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Do take time to listen to what
reporter says during your conversation. Your follow up call should not be a monologue but rather a dialogue. If you listen closely, reporter will indicate interest and what your next directives should be. For example, you'll discover whether or not you need to conduct a second follow up.
Do make note as to whether your release has been forwarded to another reporter. If this turns out to be case, then prepare to contact new reporter with your story idea, but follow these steps again.
Do accept "No" gracefully. When a reporter says "no" to your story, accept fact that he or she has a good reason -- at least at that particular point in time. Therefore, you should never try to push a reporter into running your story because you will run risk of alienating that reporter forever. He or she will remember you and each time you try to pitch a new story, you will be punished. Simply say "thanks," tweak your release and try again later. The timing or story angle may be wrong. Again, if you are listening closely, sometimes reporter will tell you why story will not be covered. Perhaps he or she wrote a story on a similar topic recently.
Last, it never hurts to prepare a little script to help you concentrate on specific points you'd like to make to reporter. Practice what you are going to say so that it feels natural during delivery.
Below is an example of what you can say once you have reporter on line:
Hi, John. I'm Carolyn Moncel from MotionTemps,LLC. Are you currently on deadline and is this a good time to talk? Great! I know that you like covering stories about running offices more efficiently and my company specializes in helping other businesses get their offices organized.
To kick off a new service that we're offering to our clients, we're sponsoring a contest called "Chicago's Most Disorganized Office," and release that I sent to you has all of details. Oh, you didn't receive it? Shall I resend it and to which fax number? Oh, you'd like it by e-mail instead? Can I please verify your e-mail address? You can expect to receive release in five minutes.
In case you're interested in covering story, I thought I'd provide you with some additional numbers and sources, which might help to flush out your story. Would like me to fax that to you now also? Thanks for consideration. Can I follow up with you again? If you have further questions,just give me a call at 877-815-0167 or e-mail me at carolyn@motiontemps.com.
Now, what happens if you get reporter's voice mail? Actually you can use voice mail to your advantage because it allows you another opportunity to leave your contact information, pitch your idea and offer up alternative ideas without interruption. You can use same script as above with a few modifications.
The bottom line here is this: media will never know about your company unless you tell them. You can't wait for reporter to call you because it will almost never happen. That type of response is reserved for hard news stories and extremely rare circumstances -- miraculous rescues, scandals, extraordinary acts of kindness -- and most business stories just don't fall into any of those categories. As business owner onus is on you to tell your company's story to reporter, and you do it by following up.
