Guidelines for Pitching to the Media

There is arguably no form of advertising more effective than a favourable news story, broadcast segment, or article in an industry publication. The endorsement of a trusted media professional can expand your prospective market, and engender public trust and goodwill toward you and your business. Many businesspeople appreciate the importance of effective media relations, but there is a right way, and countless wrong ways, to communicate with media outlets.

This post will recommend some general best practices for business marketing communications with the media, and detail a few “pet peeves” to avoid.

•  #1 rule of thumb: Respect media professionals’ time.

Media professionals tend to have full schedules, and are obliged to keep their interactions with PR and marketing departments brief. If you respect their time—or better yet, can save them time—there is a greater likelihood that they will respond positively to your pitch.

•  Personalize your communications with media professionals.

Many journalists and industry writers specialize in a particular subject area—or, in media lingo, a beat. How familiar are you with the recent work of the journalist, publication, or news organization you hope to reach? Have you been in touch with anyone at that that outlet before? Who are its competitors?

Before you pitch story ideas to writers, editors, or broadcasters, make a point of getting to know them and the sort of stories they cover. This will improve your chances of delivering information that is both relevant to them, and of interest to their regular readers/audience.

Each e-mail should be tailored specifically to one individual—avoid sending identical bulk e-mails to many different people.

Always confirm the name, gender, and appropriate honorific of the person to whom your e-mail is addressed before you hit the “send” button.

Don’t pitch to a media professional unless you’re reasonably confident that person will be interested, and hasn’t recently covered a very similar or identical topic. Otherwise, you will give the impression that you’re a self-promoter who can’t be bothered to do your homework—not a good start.

•  Get right to the point.

The majority of “hard news” stories are written in the inverted-pyramid format—the most compelling pieces of information appear in the lead sentence, and then greater detail and context follow. Likewise, marketing communications on behalf of your business should be succinct and lead with the most eye-catching pieces of news right away. Toward the end of the text, provide times, locations, and contact information to facilitate follow-up calls and/or e-mails.

Some marketing departments try to entice media professionals to pursue a story by strategically withholding information. Don’t do this. The people you’re trying to reach will rarely take the bait, and may even resent your efforts to sidetrack them.

•  Learn each media professional’s preferred mode of interaction.

Many media professionals don’t mind follow-up phone calls, but some prefer to confine all of their interactions with marketing departments to e-mail. Once you know the preferred medium of the person you’re trying to reach, make a note of it. Don’t call up people who prefer not to receive phone calls, or send the same e-mail to the same person multiple times over the course of a day.

When the time comes, be prepared to take “no” for an answer.

•  Clarity, concision, and quality are important.

Try to convey your message in as few words as possible, while avoiding insider jargon and rambling. In many cases, time-constrained media professionals will simply re-purpose press releases and publish them as news or advertorial stories, or transform them into broadcast segments. The better they understand the content of your communicational materials, the quicker and easier this will be for them.

•  When in doubt, hold off.

It is not unusual for some media professionals to receive hundreds of e-mails and dozens of phone calls each day. So pick your spots, and hold off unless you’re reasonably confident that your pitch is buzz-worthy. If possible, seek the opinion of a disinterested third party whom you trust not to leak privileged information. Is s/he as excited about the story as you are?

How Online PR Can Affect Your Ecommerce Sales

As the saying goes, the only bad publicity is no publicity. That’s a common refrain shared among PR folks and there is a grain of truth in that saying. Unless your target audience is aware of your business it will be extremely difficult to generate sales. That applies to a corner dry cleaner or an ecommerce site. Every business is dependent upon buzz and a good reputation. And the best way to generate that buzz is through positive press mentions. But you shouldn’t stop there. Good PR can come in many forms, especially through social media.

In this age, no one can ignore the fact that being online is a must for any business.   Gone are the days when your customers turn to actual yellow pages or pay attention to a TV ad to find what they need. Now most folks head to Google or ask their friends online to find just what they are looking for. What they will find could be your business ranked at the top of the search engine listings thanks to positive PR. Here are some ideas for generating that kind of proactive response:

Get involved in your target market’s community

Not every company can become an official sponsor of the Olympic Games but they can become a sponsor of the local youth hockey team or get involved with charity drives. All of those ideas can create positive a positive reputation that your business cares about the community you are targeting. Even if your market is nationwide, you can sponsor events or even athletes to build brand reputation. Start researching the interests and passions of your target market and see if you can find a way to get your brand involved in a positive way. Your involvement can often be mentioned by news organizations reporting on these causes. That’s terrific publicity.

Get to know your local TV news station

A good way to generate brand visibility is taking advantage of your local TV station. Many stations are affiliates of a larger channel so by promoting your PR angle; you have a higher chance of getting features, especially if it’s unusual. You can also re-post the news feature through YouTube and generate a lot of views. News producers need to fill up that programming with interesting features and not just the headline stories. Could you pitch an unusual segment to a local news producer? Suppose you have an ecommerce business that offers housecleaning products. You could pitch a segment about how your product can remove any stain in any home. If you can’t, then the winner will receive free cleaning services for life. Bottom line: think of how you can promote your business by providing something unusual that makes your company stand out.  

Get involved in online discussions

If your business is already attracting customers then it’s a safe bet those customers are talking about you to their friends or online. One of the most popular and largest online review sites is Yelp. Not only are they offering reviews for restaurants, but there are reviews for just about any other kind of business.

You need to plug into the various online communities to find out what is being said about your business. Set up a Google Alert for your company – this enables you to receive notifications if your company is being mentioned online. If you stumble upon a forum that your target market uses heavily, get involved. If someone has a problem with your company, go into customer service mode and try to fix their issue.

Drive Traffic To Your Site with Give Aways

Let’s face it; we all love to get free stuff. Whether it’s a T-shirt, a delicious dessert or advice - as long as it’s free, we’re going to be smiling. Now flip that around to the business who is handing out that free stuff and think about what they are getting in return. They are generating a lot of “smiles.” That’s a proactive stance towards building a more robust business and branding. Keep in mind that adopting this approach doesn’t mean you have to give away the store. Instead, you’re looking for ways to drive traffic to your site through enticements which can ultimately lead to other business.

By providing your customer with free advice, product or service, you’re ultimately building customer loyalty. You can create a blog which provides great advice on solving your customers’ pains. This makes you a resource, giving your prospects plenty of reasons to return to your site. This in turn could make them more inclined to follow your advertisers to their websites or purchase what you’re selling. Think of the “freebie” as the bait to hook a new customer.

Here are some more reasons why providing free stuff helps your business:

1)      Providing free stuff is good PR: News travels fast. By offering free stuff, your prospects will start talking about it amongst their friends and colleagues, helping you spread the message organically. People love to receive free stuff, and they’re more willing to take action if their friend recommends it to them.   

2)      You minimize risk for your prospects: When you offer a free trial period, a free e-book filled with great information, or even a free item, you are reducing the perceived risk in purchasing your product or service. By taking away the risk, you are providing your prospects with the opportunity to have a positive experience with your brand and make it easier to purchase later. 

3)      Build customer loyalty: Everyone loves to get something for free, especially when there are no strings attached.  Customers remember how they got something special and will associate it with your brand. This builds loyalty and positions your brand as someone that is always looking out for the customer. 

Free stuff doesn’t just have to be products or services. There are examples of donations, contests, free food and even a dream job!  Giving away free items or trial offers is a win-win strategy for both you and your customers. If done right, offering a free incentive will pay your company back in spades.

How To Write A Press Release

A press release is an effective public relations tool that can be activated at any time to promote your business. Whether you want to announce a special sale or an expansion, a press release can be launched across several internet outlets at once, covering a wide portion of cyberspace. These press releases can also be picked up by the major search engines and any opportunity to improve your company’s search engine rankings is worth exploring. To put out a press release you’ll need to follow the industry standard. Here are the steps needed to write a press release:

1)      The Headline: This is the proverbial “attention grabber” where you need to tell the reader what this press release will be all about. The goal is not only to engage the average internet user but also any prospective journalist who might want to write a story using your press release as their foundation. That’s why your headline needs to stand out and be truly unique. A press release headline is formatted in title case which means the first letter of each word is capitalized.

2)      The Summary: Directly underneath the headline will be the summary. This is a paragraph consisting of a few sentences (5 at the most) that sums up the intent of your PR. The summary should highlight the unique features you’re trying to promote by utilizing the “who, what, where, when and how” of the situation.

3)      The Body: This is the bulk of your press release. The key is to craft a piece that hovers around 500 words with the most important facts presented in the opening paragraphs. Begin with a dateline which will include the city where the press release originates from. This is followed by the introduction paragraph. The introduction could be a reworking of your summary paragraph. Following up the intro paragraph you’ll expand on the details of your press release issue. Here you can include quotes from the relevant people. All of these details should support the key points stated in your introductory paragraph.

4)      The About: This is the final paragraph which is a brief company bio and tells the reader who is issuing the press release. This is the once section of a press release that can become standard and used for all subsequent PR.

5)      Contact Information: Finally, you need to provide contact information for anyone seeking out further details. If your press release is issued by a public relations firm then this will be their contact info. If you are generating your own press release, you can put up your own company’s website or phone number.

Keep in mind that a press release is always written in the third person. In other words, leave out the pronouns of “we, us, you and ours.” If you’re writing about your own company it will be referred to as “they, them or their.” Before writing your first press release, search out examples of other companies press releases to get a feel for how they are meant to be presented.

How to get publicity for your small business

As a small business getting publicity is difficult when you don’t have the big budgets and resources of your larger competitors. So what do you do to get that PR buzz and that word-of-mouth that drives traffic? Here are some steps you must take to get the buzz:

Make sure you have something to talk about

Even though you think that your company, product or service is the best out there, what’s important is the perception of your clients and media. You have to make sure that the media perceives your product or service to be so unique that it stands out from the crowd.

Journalists are always looking for something new or a unique angle to a story that hasn’t been covered before. Here are some ways that you can get journalists to cover your company:

• You have just launched a unique, breakthrough product or service that isn’t found anywhere else. This product stands out because it kicks ass and you’re so proud of it that you’ll give any reporter a free product for them to try for their story.

• You can tie your product or service into the latest news trend of the day. Try to tie in your product to trends such as organic or environmentally friendly issues. Or link it to highly political situations... So whenever you notice a trend coming up, figure out how does your company fit in with it?

Pitch your story to the right person

Do your research before you start sending our press releases. Find out what the editorial calendar is for a particular publication. Determine which topics are going to be covered in the next few issues and tailor your pitch towards their schedule. Find out which reporter or editor is responsible for your industry and approach them only. You should also approach media that cover only your industry, product or business.

Some ways to find the right contact in a media outlet are:

• Read their masthead

• Do a search on their website

• Contact the media outlet by phone

When you pitch the reporter, add reasons as to why your business should be covered by the media outlet.

Follow up afterwards

Just like sales, you must consistently follow up with your contacts. If they have expressed an interest in covering you, make sure that you keep in touch with them and provide them with as much information they need. Send them a thank you note once you’ve received media coverage. The more organized and responsive you are to a reporter’s needs; you’ll be favoured with a higher chance of getting a story published.