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Pitch Perfect
We’ve all said it before – "that reporter never prints anything I send/gives me the time of day/takes me seriously" etc, etc.
Have you ever stopped to consider that it may be you and not the reporter? While hard to believe, there are definitely things WE can do better to improve our relationships with reporters, and, GASP!, possibly get some press releases printed now and again.
• Reporters hate the follow-up call unless you have something very valid and very newsworthy to pitch. Don’t continuously follow-up on everyday press releases unless you want to be blacklisted.
• Get back to journalists ASAP when they call you. If they call, you have their attention, which is what you’ve been trying to get all along.
• Make sure the contact on your release is someone who will actually answer phone calls or e-mails and who is informed about the release. If this person doesn’t know the answer to a reporter’s question, he or she needs to be ready and willing to find the answer and get back to the reporter.
• Don’t wildly fling out press releases and hope something will get printed. Research journalists, their beats and what they enjoy writing about. Find the reporter who most fits the topic of your release, and send it to them, saying, “I saw your article on so-and-so and thought you might be interested in this …”
Katie Couric in
your corner
After Today Show host Katie Couric had an on-air colorectal cancer screening, colonoscopy rates jumped more than 20 percent in the months following. Why?
Katie has clout.
People trust her and the advice she gives. In a marketplace where consumers are deluged by 10,000 to 30,000 commercial messages and 200 or so personalized messages each day, key influencers like Couric help shape how products and services are bought, perceptions formed and trends launched.
Public relations practitioners have long understood that positive relationships with key individuals will benefit their clients. Individuals or companies need unpaid advocates to publicly tout their causes, especially in times of crisis.
However, these relationships must be developed before a crisis erupts. Influencers can help counter damaging attacks or mitigate the assumption of guilt only when they have had a long-standing relationship with the organization.
For a small company, having positive word-of-mouth buzz about your firm and its products or services is more important than any other form of marketing you do.
Here’s a few tips to developing a network of key influencers:
• Get out the door. Attend every chamber or industry event you can.
• Identify who the key influencers are in your target audience and develop personal relationships with them. Once you do, make sure you keep them up-to-date on your organization’s activities.
• Remember, people enjoy helping others. Don’t be afraid to ask a friend for an introduction to the key influencers they know.
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