4 Easy Ways To Make Contact With Media And Journalists
4 Easy Ways To Make Contact With Media And Journalists
Are you holding yourself back from making PR contacts because you’re scared of the process you need to follow in order to get results?
Well, fear not: this week we’re looking at 4 easy ways to connect with media and journalists to start landing coverage for your brand.
What’s The Big Secret?
It’s a common misconception that connecting with journalists and media is shrouded in mystery and simply unobtainable for everyday brands. Have you ever felt this way?
Let us start by saying there is no earth-shattering secret to PR.
What there is, is many, many factors that come together to make you more attractive to media and journalists. These include:
- Your brand messaging: your ‘story’, communication style, product titles, blog content, social media presence, etc.
- Your web presence: website flow, shopping cart & checkout system, SEO, etc.
- Your range: what you sell / provide, uniqueness, quality, price, target market, etc.
- Your imagery: the quality of your photography
- Sampling / product loans: Your ability (where applicable) to offer a sampling service
- Your turnaround times: how quickly you can respond to information requests, your ability to be flexible, and importantly, your overall attitude to the media [when you’re speaking to journalists].
Once you have these foundation elements in place, you need two more ingredients:
- Time
- A plan
If you can muster all these elements together, and you can dedicate time to consistently execute your plan, you will make significant progress towards gaining PR exposure.
Are you ready? If you answered ‘yes’! then let’s carry on and look at 4 easy ways you can make contact with media and journalists…
4 Easy Ways To Make Contact With Media And Journalists
- Make Direct Contact Via Your ‘Ideal’ Publications: Want to be featured in a particular magazine, blog or newspaper? Research their media desk and email or call directly to introduce yourself and your brand. You can either pitch in your newsworthy items or events on the spot, or put your name down for future issues. Then, schedule regular intervals to re-connect with the publication to nurture your relationship.
- Use Social Media: Practically all journalists have a social media presence. Use each platform (Twitter & Instagram work well for some industries, LinkedIn for others) to connect with journalists and start building relationships over time. This method requires consistency and may not produce ‘quick-wins’, but if you have the time and determination it’s a very simple way to reach out and form connections.
- Dip Your Toes With a ‘Pay-For-Results’ Service: If you’re at the point where your in-house resources are becoming increasingly strained and you are struggling to justify the time and effort it takes to court media attention by yourself, a pay-for-results service is a simple way to get your brand in front of thousands of journalists, bloggers and media outlets. We have a service dedicated to Product brands and you can find out more information here.
- Hire a PR agency: Analyse your time, resources and business goals to determine if you’re ready to engage a PR agency. You may reach a point where it is more cost-effective for you to work with professionals (and utilise their contacts database and established relationships) than it is for you to forge ahead on your own. Not every business is ready for full-scale professional PR – but the ones that are will find gaining coverage and targeting specific audiences easier to manage via a dedicated agency.
So there you have it, 4 simple ways to get your brand in contact with media and journalists.
With the right foundation + time and consistent effort your media relationship can absolutely be established on a shoestring budget. And when you’re ready to scale your PR activities there are options to simply and affordably turn your activity up a notch.
To your PR success!
Internal image by Kaboonpics
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