How To Pitch Journalists For Public Relations Success

By Rahul Singh

“Public Relations is a continuous process that starts from the very first day when an idea emerges. An Organization and it’s Public Relations can never be divided. Ultimately the people you serve matter the most.” - Rahul Singh

After working for years in the media industry I have come to describe Public Relations as communication that deals with the science of the human brain and the art of formulating words that make an impact on the receiver. Public Relations is the bridge that gaps what a business wants to portray and what the public perceives.

It’s not easy to portray exactly what you want to pass onto the public and have them understand that you actually care about their problems and queries. It is necessary though, and building relationships with your customers and clients is as important to you and your business, as it is to them.

Good public relations involves sharing your vision and values with all people, your audience as well as people you partner with, who can help and support you.

Journalists work as the link between a business and a media outlet. Public Relations professionals understand both business and media which makes it helpful to rely on your PR manager and the strategies they identify to be important for your business success.

Based on the findings of Harold Lasswell and the ‘Magic Bullet Theory of Mass Communication,’ the media helps creates an image among the masses.

The information delivered by media has an influential impact on people, mostly due to the credibility factor. Certain information can work to improve the life of people, by providing them with information that can help them.

“Public Relations is a continuous process that starts from the very first moment your business idea emerges. Business and public relations can never be separated because getting your message out is what matters most.” #PublicRelations #PR #Communication #Mediarelation #Mediapitch #TheGrowthHackingBook #GrowthHackingMovement #GrowthHackingDay

I have found people can make mistakes while dealing with journalists; here are tips to help:

Journalists Are Not Easy Nuts to Crack

Journalists are looking for outstanding stories with exclusive information, which they tailor to fit their own writing style and expertise. Invest time in your content. Many journalists prefer to experience a product or service for themselves before writing about them for publication.

Journalists have a huge influence on public opinion due to having the image of being a credible source of information.

Journalists Expect You to Follow Their Work Regularly

Follow the journalist’s work, which helps you keep track of their work patterns and their style of writing. It also helps when you personalise messages to a journalist. Do not bother the journalist with trivial questions; rather use your network to gather as much information as you can, then seek their insights for the story.

Attention Seeking Can Be Good

Mass media is the best way to reach out to your audience, however maintaining a great image of your company in front of the media can be a tough task.

More often business organizations consider themselves newsworthy but the question is are they always doing something worthy of grabbing peoples’ attention? If not then the focus should be on bringing something new to the table that will help them get into the news.

Having something solid to provide to the media is an undeniable pre-requisite. Make sure whatever the company does is newsworthy, makes sense to the public and acts as an add-on to their knowledge and understanding about the company.

Journalists are already under pressure to get exclusive information for their publications. With journalists receiving so many emails from Public Relations professionals from different organizations, it’s critical to have a subject line that stands out from all the other emails they receive.

Online Media Room

Create a page on your website for your Online Media Room. Include any media coverage pieces, company information and any images a journalist may need to help them write a story about your company.

Make it simple for journalists and reporters to quickly access important and relevant information and copy it for use in their own documents.

Include large headlines for each item on your page, to make it quick and easy for journalists to find the information and images they are looking for.

What To Include In Your Online Media Room and Press Kit:

1. Images for Company Logo, Team Members and Main Product Images
2. Company Name, History, Mission and Purpose
3. Company Contact Information and Location with Google Map if relevant
4. Links to Articles, Interviews, prior Media Reports and Press Releases
5. Links to Annual Reports and Company Yearbooks
6. Links to Social Media Business Pages
7. Quotes, Reviews, Testimonials and Awards

Follow Media Outlets, Reporters and Journalists on Social Media

Follow the journalists and their work through social media, don’t go overboard and make them wary of you. Find opportunities to have real conversations through their posts and send them greetings for their outstanding stories.

When they do create a story about you and your business, be grateful and show your appreciation.

Most importantly, take the time to meet them in person and build a friendly relationship with them, as well as a professional one.

Keep track of journalists covering similar stories and add them to a database.

Frequently share any changes that occur in your industry.

Developing a friendly relationship and having regular contact with journalists gives you leverage to get your story covered.

Providing journalists with valuable information does work in the long term.

Perfecting Your PR Pitch

Many businesses make mistakes when they pitch their story.

Use all the information you’ve obtained from your research and put it to good use. Invest some time before you actually reach out to the journalists and decide exactly what you are going to say when you call or meet them in person. This minimizes the chance of slipping in the wrong information at the wrong time.

The pitch mail you send a journalist should be an extension of the summary of information for your organization.

Have your Online Media Room ready to make it easier for reporters and journalists to research your company.

When Your Story Gets Featured, The Game Is Just Starting

Once your story has been featured, use every opportunity to market the media coverage on social media. Regular postings help to instill a good brand image in the public eye.

Share your opinions with people and tag them in the posts. These days social media is the best way to promote your products and services, and your organization. Post and repost.

Tagging people helps to boost the posts’ visibility to your target audience. Another benefit of tagging relevant people in the posts is that you can acknowledge their contribution to a specific project, which helps to build a long-term relationship with them.

Using an official page for posts is more effective than posting through your personal social media accounts and serves better audience engagement in the long run.

Getting featured in the media and maintaining great relationships with journalists is part of the Public Relations process. You can never think the ultimate goal of reputation attainment has been reached because just a moment of lag can crumble down the castles you have been building to create a respected brand for your business.

The media plays a great role in helping a business position itself because they understand public psychology. A company that hones its public relation management skills well, will rise up to be leaders in their industry. After all, what matters most is the difference an organization can create for the end users in terms of productivity, information, cognition and more.

One of my friends asked me how I managed to get coverage for my business, and I told her it is: reading and persistence. The more time you spend on reading write-ups from the journalists, to understand their writing styles and patterns, the more it reduces the risk of getting rejected.

There’s no shortcut to getting media coverage, the more you relate with members of the media in person, the better your outcomes will be.

There might be thousands of tools that can be used for automated content development and press release distribution, but the impact they create will not be near to when you’ve met people in person.