Affiliate marketing has become critical in modern PR efforts.

Whether it's leveraging Share-A-Sale, Awin, Impact, Skimlinks, Pepperjam, or whatever the new-and-next one is called (it's not rare for brands to switch affiliate partners), it is incredibly important your affiliate program is dialed with the media first perspective in mind.

A brand that lacks a robust PR-focused affiliate component, with expert oversight, is multiple steps behind the competition for media attention. Some brands have strong in-house teams managing their affiliate programs. Others need help. And sometimes, a strong affiliate program managed by experts in public relations can more than pay for a brand's PR retainer (click here for a video we shared on LinkedIn).

For brands that need help, Remedy PR has its own integrated affiliate marketing capabilities. We can help brands launch their own affiliate programs, or revamp existing ones so they don't hinder the goals of their ongoing PR efforts.

The current media climate dictates that having an affiliate program alone is not enough to compete for media attention. A strong PR campaign requires an affiliate campaign that is competitive in structure, with the daily oversight of a team who understands how to connect with the leading publishers.

Executed correctly, a strong affiliate management program increases the likelihood of repeat media interest, generates important backlinks, and creates longer-term relationships with publishers.

Excerpts from the press release announcing our capabilities below:

“The ‘set it and forget it’ model of affiliate program management is over. For consumer and lifestyle brands, and even those in the B2B and finance spaces, a strong affiliate program is critical for a successful PR campaign,” commented Bill Byrne, managing director of Remedy Public Relations. “Affiliate management is so important to modern PR that I find it incredibly suspect when a potential partner tells us that other PR teams did not ask about their affiliate marketing program in advance.”

We quietly launched our affiliate management capabilities in 2020 after learning some of our partners’ affiliate programs were an afterthought in their marketing initiatives. This coincided with findings from its signature PR audit program, which uncovered that many potential clients’ PR teams were not leveraging affiliate networks and often not insisting that their clients had these resources in place.

With the rise of different models, including ”hybrid performance” compensation, a PR-focused affiliate program must be competitive with rates, and managed by a team that can speak the language of the e-commerce editors at the leading publishers.

“Cookies are going away. Performance-based ads are costing more. PR continues to be an effective resource for awareness and brand building, but it takes more than a simple press release and relationships to make the magic happen,” continued Byrne. “If you don’t have an affiliate marketing program supporting your PR efforts, your product may as well be vaporware.” The full press release on our PR-focused affiliate marketing capabilities can be found on the Associated Press website and Outdoor Sportswire.

Bigger is often not better in PR. How do you measure the results of a PR campaign?

Number of placements? Impression numbers? If that's not how we measure the effectiveness of an ad, why do we translate advertising equivalencies to public relations campaigns?

One of our agency directors was just featured by Bulldog Reporter in an article on the dicey topic of measurement.

You can read all about it here.

If you like this post, please share it on LinkedIn. And let us know so we can thank you later!

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There’s a major misconception in terms of how PR placements actually come about.

We had one agency partner – who we thought was pretty savvy – ask us why we “couldn’t just blast email some mommy bloggers” and get quick results. He wasn't as savvy as we thought...

What most PR agencies won’t readily admit is that the media landscape is changing and there’s more competition than ever for placements.

Even so, the good stories can rise to the top, but often it will take some solid effort unless you're the iPhone of your industry and simply bleed PR.

We’ve outlined below some select examples of great PR placements we’ve had happen for a few clients during the last two years and how long it took to see them happen. If you're not regularly dealing with the media making pitch calls, may find some surprises!

Example 1: New Product Launch - National Men’s Magazine Website

Freelance journalist was a trusted friend of someone at the agency who we spend time with during non-work activities frequently. Literally put the product in his hand and a month later, he filed his story. It didn’t appear online for FIVE more months.

Example 2: Financial Client’s New Office - Major Market Regional Newspaper

New office openings are rarely news in bigger markets, but this client offered something in this market that few firms do. After researching who at this paper would be interested, in an email, we highlighted what we had to offer and sent it off at the appropriate time. The result was an email interview which took months to complete (due to slow responses by reporter), which was incorporated into a feature story. There was more to it than that, including the client being misquoted multiple times in an early draft. (again, this was an email interview). Thankfully we were able review ahead of time (which rarely happens – you should never ask a reporter for this) and we corrected it. Four months after our initial email went out, the piece appeared online and in print, and the local office's phone rang with some impressive people on the other end.

Example 3: Client's Industry Announcement - Trade Publication

While we have a great relationship with the people managing this industry trade publication, an indutry where our client is a force, we should add, that doesn't mean that the editors of this site will drop everything just for us or our client. Even though the announcement wasn’t fluff, their staff was quite busy at the time and it took a few days for them to get back to us and later, run a feature. While the announcement was important, it wasn't "drop everything" important.

Example 4 - Consumer Technology Launch / Major National Magazine

Again, the journalists at this outlet we've known for years and have a great relationship with. They almost always return our calls and emails with some sort of response... a rarity these days for most PR people. At the end of Q3 2015, we gave the team at this very respected magazine an early look and one of a limited number review units that we had available (one of 15 at the time) to try out. In all honestly, this is the next generation of a class-leading product in its category, a PR person's dream and one that is a brand that is frequently covered. At the beginning of Q2 2016, they’ve finally decided they will cover it and we’re working with them now to triple-ensure they have what they need.

Example 5 - Financial Client / Leading National Newspaper

The client at the time was a 20+ year old, independent financial firm. Mid-sized... not the biggest, but not the smallest. In our first month of media outreach (which was our second month of working together), we cold called and emailed roughly 20 financial reporters at the major newspapers around the country. One reporter, who had never heard of our client and never worked with us before, requested an interview with their CEO, who was quoted in a story that appeared roughly a week later. Want to know which paper? Hint: It’s a journal named after a street with walls… in Manhattan.

So from the above, which were we the most surprised about? Truth be told, all of them, but Example 1 the most. It took months for a story to appear online… even after the journalist - a dear friend of someone at the agency - filed it.

Which placement do we brag about the most? Example 5... Wall Street Journal in less than two months? That's PR gold!

And it was Example 3, a regional publication, where the client saw the most traction.

The reality of the current PR world is, unfortunately, that there are multiple variables affecting when and if your brand will receive coverage, and they’re often out of the PR team’s control. As we’ve said before, reporters are not parrots and on a micro-level, they all have their own needs, so research into what each one wants from you before moving forward.

Like this tip? Please share via the LinkedIn button below. Wondering if your PR program is healthy? Reach out for our complimentary PR Checkup at PRCheckup@Remedypr.com.

How do PR hits happen? What's the anatomy of a PR hit?

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This is the biggest misconception people have when launching a PR or media relations campaign. It's common even among seasoned marketers.

But it's the truth.

Here's a tip: Journalists are not sitting around waiting to regurgitate what they’re sent by PR people. They are not parrots.

We were reminded about this we saw this Tweet linking to The Walking Deadline from Billy Brown, a journalist we work with fairly regularly.

Billy, like many journalists/bloggers/content creators/whatever you want to call them, is not a parrot. Also, Billy is not an idiot and can think for himself. Why is this important to keep in mind?

If we put in the headline of a press release or subject line of an email “This Is A Game Changer!” or "This Is The Best Thing Ever!" then it better be a game-changer, or else Billy will think twice before looking at our pitch next time around. Keep in mind that we can send things to Billy that aren’t game-changers, but before we do, we better be able to explain why it’s worth his time or else we're going to sour the relationship.

Simple enough? You'd think so, but time and again PR people are asked to push things to media that either aren't newsworthy or so overstated that they turn off the intended media targets.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind when trying to forge relationships with journalists and what you need to do to ensure your efforts are deemed newsworthy.

• For the most part, media outlets need make money: They accomplish this based on selling advertising in some shape or form, the rates for which are calculated from publication sales, website traffic, Nielsen ratings, headline clicks, etc. It’s the journalist’s job to create compelling stories, relevant to the media outlet’s specific audience, that will help with this.

• What may be a good story to you and/or about your brand may not help with the point above. You need to consider that. And while your pitch doesn’t have to be a game-changer to secure coverage, you do need to explain what value it has to offer.

Personally, when looking to hire consultants for our partners, we’ve found that the best PR people are those that can secure coverage for the brands that aren’t the leaders in their space. Our overused phrase in this instance is that anyone can pitch an iPhone to the media. Everyone wants to cover the next iPhone.

• Journalists are busy. They’re not waiting around for your news, regardless of their need to drive revenue for the media outlets they're working for. They’re most likely not going to drop what they’re doing unless what you’re offering is incredibly monumental in the total scope of their relevant news world. And the more time you can give them, the better.

Even that Instagram personality with 100k that you so desperately want to feature your brand using a VSCO picture may work days, if not weeks in advance. Local media have their own deadlines, as do journalists who write for magazines and websites.

• Everyone is your competition for media coverage. Every brand, regardless of newsworthiness, if they're engaging in PR, they're potentially blocking you from securing media coverage.

• Journalists have their own coverage areas and interests. This gets overlooked often. Some will cover a range of topics, others not so much. Some just don't like certain brands. It happens. A finance reporter at one publication may cover everything from credit cards to mortgages, but at another media outlet, those topics could be spread across multiple reporters. This leads us to our next point...

• You need to go to the right person at the right publication with the right pitch. At your own company, you don’t drop off a creative brief for a new logo design with the accounting department, do you? Sure, they may pass it onto the right people, but why would you ask them to do that? They’re busy handling accounting related tasks and your request, in addition to being annoying, may cause them to think twice about getting back to you in the future.

• Send your news at the right time. We can't stress that enough. This is going to vary by what sort of media you're targeting, but again, Billy and others like him aren't just waiting by their laptops for emails from their favorite PR people every minute of the day.

We'll close with this because potential clients often ask about media lists and networks.

Relationships matter,  but the story being pitched is more important.

Remedy has developed some incredible relationships and in our network of colleagues, it's fairly easy to connect to journalists we've never worked with before. The same goes for many other PR consultants and firms and a lot of them will agree that the relationship won’t matter if we don’t follow some simple points outlined above.

If you want to secure editorial coverage for your brand, you need to look at it from the reporter’s perspective and go from there. Give them a relevant story for their coverage area(s), presented in a way they want to see it and with time to consider it.

Need a second opinion on the topic? Check out this article on PRNewser for some similar examples to what we outlined above.

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