How To Build A Positive Relationship With The Media
Studies have shown that more than 300 press releases are published every day in the U.S. alone. You might think it will be hard to stand out from that crowd. But the truth is you can build a positive relationship with the media easily if you follow a few simple rules.
1-Think like a journalist, not a marketer
As a marketer, your priority is to sell more products and services. A press release can help you do that, but only in a very indirect way. A good press release is not a sales letter, and a sales letter is not a press release. Journalists are not in the business of selling your stuff. They are in the business of passing along news and information that will make a difference to the lives of to their readership in some way.
For example, it might be related to your book on fool-proof dog training or 101 uses for baking soda, but the goal of the release is to share information from the book, not sell the actual book.
2-Do your research
Know who you are pitching to if you are approaching journalists directly or doing blogger outreach. Don’t send the same email to everyone. Make sure you are sending only to people who cover your niche or industry. Otherwise, you will just be spamming them.
When researching each media outlet or blog, get an idea of what they have published recently and try to tie in your information, to position it as exactly the kind of thing their audience will be interested in learning more about.
3-Know they are busy people on deadline
Everyone is under tight deadlines these days, but journalists have it worst of all. Understand the value of their time and keep your communications brief. Don’t pester them. Find out when their deadlines are or what their most convenient times are to be pitched to.
4-Don’t publish rubbish
It takes skill to write a good press release. Having said that, the more you do it, the better you will become at it. A good press release is not a sales letter. It should be a combination of news and facts. It should also be interesting enough for journalists to want to read and to pass along to their readership. Do give them great content and don’t expect them to sell stuff for you.
5-Write great headlines
Accurate headlines that grab their attention and have keywords in them that match the content are exactly what the media is looking for. Don’t try to lure journalists with fake headlines that are sensational but have no substance in the actual article.
6-Write a great subheader
If you are using a press release distribution service, it will usually require you to provide a subheader, which you should treat as a teaser and brief summary what readers will get if they continue on with your story. Again, don’t try to be fake just to get more readers.
7-Think long-term relationship building
In order to build your brand, you have to write more than one press release. Keep people up to date about product launches, special live events and more. Publishing high-quality press releases frequently will help you stand out from most other business owners and marketers who misuse the press release. Keep distributing your press releases and pitching to the media. Sooner or later, you will get their attention and understand the “secret sauce” they are looking for. In this way, you should be able to establish a rapport with media personalities – which could lead to other opportunities and a long-term relationship, not just a single pick-up of one release.
Master what matters most when it comes to building a meaningful relationship with the media and see how much interest you can get for all your press releases.
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