own. 🤔

Rethinking the Media Centre

We take a look at rethinking the media centre in the modern era and how Brands should respond to the growing monopoly power of tech giants and social media.

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Word count 551 words

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