By: Ashley Moore, Founder & CEO

You’ve hired your PR firm (maybe it’s us!) to get you media coverage. You would not be alone in thinking that “public relations” means one thing: media relations, aka getting the media coverage you’ve asked for. 

But did you know that PR is so much more than earned media? You don’t need to find an integrated marketing house. It’s possible to have an agency partner that is still PR-focused or communications-oriented but able to execute more than earned media. AM Public Relations is one such agency, and we’re maximizing results. 

The landscape of opportunities in earned media campaigns has changed. It’s been shifting for a while now, but that’s a Sip series for another time. In short, there are fewer reporters to cover more news than ever before. Even with “new media” in the mix, like podcasts and substacks, there are not enough outlets of any type to cover the sheer volume of global information. 

Enter Connective PR™ 

So, how do you connect to get your message out? You need a campaign that “connects” multiple communications tactics that make sense for your target audience. 

That is why we created Connective PR™. The framework is a full-service approach that may include paid, earned, and owned components without having to dedicate resources to extensive digital marketing. And, by the way, it’s great if you do have an extensive digital marketing strategy. Connective PR™ homes in on execution that is editorial in nature and very complementary to any traditional digital marketing.

Narrative brand positioning is at the center of Connective PR™. This is a version of the branding work your marketing team did that takes a deeper storytelling approach. If you’re hiring your PR firm to do media relations, you’re not wrong. You simply need to let them do more with the story.

AM Public Relations Connective PR Solutions Chart

Let’s dig into an example of connecting all these tactics

Take one of our clients, a cutting-edge biotechnology company in a buzzy therapeutic area, as an example. 

  • Service #1 – Narrative Brand Positioning 

How do they take marketing messages and tell real stories with them? How do they make the messaging dynamic, insightful, thoughtful, and not use static marketing slogans? 

  • Service #2 – Media Relations

This is what you came here for in the first place, right? Media coverage that highlights the executives, products, and the company’s future for investors. Hello, Wall Street Journal, TIME, major healthcare and biotech publications. 

Here’s where many brands stop with their PR agency

  • Services #3, 4, 5 – Content, Paid Media, Events, and More

Rather than expecting the massive reach of the Wall Street Journal to rock your world, which it hopefully does, there’s more you can do.

As we saw with our client, the positioning that was of most interest to journalists also made for a stellar, extremely insightful white paper that the target audience actually wanted to download from a LinkedIn Lead Generation campaign. 

But why stop there? How about leveraging the CEO’s LinkedIn profile to build connections directly with the target audience, sharing media coverage and other genuinely interesting pieces of content rather than a sales message to connect?

This is where the magic happens. Our Connective PR™ approach allows us to make extra impact out of the stories that are obvious wins for media coverage. But it also allows us to make magic with important narratives and messages that are possibly less interesting to the media. 

Earned media is just one chapter. Connective PR™ tells the full story. By combining editorial storytelling with strategic amplification, you get more reach, relevance, and results from every message. That’s what happens when you connect the dots instead of treating each effort like a one-off.