Universities and business schools are under more pressure than ever to increase their presence in the media to attract potential students, faculty members, and demonstrate their expertise and accomplishments. The volume of material online is constantly growing, meaning it’s increasingly challenging to ensure your school and spokespeople are being seen in the right publications by the right audiences.
Keeping pace with developments in AI and tech, alongside navigating global conflicts, has placed educational institutions in positions where they need to be highly vigilant when it comes to external communications and media outreach. Alongside rankings announcements, sharing research impact, and boosting student recruitment, the demands on communications have multiplied.
And amongst all of this, in the rush to secure “top tier” coverage or the next big headline, some of the most important fundamentals of PR are easily overlooked. If your strategy doesn’t feel as effective as you would hope, you may be forgetting a PR priority that is actually key to achieving your goals.
We all want to be seen in huge, top tier publications like the Financial Times or the Economist. After all, they have large readership and reach. However, these publications won’t always reach the audience most suitable for your goals.
Trade and specialised media are often underestimated due to niche readership or lesser-known names, but the audiences reading these publications might just be the most relevant for the content or message you want to share.
Where better to secure coverage on the use of AI in the mining sector than MINE Magazine? And where else will you find a more appropriate readership for research on HR and management than Management Today, HR Review, or Workplace Insights?
Trade media is also important to the visibility of your institution online. Data from Profound, a generative AI marketing intelligence platform, suggests that only 2.6% of earned media citations in AI search come from Tier 1 publications, such as BBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, and Associated Press. This means 97.4% of citations come from elsewhere, including trade and specialised publications.
As more people rely on AI summaries and large language models to find information online, your institution is far more likely to appear in AI-generated responses if you are featured in the sources these systems actually cite. If your strategy focuses solely on Tier 1 outlets, you are optimising for less than 3% of the earned media citation landscape.
AI is also changing how journalists search for experts. In a recent session with a freelance journalist, it was revealed that, rather than relying solely on traditional pitching or press materials, they use an AI prompt to scan the web for subject matter specialists based on keywords, prior quotes, and commentary embedded within wider trend coverage, identifying experts who have demonstrated visible authority on a topic. This journalist might be ahead of the curve with how they’re using AI to search for experts, but that doesn’t mean others won’t soon catch up.
This reinforces the importance of building visibility through a variety of content types. Taking advantage of media opportunities to place expert commentary, develop consistent narratives, and maintain direct relationships with journalists ensures your spokespeople remain visible and top of mind.
Short comment on a trending topic might not appear as prestigious as a full article dedicated to your institution or op-eds from academics, but are just as important to your PR strategy for enhancing visibility amongst journalists using AI prompts.
Discoverability is increasingly shaped by how and where experts appear in coverage, and the inclusion of expert commentary within broader trend stories will influence how journalists source contributors.
With the world feeling increasingly polarised, communications professionals have to be increasingly vigilant of the topics spokespeople explore in the media, the messages they share, and how these might be perceived by stakeholders and the public.
If you want to highlight the voices of key spokespeople, such as the Dean or other faculty, you have to ensure they are well-prepared for media interactions. Not just to minimise any chance of negative response to your communications, but also to ensure they know how to most effectively engage with media – whether written opportunities or in-person or video interviews.
Without proper guidance, comment can be misinterpreted, taken out of context, or shared in ways that cause reputational risk. Even something as simple as poor lighting and camera setup for a video interview might lead to footage not being used, or journalists not considering your expert for future opportunities.
Media training equips spokespeople with the tools to communicate clearly, confidently, and consistently on sensitive topics, safeguarding both their personal credibility and that of the institution.
PR is not a magic bullet for increasing your media presence. You probably won’t change people’s minds or initiate the impact you desire from your first press release or op-ed placement. PR is a lengthy process which requires time and patience, so it is important to consistently share engaging, thoughtful, and effective content focusing on your target audience over a long-term period.
It takes time to build up a relationship with audiences as well as journalists. When business schools and universities are looking to plan a specific PR campaign, the view of the project and the results and metrics have to be over months, or even years, if you are to see real impact. You might find yourself disappointed if you expect to see your institution go viral after a few weeks of PR activity.
Schools that consider the long-term approach and stick with a consistent PR strategy are much more likely to be effective with their PR campaign.
For more information on how to know what PR priorities you should consider in your strategy, reach out to BlueSky Education today.
Kyle is experienced in working with leading institutions in far-flung corners of the globe, from London to Kazakhstan. His client list features the likes of the London School of Economics’ Department of Management, ESMT Berlin, BI Norwegian Business School, Nazarbayev University, and many more around the globe.