The Branded Content Project is accepting guest post submissions from content marketing and sales experts in the industry. We invited our friend Corey Saban, a communications strategist from CS Media Works to share additional revenue ideas that groups can capture.
We are in the business of telling stories. We know that stories create emotion and get people to act, so offering the service of corporate storytelling is a great additional line of business to propel your local media company forward. Facts tell stories sell, but often, your clients are married to their widgets and don’t understand the importance of sharing the “why” instead of the what.
This is an opportunity for your team to expand on what they are already doing so well. Offer a simple training focusing on helping the client discover what makes them unique. Then remind them that people’s attention spans are way too short now for even the 30-second pitch, so keep it simple and powerful. You build trust and improve their ROI by helping them find their story and teaching them to deliver it.
Crisis Management
Companies of all sizes will deal with crises. In this day and age, it can be anything from mandatory vaccinations to a cyber-attack. Being prepared is everything because it’s not if... it’s when.
Crisis management training is essential to help your clients create a plan, provide them additional value, and allow you to capture new revenue. After all, one negative situation can affect their reputation and damage their brand. Your team can help prevent this and turn a profit.
Working in tandem with your news team, you can explain how the media works, the hazards of not having a crisis team, and the detriment of burying their head in the sand when the media calls. It’s a terrific value add but also serves as a hook to attract new customers.
As a former reporter, I have helped many organizations with a simple two-hour training that attendees say is eye-opening, especially when we role play in front of a camera, and I trip them up with baiting and or hypothetical questions. Your team can offer this service too.
Dedicate one or two people to target an industry or upsell your current client base. Then create a short presentation with crisis examples in their space, tie in everyday scenarios that are employee-related and others such as love triangles, workplace violence, and DUI. Then get a volunteer from the audience as you or a news reporter role play with them. Training works best with ten people, or less so you can have meaningful dialogue and work together on sharing a S.W.O.T analysis of issues. Once your client goes through the training, they will see the value of creating or updating their plan to include social media (shockingly, most don’t have one) and they will, of course, want to hire your team to help them. The relationship becomes more substantial because they see you as an added benefit and not just a studio that sold them on spots or videos.
Presentation Training
Lastly, you can offer presentation training. This, too, is another area where I have been successful. CEOs and business leaders love this course. They learn the value of creating strong opens to win over their audience, the power of a story, using more visuals and fewer words, a call to action, and the importance of proper pacing. Again, how is this different than putting together a news package or a video? A solid open to capture the viewer, a story, powerful visuals, and what do you want them to do?
The point is you are leaving money on the table. There is a need and a want for these services, and you can be offering them. I am in Florida and have worked with a variety of industries successfully offering these services. Don’t just be the source they go to for a creative spot, be the resource they depend on to help their business thrive.
Corey Saban teaches clients to craft their story and protect their brands. A former Emmy nominated and AP award-winning journalist, he understands that life deals pressure and performance is key. Learn more at www.csmediaworks.com or email Corey@csmediaworks.com.
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