Is a Satellite Media Tour right for me and my business?
Satellite Media Tours (SMTs) are a public relations tactic that connects businesses with customers through television, radio, and internet interviews. They take place on a single day, from a studio or a distant site, and the schedule corresponds with morning and afternoon newscasts.
A Satellite Media Tour is an excellent way to ensure guaranteed coverage and reach a dozen or more news outlets quickly, making its use economical both in terms of time and money.
A media tour can be completed in a whole day, one morning, or just a couple of hours. The format and audience might be TV, radio, or the internet; in studio or remotely; live or recorded.
How is an SMT different from a traditional media tour?
In today’s complicated media climate, satellite media tours, also known as SMTs, are among the most efficient methods to get your product, or service included on television, radio, and online programs.
SMTs are a broadcast public relations technique to acquire significant media exposure. Your organization has fast access to the news media and regional lifestyle shows when your spokesperson travels quickly to 15 to 30 locations nationwide.
Traditional media tours
A traditional media tour is often a planned initiative to meet with certain media contacts in several different locales.
Companies schedule a series of editorial meetings in either major media markets (such as Boston, Chicago, or New York) or media markets located in a single area (such as the northeastern United States, the West Coast, etc.) with the aid of seasoned PR firms.
A tentative itinerary is created after notifying journalists and taking into account their mutual availability.
The company holds one-on-one meetings with press contacts once appointments have been confirmed, filling in schedule gaps with a heavy dosage of teleconferences and phone calls. The trip itself can span a week or even two. The costs, for travel, and time spent by both the PR staff and the talent, is of course enormous.
Now let’s dive deep into the types of SMTs (Live/Pre-Recorded, Radio/TV).
SMTs can be prepared in many variations based on the target audience, business, or product.
Below are a few variants to help you decide what type of tour is best for you.
- Television: Satellite Media Tours
Public relations firms, corporate communications departments, and non-profit organizations use satellite media tours (SMTs) as a broadcast PR strategy to effectively communicate essential ideas through a series of back-to-back interviews at a certain time period on a single morning or day.
SMTs normally originate from a studio in a large US city. The media frequently uses this kind of isolated setting because it enhances the interview – but they can be done with remote link-ups as well and have even been done via Zoom.
- Television: In-Studio (In-Market) Media Tours
Satellite Media Tours initially were developed as a method to efficiently reach 15-25 television networks in a short period of time. Both clients and viewers generally prefer the broadcast quality of in-studio interviews.
In-studio media tours are the most traditional method by which products are promoted. They entail arranging for a representative to appear in-studio live at key television markets around the nation to promote your product, occasion, film, DVD, book, or cause.
- Television: National In-Studio Interviews
Everyone’s dream when it comes to broadcast public relations and the pinnacle of media bookings is to get booked to appear on the top national morning programs and New York-based talk shows.
The PR cost of national media exposure is estimated in the low to mid six figures, if not much more, with an audience reach of millions.
A national television appearance may dramatically increase donations and/or sales while also promoting your brand and social message.
Interdependence PR can assist you in securing an in-studio interview on a prestigious national program with broad reach.
Interdependence is a performance-driven PR firm supercharged by the most advanced AI and predictive analytics to maximize consistent media placements in prestigious media and industry outlets.
Schedule a consultation with our PR experts and start seeing results.
If your story approach or newsworthy spokesperson warrants it, we could propose national in-studio interviews as part of your US-based satellite media tour.
Alternatively, we can create stand-alone proposals to get national media attention.
- Radio Media Tours and Audio News Releases
As a broadcast public relations tool, radio is still alive. It might surprise you but in the last decade, there has been very little drop off in terrestrial radio listening – as seen in the chat below. Interviews through radio media tours and audio news releases can essentially get the word out to 270 million weekly radio listeners.
These ultimate targets are morning and evening commuters, but a crowd that listens to the radio during the day is valuable too.
Radio media tours, RMTs, are low-cost ways to reach a specific audience with your media message.
Radio media tours are similar to satellite media tours in that they consist of a series of pre-booked interviews aimed at top market radio stations and their morning drive-time discussion format shows.
- Audio News Releases
An audio news release (ANR) is a 60-second radio news story package that comprises brief sound clips from relevant representatives as well as a voice-over narrative.
ANRs increase media exposure because by offering turnkey content to stations, they can quickly reach several hundred radio stations and networks.
The agency and the client control the message in the audio news release, and once written, produced, recorded, and given a final edit, it is sent out to interested stations and networks across the US that can be targeted for demographics and audience focus such as financial, wellness, lifestyle, and more.
- Internet Media Tours
Internet Media Tours, or IMTs, are a terrific approach to reaching your target audience in today’s digital age, and they function similarly (and sometimes in combination) with Satellite Media Tours.
IMTs consist of a series of pre-scheduled interviews with top-tier online news outlets, magazine websites, and top blogs with high online traffic.
Clients gain an online feature that has SEO potential, is shareable across social media networks, and may also be utilized for digital marketing by including internet interviews in your digital broadcast campaign.
How much do Satellite Media tours cost?
So far so good. However, now you might be wondering what’s the catch. How much does a Satellite Media Tour cost?
Well, based on the platform you use (Television/Internet/Radio) the cost of a Satellite Media tour may differ.
- Satellite Media Tours (ranges from $18,000 to $24,000; covering 18-22 television and radio interviews)
- Co-op SMTs (your product shares the limelight with between three and four other services: ranges from $10,000 to $15,000 depending on the quality of the representatives and the quality of the markets promised)
- Radio Media Tours (includes 18-22 radio interviews; costs range from $5,000 to $9,500)
- Audio News Releases (Depending on distribution strategy, production and distribution costs range from $6,000 to $12,000).
- In-Market Tours (five to ten television markets, $10,000 to $25,000 depending on the number of markets and transportation expenses*).
These kinds of remote tours are expensive, even if they are a fraction of the cost of a physical tour. , But with an experienced PR agency at the helm costs can be held to as low as $10,000 for an effective tour of major markets.
We at Interdependence PR can provide you with connections to leading news networks all over the United States while providing high-quality productions, be it IMT, RMT, or SMTs!
Benefits of having a Satellite Media Tour
Satellite Media Tours can have a massive positive effect on your brand in a short span of time.
Here are the main benefits of considering a Satellite Media tour:
- Convenience
PR agencies can essentially carry out 25+ interviews throughout the country from a single location in a short period of time. Millions of people will watch the message that’s broadcasted through satellite communication.
Interviews with each local broadcaster can range from a minute or two to ten or fifteen minutes long. In most cases, a dedicated PR agency can complete five or six interviews an hour.
- Personalized, direct communication
During a Satellite Media Tour, your brand spokesperson has the ability to tailor a message to each city.
Market-specific material is more effective than a generic ad that is utilized in all 50 states.
There is also more messaging control. We’ve seen that the majority of local media outlets ask the questions supplied, giving the business more control over the information distributed to viewers.
- Credibility and Authenticity
Credibility is one of the most difficult things for a company to attain. More than ever, consumers want to know they can trust a company before purchasing a product or service.
Satellite Media Tours are an excellent platform for being real, especially when the proper spokesperson is on board.
Subject matter specialists have a deeper relationship with their viewers, resulting in the greatest results.
- Cost-effective
Reaching millions of customers in a short amount of time provides excellent value for money.
By conducting dozens of interviews in hours rather than days, you save money on personnel and supplies.
How a Satellite Media Tour Package Can Help Your Business
Preparing for a Satellite Media Tour by oneself can become an expensive ordeal. This is why it is in your brand’s best interest to invest in a Satellite Media Tour Package from a reputed PR agency.
For a cost-effective media strategy that can provide immense ROI, a Satellite Media Tour package can provide you with the following:
- Strategic topic and story development
- Pitch material development
- Targeted pitches
- Studio, virtual, or on-location production coordination
- Technical advice and guidance for virtual SMTs
- Layout and set designs
- Complete production capabilities
- Interview air-checks
- Final broadcast usage reports
We at Interdependence PR go above and beyond the regular expertise required for a Satellite Media Tour.
Before we even provide our services, we ensure our tour program exercises this three-part strategy formula:
1. Analyze and build messaging around specific objectives
Every media tour at Interdependence PR begins with the question, “What do we want to communicate/talk about?”
Our communication will then revolve around the answer and how we can seamlessly convey it with the main themes of our client’s agenda.
2. Selecting the right media
Interdependence PR also considers the right platform for the right target audience.
To ensure maximum reach to the desired audience, it isn’t just a matter of connecting with major outlets.
It’s also important that your appearances are in key timeslots and hit the preferred demographic.
3. Timing and Execution
Having a PR agency handle your Satellite Media Tour will help you determine the best time for your tour. A PR agency-led SMT will also consider how the overall news cycle is affecting your message and what to do to take advantage of – or avoid – those associations.
For more information on what you stand to gain from an SMT package from Interdependence PR, you can contact us here.
Timeline of a Satellite Media Tour
Satellite media tours may function on a particular day for a good few hours, but planning for one may start months in advance.
Below is just a sample timeline of how the schedule is for a Satellite Media tour.
6 weeks out – The messaging has been finalized, a spokesperson has been found, media materials are being created, and the editorial direction of the SMT date has been secured.
If a survey is used, this is when it will be distributed. B-roll conversations begin.
5 weeks out -The media notice has been reviewed and authorized, and media pitches can begin to arrange interviews for the SMT day.
4 weeks out -The client receives the first SMT booking report.
3 weeks out -The promotional material for the SMT execution is completed and placed into the media alert for review by the client and/or talent. Booking reports continue to be sent out.
2 weeks out – Set design discussions commence. Brand elements for the set are delivered to the studio.
1 week out – Call for media training with the brand and spokesperson.
The day before SMT – Walkthrough of the studio, set design implementation, and final media instruction with the spokesperson.
Day of SMT – The crew calls 1-2 hours before the first interview.
5-6 Days after SMT – The first SMT broadcast report has been submitted to the client, including links to those interviewed.
After the SMT – SMT reports are sent until all airings are completed and tallied, and links to interviews are sent when they’re available.
Get 100s of Earned Media Placements with Billions of Impressions on Top-Tier Media with Interdependence PR
Learn how our industry-renowned PR professionals can assist your company in executing first-rate PR techniques tailored to your needs.
Also, see how our proprietary AI product, Interviewed® technology, may help you increase your media placements with the right journalists at the appropriate times by 300-400%.
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