Month: July 2024

Violet PR President April Mason and Senior Account Director Nicole Marshall recently led a webinar focused on foreign direct investment (FDI), with tips for how economic development organizations looking to secure more FDI deals can earn media coverage to create more awareness for businesses selecting an international location. In case you missed it, here is quick recap of the material covered in the session, or you can watch the full recording in the video above.

Understanding the Relevant Media Landscape

When it comes to FDI, there are two broad media groups that are relevant when pitching your story. First, are U.S. based national media outlets that have international reach. While these outlets are headquartered in the United States, many have reporters located in bureaus abroad, and cover international news stories. Some examples of these publications include Bloomberg, CNN, The Associated Press, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Second, are internationally based media outlets with “stringers” based in the United States. These stringers cover stories that tie into the international media landscape. They are always looking for stories that feature their own country’s ties to international markets, so country-aligned FDI deals are a perfect candidate! They are also often easily accessed with the help of the Foreign Press Centers, located in several major U.S. urban markets under the operation of the Department of State. Some popular international outlets that the Violet PR team frequently works with include Le Monde, Handelsblatt, Financial Times, The Telegraph, Die Welt and Nikkei.

The Key Elements of a Newsworthy FDI Story

As is applicable to most proactive earned media stories, there are a few key elements that create a newsworthy FDI story. First, there must be an international hook. While this may seem self-explanatory, its key to ensure that your story has ties that extend beyond the United States, and includes global markets.

Second, its key that your story it timely. It’s important that organizations capitalize on opportunities as soon as possible. For example, our client the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) had less than 24 hours to take action when they heard Toyota planned to invest $8 billion into an EV battery plant in their state. The Violet PR team issued a press release and conducted proactive media outreach on behalf of the EDPNC in a tight turn-around time with the Toyota press release, and was able to secure a ton of organic media interest!

Third, in order for your FDI announcement to extend beyond local to national level news, it is important that your story features some sort of “first, biggest, best” or uniqueness element. This means your story has to contain some type of “wow” factor, whether it be the first, biggest or best of its kind, or tapping into a new industry, etc. There are FDI deals happening around the country day in and day out, and national reporters can’t write about all of them, so you need one of these elements to make it stand out.

Recently, our client the Oklahoma Department of Commerce announced that the Norwegian solar manufacturer NorSun plans to build a multimillion-dollar factory in Tulsa. Given the large scale of this announcement, and its unique “first Norwegian company to land in Oklahoma” element, it garnered a ton of press attention.

Finally, a newsworthy FDI story that achieves economic development messaging goals should contain some level of deeper insight. This means that as an economic development organization, digging beyond the obvious transactional news and being able to offer more perspective is key to the success of the story.

Understand the Value of Relationships

Relationship building is a powerful tool for securing top-tier and quality stories with national and international reporters. In the digital age, it’s tempting to set up an interview via Zoom or another web platform because of the mere convenience. However, offering to host a reporter for an in-person interview can go a long way. Not only does it allow for more face time between the organization and the reporter, but it also helps to build a long-term relationship for the individual reporter with your market. By establishing an increased level of personal connections, reporters are more likely to run stories well into the future tied to your location.

Leveraging Your Press Coverage Once You Land It

Once your organization secures press coverage, it’s helpful to repurpose that coverage to achieve your economic development goals. This can take the form of a turning the article into a social media post, a blog, an email blast, or just general website content. It can also be valuable to follow up on business development leads with this relevant positive press coverage, using them to build on ongoing connections with international companies.

We Are FDI Storytelling Experts

The Violet PR team has a wealth of experience in navigating the international media landscape and telling stories, big and small, around foreign direct investment. If your economic development organization is looking to increase your FDI deals with the help of positive media coverage for your city or state, we are here to help. Reach us at hello@violetpr.com.

We hope to catch you at our next webinar soon!

Since their inception in 1896, the Olympics have always represented something much larger than sports. The Games undeniably serve as a unique platform for countries to position themselves as a ‘land of opportunity’ on the international stage. Traditionally, the Olympics are renowned for bringing people and countries together to tell their stories through the power of competition, and through the personal stories around the lives of their athletes.

In addition to the national messaging that infiltrates the Games, the opportunity to host the Games is perhaps one of the most expensive but highest profile earned media messaging opportunities a city could ever have, and we’re most definitely here for it

A Storytelling Opportunity that’s Bigger than ‘the Games’ Themselves

For a city who successfully bids to host the Olympics, their first audience is targeted through the bidding process. At that point, they have the opportunity to make a case for themselves, and their messaging for their community is strongly developed around the logistics and the costs at this point.

But between the time a city wins the Games, and the time they actually host them, a lot can transpire, and then their most challenging audience becomes the target – the general public. From major political dramas to infrastructural issues to environmental disasters, the stakes get higher and the pressure builds as the reputation of the host city gets closer to opening day.

For the city and the host committee’s communication leaders, maintaining a positive public relations opportunity out of the global event can be an impressive feat, no matter the challenges that arise.

The Key Messages Paris Seems to Be Successfully Landing

This year, Paris’ PR team has worked hard to highlight their approach to hosting the Games as the greenest and most affordable Games ever.

In an era rife with inflation, the affordability factor is actually QUITE impressive. By reutilizing facilities originally built 100 years ago for their hosting of the 1924 Olympic Games, the Paris Olympics Committee made great strides to reduce the environmental impact typically arising as a result of new construction. By building an Olympic Village that will become utilized as affordable housing in the future, they are also showcasing affordability by creating a venue that will fulfill a demand that extends much longer than the life of the two-week Games.

On the environmental front, their focus on reusing existing buildings and expanding their public transportation offerings will make a long-term sustainability impact for generations to come. Considerable investment has been made in extending two subway lines — including one that will now connect the Paris-Orly Airport to the city center. The other rail expansion brings online a commuter train route that will help move visitors from site to site for the Games, and then residents across town with ease. 250 miles of bike lanes were also added to expand access to Olympic venues.

Overall, these initiatives, told with strong messaging and specificity in the Paris games, are doing a great job of helping the total Olympic brand rebuild its reputation as one less rife with negative host city impact like was seen in Beijing in 2008 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The Priority Messages Paris Might Not be Successfully Landing

On the hot topic of urban homelessness, an issue that has grown in public discourse greatly in recent years, Paris has not necessarily handled the issue seamlessly. While the community has been working hard to eradicate homelessness through efforts to provide supportive housing and resources, their timing in its proximity to the Games has created an appearance of only doing the work for purposes of the “photo opps.” In the future, host cities should proactively work on sustainable solutions to these types of social issues well in advance of hosting or even bidding on the Games, learning from some of the negative press Paris has received on this issue.

Additionally, the city took a high-profile stance on cleaning up the Seine, with plans to utilize the river to host the Games’ swim marathon event. Thanks to an unfortunate recent heavy rain event, though, the cleanup project may not be completed in time for the event, and their large publicity focus on the project is now backfiring. In spite of the environmental surprise, the host city seems to be managing the highly-publicized issue well, even having their own Mayor swim in the river in a televised publicity stunt.

Smooth Sailing, and Storytelling, into the Opening Ceremony

In all, even in spite of the global technology outage that disrupted airlines and banks around the world last week also impacting the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2024 Olympic Games seem to be on track for a high caliber execution as the Opening Ceremony stage is set. With strategic focus on economic and environmental efficiency, the City of Light has overall positively utilized the spotlight of the Games to effectively draw attention to the market.

In my opinion, amidst the backdrop of political unrest, a major global election year, economic volatility, and much more, team Paris deserves an A+ on the public relations front.

In public relations, crafting stories that demand attention from reporters and audiences alike can be challenging. Our modern media landscape allows us constant access to information, making it easy for stories to get lost and be turned away by the press. This begs the question: as an economic development organization looking to build its reputation through the press, what are some useful tactics to craft a story that will distinguish your place and help you earn coverage in the overwhelming news landscape? We’ve identified four key elements that make a compelling story for delivering the key messages of your organization through earned media coverage.

1. Conflicts and Challenges

In the simplest form, news is born out of conflicts and challenges – hurricanes, crime spikes, political debates are some examples. These stories are fun to follow, generate debate, and garner a higher level of attention than stories that more “vanilla” or promotional in nature. Especially in the economic development space, organizations can be resistant to lean into conflict because of the potential political implications or the sensitive nature of many issues. However, using conflict as part of your organizational or company narrative doesn’t mean taking a hard and fast stance on hot-button issues. Rather, the notion that conflict surrounds the story can be enough to draw media attention. For example, highlighting a turnaround scenario can do the trick, sharing the challenged history that has resulted in today’s success story. Or, you can show tension by explaining how your place or organization is running counter to a national or international negative trend. In Topeka, the city countered the nation’s narrative around receiving an influx of residents by expressing a welcoming of these new residents, and garnered stories like this one in The Wall Street Journal – The American City with a Message for Migrants: We Want You.

2. A Human Element

A story best resonates with audiences and reporters when it incorporates some element of human interest. Media audiences love to understand the stories of real people, so as economic development organizations it is helpful to identify people or their unique stories that personify some of your most important priority messages. For example, the Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) sought to raise awareness for its new sensory space, built for weary travelers in need of extra support. The sensory room was inspired by an employee with a 4-year-old child on the spectrum, which attracted attention from numerous media outlets. The PIT airport’s “quiet room” was not only enticing because it was the largest and first-of-its-kind, but especially because of the personified “human element” showing how the sensory room firsthand benefited a child.

3. Uniqueness

To attract attention from reporters in our competitive media landscape, your story must have an element that sets it apart from the rest.

For example, in 2023 the Kansas City International Airport (MCI) underwent a $1.5 billion transformation. While a new airport in Missouri isn’t necessarily a national headline story, the Violet PR team was able to identify some specific nuances to show that this particular airport renovation was in fact nationally newsworthy. The new MCI terminal prioritized accessibility and inclusivity through its Flight Experience Simulator, which allowed extra-wary travelers of all ages and abilities to practice boarding and flying on a real aircraft. Additionally, the terminal was more environmentally sustainable than its predecessor and incorporated art and lifestyle amenities that highlighted the unique Kansas City culture. By leveraging these particular aspects of the terminal, our team turned an airport renovation into an enticing story for numerous top-tier media outlets.

4. Relevance

Perhaps one of the most important elements to consider with a potential newsworthy story is relevance. The importance of relevance is two-fold. First, when pitching reporters, ensure that the contents of your piece are aligned with the type of pieces they write. Reporters have specific niches and beats, and it’s easy for your pitch to lose traction if you don’t target the most well-suited individuals.

Second, your story pitch should be relevant to the current news cycle. Building your pitch using newsjacking and trendspotting is one way to be sure that the content is relevant, and your story will have a direct tie into some of the hot news topics. Reporters need to be enticed to dig into your story with a meaningful answer to the question “why now.”

For example, while many communities were talking about their COVID response, Savannah Fast Company, Forbes, and Fox Business.

The Violet PR Way

At Violet PR, it’s our job to understand and utilize these fundamental storytelling tactics to help our clients secure editorial news coverage. Is your organization or company looking for support in these efforts to reach new audiences through the national and international press? Reach out to us at hello@violetpr.com, and we can help you make these stories sing to the tune the news media wants to hear.