Building Media List – Proven Best Practices
Building a media list is one of the first steps to creating an effective press release marketing strategy. If your goal is to get media coverage for your organization and to disseminate your news in a credible and authoritative way, then connecting with the right media representatives can help. Who you put on your media list matters. These four proven practices will help you build a strong and effective media list.
#1 Build Two Lists
Yes, building a media list is a lot of work. You have to dig through all of the media representatives that cover your industry, work locally and globally, and who may be interested in writing about your company. So why build two lists? The media representatives you find on social media may be a bit different than the ones you find traditionally. Building two lists helps ensure you’ve covered all your bases. From that list, you can then prioritize them and start building an outreach and relationship building campaign.
#2 Research, Then Research Some More
Before you can pitch to a media representative, and quite honestly before they belong on your list, it’s important to know who they are, what they write about, and why they write about it. You may place a journalist on your list because they write for your industry, but you may not know that they never cover companies that are smaller than 10 employees. So that name doesn’t really belong on your list if you have a small company. Create a file for the representatives you place on your list. Clip articles, posts, and any other relevant information. Evernote is a good tool to track all of your information.
#3 Don’t Forget Media Databases
When digging for representatives to add to your list, be sure to leverage the power of a media database. You may have to pay for the service, and there are subscription-based services. Also keep in mind that if you’re using a distribution service, they may have a solid list for you to review. These databases are comprehensive, constantly updated and easily searchable – making it easy to quickly export a list of target journalists covering a specific industry or location.
#4 Review Your Competition’s Media Coverage
Don’t forget to see who is covering your competition. This is huge. Make a list of your competitors and then start digging. What bloggers, industry publications, and news outlets are talking about your competition? These media representatives probably belong on your media list and the research you do and the information you uncover may help you strengthen your own press release marketing campaign.
Build a team and set aside some time to get this done. It’s a task you can outsource to a company that handles press and public relations. It’s also something that you can do yourself. A powerful media list can help you reach your press and PR goals more quickly.
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