What Is a Media List and Why Is It Important?
Press release marketing is about much more than issuing a press release. It’s about building your company image and brand. It’s about creating a larger following and more awareness about who you are and what you do. It’s about connecting with your audience, telling your story, and sharing your customers’ stories with the world. And to accomplish all of that, you need, to begin with, one key piece of information; a media list.
What is a Media List?
A media list is literally a list of media representatives. The list can and should include names of journalists, bloggers, and social media reporters. The list should include direct phone numbers, email addresses, social media URLs, mailing address, and maybe even their fax number.
A media list is also a document, hopefully digital, that is updated frequently. You see, journalists, bloggers, and reporters move around a lot. They change venues, they start new projects. In short, your list can be out of date quickly. In addition to creating a media list, which can initially be a time-consuming project, you also want to create a system to keep it updated. Maybe review it every three months or more frequently if possible.
Why Is a Media List Important?
A media list is the first step in an effective press release marketing strategy and campaign. From that list, you can begin to build your media outreach; a strategic plan to begin connecting and building relationships. You can pitch story ideas to key names and publications on your list and you can ensure that every name on your list received a press release when you issue them.
What Goes into Building a List?
Building your initial list can take a little time. It requires a bit of research. You can buy media lists; however, you’ll still want to dig deeper into the names. You want to find out who they write for, what they write about when they publish and any other unique information that may help you. So your media list isn’t just a list of names, but also information about those individuals. Think about why they might cover your news, what their audience is looking for, and how you can pitch story ideas that grab their attention.
Building Your List
One of the easiest places to start, assuming you don’t buy a media list, is to look at your press release distribution service’s list. Each news outlet and publication can be a great starting point. From there, you can hit social media and look for bloggers and other media representatives who may be good matches.
Once you have your list built, the next step is to identify the top people on your list that you’re going to reach out to. The list is just the first step; the next steps are to begin connecting, communicating, and building a relationship. Solid relationships are the foundation for future press release results.
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