Improve Your Media Relations Skills

You can have all the facts, know what you want to say, and believe that your message is important to your market, yet never get a single media placement. Could it be the way you are communicating?  

Listed below are 10 highly effective tips to improving your communication with the media and efficiently increasing media exposure for your company or client.

1.   Know the reporter and the publication before picking up the phone.  First, build a targeted media list of the publications that may have an interest in what you’re pitching, and then determine which journalists you should be talking to at those publications.  If you are pitching a portal story to a technology magazine, for instance, don’t begin emailing and calling all of the reporters you can find at the magazine. You will be wasting time and reducing your chances of coverage by aggravating the staff.  Once you know who to target, you should also find out what he/she has recently written to understand the subtleties of their coverage area.  This will help you create targeted pitches and story ideas that are both compelling and relevant.   

 

2.   Always know how and when a reporter wants to be contacted.  Some reporters want phone calls, others prefer email, and still others want news the old-fashioned way – by snail mail.  In the case of breaking news, some reporters even recommend that you call them on their mobile phone if they can’t be reached at their desk.  Contacting reporters inappropriately or at the wrong time – such as on deadline – can lead to damaged relationships.