How to get important organization news covered
The order in which you perform your tasks can make the difference between a
successful launch or a failure.
Most communicators have encountered this classic media relations quandry:
Do you pitch a journalist first or share the news on your own and pitch the
story later, in hopes of garnering media coverage?
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While PR tactics are subjective, drawing from the research my team at Muck
Rack has done, I believe there is a correct order if you want your story to
have a lasting impact.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to effective media relations.
The case for pitching a journalist first
Here’s the truth that your client or CEO probably doesn’t want to hear: the
moment you put an announcement anywhere on the web yourself, it’s instantly
less appealing to journalists.
Your news has lost its luster.
Yes, this includes your website and company Twitter account—and it
certainly includes third-party newswire services. When you share your
announcement elsewhere, that piece of news is already public knowledge.
That makes it less interesting for journalists who like to be the first to
tell a story or share a new angle. If your news is easily accessible
online, it’s old news.
Unless you have major influence (e.g., you’re Apple launching a brand new
iPhone), it pays to place a story with one journalist exclusively, or a
handful of journalists with an embargo date. (Just make sure you get the
journalists to agree to the embargo before sharing the news explicitly.)
What then is the key to media relations success?
Identifying your top media targets, crafting a short, compelling pitch and
offering your story as an exclusive.
If one journalist declines, move on to the next journalist on your list.
How to craft your pitch
Savvy communications pros know that media relations is an art.
Send a good pitch, and your reward is coverage that makes a difference.
Send a sloppy pitch, and face the wrath of being included in one of these
bad pitch roundups.
A good pitch is not a news release. (Unpopular opinion or not, I’ve been
questioning the value of
the news release
since 2014.)
The old way of sharing news via a news release—or even worse, via a
newswire, a relic of how communicators used to talk to journalists—simply
doesn’t make sense in today’s media landscape.
What does a compelling pitch look like these days?
-
Make it short short
. Start with an email, and keep it short and sweet. In fact, 53 percent
of journalists prefer pitches two be to three paragraphs long.
Forty-one percent say they’d prefer a pitch to be two to three
sentences long. Only five percent of journalists said they want
500-word pitches, which is the standard length of a news release. -
Make it personal
. According to our
Annual Journalist Survey, 22 percent of journalists cited
lack of personalization as the number one reason for ignoring otherwise relevant pitches. -
Don’t add an attachment
. A pitch is meant to pique interest—you can send more information
later if a journalist makes that request.
Pivoting to owned media channels
Communicators today have many more tools and resources at their disposal
than ever before.
Can’t get the media to write about it or want to spread the word further after you’ve earned a media placement?
Pivot to your
owned media channels.
1. Share the news on your blog
. You have the power to write your own news article. Share your
announcement in casual, blog-style writing with a strong hook. Make it
exciting and fun to read for your audience. Speak directly to them, using
their language.
2. Repurpose your blog post on LinkedIn or Medium
. Want to expand the reach of your post? Share it on an external free site
such as LinkedIn or Medium. Or, if you don’t have a blog, use these sites
to spread the word. The design is simple and beautiful—plus, it’s free.
3. Amplify your message on social media
. Of course, you’ll want to share the news on all of your social media
channels. You’ll get the added SEO benefits of sending traffic back to your
website, unlike if you were to share on a third-party site such as PR
Newswire where Google
disallows SEO
from paid websites.
4. Empower your employees to be ambassadors
. The people on your team are often your best brand ambassadors. Be sure to
keep them in the loop, and ask them to help share. Create a free “click to tweet”
link, prepare suggested language to use when sharing on other channels, and
encourage team members to help spread the news, too.
5. Send it out via your newsletter
. Send out your company news via a newsletter linking back to your blog
post announcement. Often, the folks who opt into your list are engaged, and
likely want to hear your news. You can also include a
social sharing buttons here, encouraging your biggest fans to help share your news.
6. Invest in better multimedia assets
. Often, a good piece of news isn’t enough to gain the attention of the
media or capture thousands of views on a blog post. Investing in assets
such as better photography, video or an interesting infographic can help
add a new level of excitement to your announcement. With tools such as Canva, creating
professional-looking multimedia is easier than ever.
When it comes time to share your next big piece of news, give these tricks
a try. By tailoring your media pitches first, you’ll increase your odds of
garnering earned media—and you’ll allow your story to have a much longer
shelf life.
Gregory Galant
is the co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack, a digital PR and journalism
platform. You can follow him at @gregory.
A version of
this article originally appeared on
Muck Rack,
a service that enables you to find journalists to pitch, build media
lists, get press alerts and create coverage reports with social media
data.
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