There
is arguably no form of advertising more effective than a favourable news story,
broadcast segment, or article in an industry publication. The endorsement of a
trusted media professional can expand your prospective market, and engender
public trust and goodwill toward you and your business. Many businesspeople
appreciate the importance of effective media relations, but there is a right
way, and countless wrong ways, to communicate with media outlets.
This
post will recommend some general best practices for business marketing
communications with the media, and detail a few “pet peeves” to avoid.
•
#1 rule of thumb: Respect media professionals’ time.
Media professionals
tend to have full schedules, and are obliged to keep their interactions with PR
and marketing departments brief. If you respect their time—or better yet, can
save them time—there is a greater likelihood that they will respond positively
to your pitch.
•
Personalize your communications with media professionals.
Many journalists and
industry writers specialize in a particular subject area—or, in media lingo, a beat. How familiar are you with the
recent work of the journalist, publication, or news organization you hope to
reach? Have you been in touch with anyone at that that outlet before? Who are
its competitors?
Before you pitch
story ideas to writers, editors, or broadcasters, make a point of getting to
know them and the sort of stories they cover. This will improve your chances of
delivering information that is both relevant to them, and of interest to their
regular readers/audience.
Each e-mail should
be tailored specifically to one individual—avoid sending identical bulk e-mails
to many different people.
Always confirm the name, gender, and
appropriate honorific of the person to whom your e-mail is addressed before you
hit the “send” button.
Don’t pitch to a media professional
unless you’re reasonably confident that person will be interested, and hasn’t
recently covered a very similar or identical topic. Otherwise, you will give
the impression that you’re a self-promoter who can’t be bothered to do your
homework—not a good start.
•
Get right to the point.
The majority of
“hard news” stories are written in the inverted-pyramid format—the most compelling
pieces of information appear in the lead sentence, and then greater detail and
context follow. Likewise, marketing communications on behalf of your business
should be succinct and lead with the most eye-catching pieces of news right
away. Toward the end of the text, provide times, locations, and contact
information to facilitate follow-up calls and/or e-mails.
Some marketing
departments try to entice media professionals to pursue a story by
strategically withholding information. Don’t
do this. The people you’re trying to reach will rarely take the bait, and
may even resent your efforts to sidetrack them.
•
Learn each media professional’s preferred mode of interaction.
Many media
professionals don’t mind follow-up phone calls, but some prefer to confine all
of their interactions with marketing departments to e-mail. Once you know the
preferred medium of the person you’re trying to reach, make a note of it. Don’t call up people who prefer not to
receive phone calls, or send the same e-mail to the same person multiple times
over the course of a day.
When the time comes,
be prepared to take “no” for an answer.
•
Clarity, concision, and quality are important.
Try to convey your
message in as few words as possible, while avoiding insider jargon and rambling.
In many cases, time-constrained media professionals will simply re-purpose
press releases and publish them as news or advertorial stories, or transform
them into broadcast segments. The better they understand the content of your
communicational materials, the quicker and easier this will be for them.
•
When in doubt, hold off.
It is not unusual
for some media professionals to receive hundreds of e-mails and dozens of phone
calls each day. So pick your spots, and hold off unless you’re reasonably
confident that your pitch is buzz-worthy. If possible, seek the opinion of a
disinterested third party whom you trust not to leak privileged information. Is
s/he as excited about the story as you are?
