Public Relations
Telling Your Unique Story to the American Media
During your time as an entrepreneur in Europe, you’ve likely built up an impressive network of media contacts and PR strategies. It can be daunting to realize that during your move to expanding into America you will have to begin fresh, but Mount Bonnell Media is here to help you get the best PR possible as you build your brand Stateside.
American PR in the Next Few Years
Although the methods of creating great public relations strategies are similar in the U.S. and Europe, the types of messages used for an American audience reflect the unique, distinctive nature of how people relate to media messages Stateside.
And, in recent years, traditional media has faced some challenges in America. David Wenger, Director of Communications at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas, says that one of the biggest challenges to American PR right now is “info-tribalism and the loss of respect for national media ‘experts.’ Major media has been dealt a million social blows, and our biggest challenge (and opportunity) is to establish our own credibility on the long tail.”
Most U.S. adults, including more than nine in 10 Republicans, say they have lost trust in the news media in recent years. At the same time, 69% of those who have lost trust say that trust can be restored.
Asked to describe in their own words why they trust or do not trust certain news organizations, Americans’ responses largely center on matters of accuracy or bias. Relatively few mention a news organization’s partisan or ideological leaning as a factor.
Accuracy and bias also rank among the most important factors when respondents rate the importance of each of 35 potential indicators of media trust.
Transparency also emerges as an important factor in the closed-ended ratings of factors that influence trust: 71% say a commitment to transparency is very important, and similar percentages say the same about an organization providing fact-checking resources, as well as providing links to research and facts that back up its reporting.
An experimental approach not only reinforced the importance of accuracy, bias, and transparency but also revealed a complex relationship between partisanship and media trust. Both Republicans and Democrats were less likely to trust news sources with a partisan reputation that opposes their own. However, they did not express much greater trust in news sources that have a reputation for a partisan leaning consistent with their own.
(Source – Gallup)
These statistics show why it’s essential to have great PR in place so that you don’t fall foul of an increasingly wary American market. It also means searching out and making links with an effective network of reliable press contacts who have trust in you and the stories you want to tell.
One of the best ways to go about this is to build your PR strategy around finding and sharing your unique, compelling business story. Customers today want authentic connection and to feel they can know and trust the brands they buy from. And, many PR experts predict that the next few years are going to see a continued shift towards the demand for more narrative based, authentic messaging, rather than highly-branded content. Google continues to emphasize natural, high-quality content in its algorithms, meaning that genuine messages that are rooted in who you truly are and what your business stands for will be increasingly important.
At Mount Bonnell Media our PR services are centered on helping you to discover your story and telling it in a way that truly connects to an American audience. Here’s how we can help you to build your brand and relationships with your new audience Stateside.a
How Mount Bonnell Media Can Help You Build Fantastic PR in the U.S.
At Mount Bonnell Media we’ve had years of experience working, living and growing businesses in the U.S. We have a network of excellent press contacts on hand who we have established trust with and who are always interested in hearing great stories from entrepreneurs like you.
To get the best out of your PR, we’ll work with you to help you identify and clarify your story. Remember, PR can’t be about creating product placements or infomercials. The press wants to publish genuinely interesting contributions to their publication that will be relevant to their audience.
We’ll work with you to discover how the combination of personal and professional experiences you’ve had to date have impacted you and led you to decide to expand into the U.S. With our skilled team, we’ll unpick special interest points and how they relate to your business and the customers you want to reach.
If you’re not sure what you have to offer in the way of storytelling Stateside – don’t worry. Many business owners find that by working with a team of professionals who are experienced in drawing out story, they discover aspects of their story they weren’t aware made for great press or ways to tell a new narrative and bring out their story in a fresh way. Once we’ve completed this process with you, we’ll work together to get that authentic message out to the right media in the U.S.
We can put you in touch with relevant media in America as well as organize taking you Stateside to attend events and even your own PR Roadshow where we invite at least 10 U.S. journalist/media professionals to meet you over a period of 3-4 days.
Another option is for us to bring you to the South by Southwest event held in Austin, Texas. The event, known as “SXSW,” is an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media and film festivals that has grown to enormous proportions since its inception in 1987. Each year SXSW is attended by 161,000 participants for music, 72,872 for film, and 75,098 for the unified conference. The conference includes special programs for startups and entrepreneurs, and the entire series of event is attended by thousands of media journalists. The economic impact of SXSW for Austin in 2018 was $350.6 million.
The entrepreneurship and startup track for SXSW in 2019 “unites founders and funders of all stages to discuss current best practices, industry news, emerging markets, and services.” It includes sessions such as “Startup-Corporate partnerships key to innovation,” featuring speakers from Dell and other companies, and “How to tell your startup story,” with journalists from The Wall Street Journal and Case Foundation. Keynote speakers also include Usman Ahmed, Head of Global Public Policy at Paypal, Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo, and Gay Gaddis, CEO of T3, amongst others.
As you can see, SXSW is an incredible place to network, find like-minded individuals, attend amazing programs and for us to introduce you to people who could be very interested in your story!