Anytime you seek to promote your brand through media coverage, you probably have a target audience in mind. If you’re a financial professional, that audience could be people in or near retirement. If you are a marriage counselor, it could be bickering couples.
But regardless of that ultimate audience, your first audience is always the editors, reporters, TV producers or others who receive your press release or pitch. If you don’t get their attention, everything else is irrelevant.
So, how do you do that these days, when some news agencies have cut staff, leaving the journalists who are still employed swamped with work?
Cision, a PR software and services provider, has unearthed a few clues. Cision recently released its 12th annual Global State of the Media report. From Feb. 1 to March 1 of this year, the company surveyed 2,700 journalists from 15 countries to gauge how their jobs have been changing and what folks on the PR side might do to improve our relationships with them.
That’s something we at News & Experts try to stay on top of. I’ve always said that in a sense we serve two sets of clients: those who hire us to promote them, of course, but also the media themselves. We discovered long ago that if you give the media what they want – focusing on their needs rather than your needs – your odds of PR success increase exponentially.
With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some of Cision’s suggestions for building better relationships with journalists, along with how we at News & Experts have routinely put these ideas into action. Next week, I’ll bring you more of the suggestions:
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“Ninety-nine percent of those emailing me have never even read a story I wrote.”
CISION-State of the Media Report
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With those shrinking staffs, journalists can use your assistance more than ever. If you let the right journalist know you are available to serve as a source in your area of expertise – and you even provide a story idea or two – you have a good chance of building a lasting relationship.
Both you and the journalist will benefit in the process.
Helpfully yours,
Marsha
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P.S. If you want professional advice on getting the most out of your publicity efforts, give us a call at 727-443-7115 or simply reply to this email.
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