The Earned Media Advantage:

A Blueprint for Working

with the News Media

In the Next 30 Minutes…

1. The View from Corporate America:

Why Earned Media Works in Shaping

Perceptions

2. Success Stories: Lessons from

Chattanooga, Salinas & Charleston

3. Telling Your Story: A Blueprint for Success

A View from Corporate America

• Survey of Corporate

Executives with Site

Selection Responsibilities

since 1996

• Learn the Investor’s

Perspective on “What

Works” in Place

Marketing

Corporate Executives – 75%

Site Selection Consultants – 25%

Demographic Profile of Respondents:

91% M

9% F

356 Respondents

Under 39 13%

40 – 49 25%

50 – 59 40%

60 and Over 22%

Age

Manufacturing– 51%

Services– 49%

Less than $25 million 32%

$25 - $49 million 15%

$50 - $99 million 11%

$100 - $249 million 11%

$250 million - $499 million 8%

$500 million and higher 23%

Gross Revenue

Corporate Executives | Site Selection Consultants

I am a single practitioner

1-25 employees

25+ employees

Size of Company

45%

47%

8%

Q:What are the three leading sources of

information influencing your perceptions

of an area’s business climate?

Q:

Influencing Executive Perceptions:

Leading Sources of Information

44%55% 37%

Dialogue with

Industry Peers

Articles in Newspapers

and Magazines

Business Travel

Leading Sources of Information

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Dialogue with industry peers

Newspapers and magazines

Business travel

Meetings with ED groups

Rankings / surveys

Online sources

Word of mouth

Personal travel

Other

TV and radio

Advertising

Direct mail

Social media

55%

44%

37%

31%

24%

What newspapers, magazines and online

sources do you read most frequently?

Where Are Executives

Getting their News?

NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES

65% Wall Street Journal

30% Local Daily Newspaper

24% New York Times

20% The Economist

15% Forbes

7% USA Today

6% Bloomberg Businessweek

6% Financial Times

ONLINE

26% WSJ.com

17% Google.com

15% Economic Development Websites

13% Bloomberg.com

11% Bureau of Labor Statistics

11% CNN

11% NYTimes.com

11% Yahoo Finance

Chattanooga, Tennessee:

Launching the “Gig City”

• Telling the story of the nation’s fastest,

fiber-optic broadband network

• Exclusive offered to The New York Times

• Subsequent coverage followed in 350 other

outlets

• Announcement received 9.8 million

impressions on Twitter in 24 hours

“Gig City” Stories:

A Chattanooga Coda:

Taking on Iron Man 3

• Chattanooga depicted as

a backwater town with

poor internet access

• Set the record straight in

72 hours sending out the

pitch to tech outlets

• The story went viral 200+

results

“Iron Man 3” Stories:

Salinas, California:

Tech Goes Farming

• Loss of the city’s largest employer

• With Silicon Valley as the backdrop, DCI

positioned Salinas as the high tech capital

of agriculture

• Major stories in Fast Company, Financial

Times, San Francisco Chronicle and

KQED

“Tech Goes Farming” Stories

Forbes Takes Notice

• Successfully attracted

“Forbes Reinventing

America Series” to

Salinas for the “AgTech

Summit” (July 2015)

Charleston, South Carolina:

From Tourism to High-Tech

• Charleston had tourism accolades, but high-

tech ambitions.

• Highlighted the region’s startups, clean

energy and aerospace companies to top-tier

reporters

• Placed 30+ tech-related articles with 22

million impressions.

Introducing “Silicon Harbor”

Dig South: Charleston, SC

• Created “Dig South,”

Southeast’s first and

only tech fest

A Few Words of Caution…

1. Highly Competitive Arena…Not every

city/region will be successful

2. It’s All About the Story…Answering a

reporter’s basic question: “How can my

readers profit by this knowledge?”

3. Not All Press is Good…Lack of control

working with the media and a negative story

is always possible

Telling Your Story:

A Blueprint for Success

• The Foundation

• Engaging the Right

Tactics

• Importance of a Strong

Media Network

• Measurement/ROI

The Foundation

• Discovery/Packaging of

5-7 Story Themelines

• Identify the Right

“Storytellers”

• Finalize a “Most

Wanted” List of Target

Media Outlets Engaging

the Right Tactics

Engaging the Right Tactics

Building a Strong Media Network

Peter Grant

The Wall Street Journal

Rosemarie Ward

The Economist

Peter Coy

Bloomberg

Businessweek

Kurt Badenhausen

Forbes

Jennifer Reingold

FORTUNE

Dan Gross

Newsweek/

The Daily Beast

Catherine Rampell

The New York Times

Aaron Weisz

60 Minutes

Cost

• Budget Range of

Successful Programs:

$150k - $250k/Year

• Multi-Year Initiative

Measurement/ROI

• Advertising Equivalency

is a Common Measure

• Ability to Penetrate the

“Most Wanted” Media

Outlets with Your Story

• Survey to Determine

Target Audience

Change in Perceptions

Summing It Up

• Media relations is one of the most

cost-effective ways to communicate

a community’s story to business decision-

makers and their advisors

• Editorial content has a much higher level

of credibility than paid media

Two Ways to Get the Report

1. Email me and we’ll send

you a copy via snail mail (andy.levine@aboutdci.com)

2. Download from the DCI

Website (aboutdci.com)