Brand journalism approach lands aerospace firm primo coverage

Here’s how the communications teams at Raytheon joined forces to tell stories that garner top-tier media attention, and how you can do the same.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

When Raytheon opened a factory in Huntsville, Alabama, the aerospace and defense company landed media coverage in top-tier publications such as CNET and Time magazine. The story even earned valuable, above-the-fold real estate.

How does a factory opening land such prized exposure?

Through a little idea called surround sound.

Stephanie Schierholz, social media manager for Raytheon, discusses the concept in the Ragan Training session “Working in Surround Sound with Owned, Earned and Paid Media.”

“Surround sound is what we use to talk about coordinating all of our communications efforts so that they work together and amplify each other so that we’re all speaking from the same messaging,” Schierholz explains. It’s about getting all of an organization’s communications teams to work together to spread the organization’s story as far as possible.

Schierholz acknowledges that getting people in PR, marketing, executive communication and public affairs to work together can be challenging.

“For a lot of organizations and companies, this is a cultural change in the way that you do communications,” she says. It’s worth it.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.