Spring cleaning

March marks the start of Spring, the perfect time to spring clean those press lists.  

“Build relationships with journalists – research the right contacts and personalise your approach”.

Contacting the right people at the right publications is key to your public relations strategy.  We spend A LOT of time keeping our lists up to date and editing our lists so that we have the right people for the right client.  

It’s time to settle in with a cup of coffee and do your research.  When you don’t have access to databases for journalist contacts – you need to search up articles and publications and see who is writing about what. Take note of names and look for people on Twitter or Linkedin. Create an excel spreadsheet, but remember to keep it updated. Journalists move around and go on maternity leave… so keep your lists current. ALWAYS remove anyone that requests to be removed.

See where your competitors are being talked about and contact those journalists to let them know all about YOU!  Let them know you’ve just read their latest article, and how much it resonated with you.  Personalising your email is imperative.

If you can offer samples of your products – then reach out to journalists – this is a great way to make initial contact whilst also getting your brand out there.  Make sure to include ‘sampling’ in your marketing budget. 

We spend years building and cultivating great relationships with journalists – so that they come to us when they are writing about things they know we can contribute to.  It’s time consuming – but essential, the very basics of media relations.  

Good luck!