Chapter 7: Earning Good Media Coverage

“Never underestimate the importance of maintaining good media contacts.  There is no substitute.” -Bonk, Tynes, Griggs & Sparks

We have to look at journalists as “news gatherers” who are gathering stories to fill their medium.  Building mutually beneficial relationships with these gatekeepers can go a long way.  They need to feature stories and we want them to feature OUR stories.  If we know the journalists and reporters, who are now more than ever accepting stories rather than searching for them, we increase our chances for them to receive, pay attention and feature our stories.

Reaching Reporters. How to contact the right person to make sure your story goes where you want it to?  I have learned about the importance of keeping accurate and specific media lists.  The topic of the news, and therefore the person you want to send the news to, changes based on the theme of the story.  If your company is Chefs R Us and they have just hired a new CEO, you will want to contact the business editor at the company but, on the other hand, if they are hosting an event in the city, maybe the features editor and the news editor for a television program will be more appropriate.  There are great programs made specifically for PR like Cision, which takes input (such as city, type of medium and employee) you’d like to focus on to send your release to and spits back out the proper contact information.  Programs like these also allow you to specify weather you want a daily or weekly newspaper or television or radio show.  Since PR computer search programs can be pricey, a little old fashion digging will do the trick too!  Just as Bad Pitch Blog states “Spend time building the list and spend time keeping that list up to date” in his post about being lazy, a media list has to be accurate.

Follow up.  The media receives many emails daily so it is important to call afterwards to make sure they got the information and to ask if they have any questions.  This will ensure they got your email and will show the importance of this story to your organization.  A few tips on making pitch calls:

1. Assume the reporter has not seen or focused on your press release.
2. Be prepared to email them the information again.
3. Know their due dates for getting news in.  Working at a large agency, often times I would have to be aware of the date I would like the release to be featured and the actual date it needed to be in the hands of the person publishing it.  If you call after they’ve already sent their layout in, you’ve wasted yours and their time!
4. Be precise.  The reporter usually has only 1,980,847 things going on at one moment.  Before you start into your spiel, ask if they have time to listen to you and then quickly state the “who what when where and why.”
5. If this is a developing large story, offer to get together in person.  This will help build relationships, too!

Interviews.  For face-to-face interviews, there are a few precautions you should take.  First, make sure all of the facts that you have align with what the organization’s message to the public as well.  Doing your homework includes knowing these facts without hesitation!  When I helped instruct a class on dealing with the media to the SC Election Commission, we couldn’t help but reiterate the fact that the media is your friend.  Acting calm and using this time to relay information to the camera, as if you are simply having a conversation, is a successful way to get your message across!  If you find it intimidating to talk straight to the camera, I have often seen the camera used at a side angle while the interviewee talks to another representative right in front of them to further encourage a conversation-like atmosphere.

*Information based on:

Bonk, K., Tynes, E., Griggs, H. & Sparks, P. (2008). Strategic Communications for Nonprofits: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with the Media (2^nd Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.