The reporter is not your enemy, and he can easily be turned into your new best friend, just by following these simple steps.1.Read
publication and know what it covers.
Whether you want to get on front page of business section in your newspaper or you hope to be next star featured on cover of Rolling Stone magazine, it’s important for you to get to know media and what types of stories it covers. Certainly a business-to-business company isn’t going to be featured on cover of Rolling Stone. Why? Because that magazine covers music and entertainment industry, not companies that sell widgets to other companies.
Don’t waste your time with publications that don’t cover your industry. There are several resources available to help you determine which media cover your industry or geographic location. Many can be found in your local library. Most are available either for an annual or a monthly fee. Some of these are Bacon’s Media Directories (www.bacons.com); Standard Rate and Data Service (www.srds.com); Gebbie Press All-in-One Media Directory (www.gebbie.com); and Writer’s Market (www.writersmarket.com). Your local chamber of commerce or Public Relations Society of America may also have a local or statewide media directory available for purchase.
Once you have made a list of publications you think your company should be in, begin to find out more about them. You need to know publication or broadcast station’s “personality” to be able to successfully pitch a story to them. How do you do that? You read a minimum of six issues of print publication, cover to cover, or you listen to a month’s worth of targeted television or radio program to get to know its focus and trends it is following. You also obtain a media kit and review demographics kit provides.
Don’t send news releases that are not pertinent to publication’s readership. Send only well-written, short releases with information that is obviously news about your company. Evaluate whether “news” is really “advertising” before you write that release. Don’t waste reporter’s time; he is busy. You will surely irritate him, and that will not be to your benefit!
2.Find out which reporters cover your industry.
Your research above will help you to determine which reporter, editor, or program director you should begin to get to know. Pay attention to which reporters are writing or speaking about your industry and start creating a database.
If contact information isn’t included in articles you are reading, look on publication’s website. It will often tell you which reporter you should contact and how you can do that.
3.Visit reporters and get to know them.
Now that you know whom you should contact, begin to develop a relationship with them. Telephone those you would like to know and set up a time to meet. Because media are often on deadline, it’s best to introduce yourself and then ask, “Is this a good time to talk?”
When you do meet with reporter, briefly tell him about yourself and company you represent and then ask how you can help him. You are not there to pitch a story about your company. You are there to find out about reporter and his needs. (Of course, you will come to meeting prepared with a couple of ideas and a media kit, just in case reporter asks you for this!)
