by Felicity Cowie, author of Exposure

In my earlier blog for Lionesses of Africa, What Exactly is Media Relations, I said there are at least eight mega benefits of media relations for any business to consider:

Gain exposure with zero to low financial investment
Build credibility
Build pipeline faster
Get highly valuable shareable content
Find product-market fit
Become a thought leader and ‘category queen’
Get funding and more funding
Gain external validation

In this series of blogs, I give you more detail and tools to gain each of these benefits. Let’s look now at the final one - how to gain external validation to grow your confidence in your business.

In my experience, this is, without a doubt, the benefit most businesses want from media coverage. They may understand the other seven benefits above logically, but this is the one that speaks to their hearts.

In my early conversations with new clients, I’ve noticed that many really struggle to put into words or outcomes exactly what they want to get out of media coverage. They just know they want it.

And I believe what they want is the external validation that media coverage offers.

I believe, too often, women especially can quash this instinct as ‘vanity’ and low priority. But it’s an instinct to connect which is critical for any business and vital to prioritise from the start.

Eileen Burbidge MBE said, ‘Founders are always inundated when starting or scaling their companies and seeking out media coverage usually doesn’t take high priority as it may seem a vanity project or chasing headlines whilst forsaking investing time in the early team or product. However, these efforts aren’t mutually exclusive and often what’s needed to help develop a stronger talent pipeline or customer acquisition funnel is, in fact, media coverage and establishing the company’s position as a thought leader, expert and innovator in its field.’

It’s a powerful human need to feel that what you’re doing matters to the world. We want to get our businesses off the ground but paradoxically need to feel reassured we aren’t drifting meaninglessly above and away from the world we want to interact with and impact.

We also know that to attract and retain top talent, great customers, investors and

members we need a way to prove that what we’re all doing together is valid.

You can read more about all of this and gain tools to do it all in my new book Exposure: Insider Secrets to Make Your Business a Go-To Authority for Journalists Get Exposure

Felicity Cowie has worked as a media relations trouble-shooter for some of the world’s leading organisations and is a former BBC News and Panorama journalist. She’s worked on 100,000 story pitches from both sides. She now makes her insights and tactics available to the founders and leaders of today’s early-stage businesses, helping them gain exposure and competitive advantage. She is the author of Exposure: Insider Secrets to Make Your Business a Go-To Authority for Journalists. More information www.themediarelationscoach.com