PR clipping, also known as Press clipping, is a technique used by businesses or agencies to gauge the frequency of mentions of a particular company across various media platforms, including print, online, or broadcast. That’s why press clippings are still essential; learn here what they are and have an example that will guide you to start your own.
We will present an example of press clipping and answer all your questions regarding this task that was initially limited to the area of traditional media (television, radio, press) and then extended to the various digital media that exist today.
Originally, they were done manually: each newspaper was reviewed individually, and the pages that dealt with the topic of interest were selected and filed in folders or binders.
With the passage of time and technological development, the procedure changed a lot, but let’s take it one step at a time. Here, we will tell you their importance, the types that exist, their benefits, and how you can do it.
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What is press clipping?
A press clipping is the compilation of the different appearances that your brand has in both traditional and digital media. The term “clipping” comes from when the clippings collected were physical, and the whole process was done manually.
Now, with the advance of technology, the method has changed substantially, and its scope has expanded considerably, but let’s go point by point.
What are press clippings for?
Press clipping is useful for managing your brand, as you will be able to organize and easily locate all the appearances it has made over time in all existing media, both traditional and digital.
This will allow you to observe how people’s perception of your brand evolves, which is useful for marketing agencies and communication departments.
Another benefit of press clipping is its ability to assess the work that the marketing or communication department is doing. This allows the weaknesses to be identified so the necessary guidelines for improvement can be implemented.
In addition, through press clipping, you can recognize media outlets that negatively or inaccurately reference your brand, recognizing their impact on the public’s perception of your brand. Pretty useful, isn’t it? And we haven’t even told you about the benefits of this yet!
Benefits of Press Clipping
There is no doubt about the usefulness of press clipping in any digital marketing agency, but it is possible that you still do not understand the number of benefits they offer for the objectives of your campaign; let’s see what they are:
It is easier to identify the actions of the competition and always be one step ahead.
You will be able to change the image of your brand and improve your audience’s perception of it.
In turn, this will allow you to increase your target audience.
In addition, you will always be aware of new trends in your industry and keep up to date.
Look at it this way: press clipping is like a scrapbook in which you can track how your hairstyle and outfit have changed and the reactions they invoke in the people around you.
In short, they are a clear picture of how your brand image has evolved and the reputation it has formed in the minds of your consumers and potential clients.
What are the types that exist?
A press clipping can be structured in several ways depending on the approach you want to give it, either to give relevance to a particular topic about your brand, about the duration of a specific event of the same, the coverage that the media have given it over time, or even put the focus on a geographical location and the impact it generated there.
These structures serve multiple objectives, such as building an adequate image for your brand according to its presence in the media, improving its reputation and positioning, detecting new communication opportunities, and even preventing a possible brand crisis.
What other objectives does it have?
In addition to the objectives mentioned above, press clipping also allows you to achieve the following objectives:
Thanks to them, you are able to effectively control the discourse about your brand produced in marketing agencies or communication departments and verify if the message you are sending to the audience is correct.
Also, it is possible to measure the impact the different press campaigns have had on your brand. Get to know the journalists specialized in your sector, which is necessary to build solid and trustworthy links that ensure your brand’s presence in the media.
Example
How to make a press clipping
Pay attention to the following steps you should take to put together a press clipping that perfectly fulfills its function:
1. Determine the frequency with which you are going to do the clippings.
This will depend on the characteristics of your brand and the sector in which you move; some agencies perform this task weekly, while others do it biweekly or monthly; the important thing is that you are consistent once you determine the frequency.
2. Define the monitoring tools you will use
A good clipping should contain every mention that has been made about your brand in the media, but achieving this is not an easy task; you must first choose the correct monitoring tool for your objectives.
There are many available in the current digital market; with a quick Google search, you will find several of them; just be sure to include the media in your country.
3. Determine the points to evaluate
You already have the tools; now, you need to define what you are going to evaluate. It can be the number of times your brand is mentioned in the media, the traffic publications cause, or the number of mentions of your brand in social networks.
Defining the indicators you will evaluate is necessary to know what you are looking for among so much data and focus your efforts.
4. Classify the appearances according to the media
At this point, it is about determining the traditional and digital media in which your brand has appeared.
It is important to have them well located at the time of categorization in order to begin dividing the appearances between traditional media, which in turn are divided into radio, press, television, etc., and digital media, divided into social networks, podcasts, websites, etc.
5. Analyze the emotional tone of each appearance
Study how each media talks about your brand; do they make positive, negative, or neutral mentions? This should be taken as a report that qualitatively assesses the impact your brand has on the market and how this affects its positioning.
6. Compile all the information in a document
The last step in the construction of a press clipping is to create a visual document in which, using text and graphics, all the data obtained is recorded concisely and clearly.
The clearer the document is, the easier it will be to make decisions that will help improve your position in the media in the short and medium term.
Always keep in mind that, although it may seem a tedious and time-consuming task, creating a press clipping will allow you to have a “history” of how the public eye looks at your brand over time, which gives you the possibility to take intelligent actions for the improvement of your business, so, are you ready to get started?
