Establishing and Maintaining Contact with Journalists

Quick reference

• 00:05 Now we're going to look at how to establish and
• 00:08 maintain contact with journalist and editors but first,
• 00:11 why is this important as a part of your PR strategy?
• 00:15 If you want to ensure that your press release gets approved and
• 00:19 published, having an influence with journalists is a must.
• 00:24 If they know and they trust you, they'll be more likely to pick your news rather
• 00:28 than the news of some other business that they're not in touch with.
• 00:32 Also have a good network of journalists and
• 00:35 editors is useful in helping you to circulate your press release.
• 00:40 The more journalists you know the more media channels you can rely on to spread
• 00:44 your news.
• 00:45 But how do you go about establishing contact with journalists and with editors?
• 00:51 The first step is to choose your journalists and your editors,
• 00:54 the ones who cover the news in your industry.
• 00:57 My contact with sports journalists, but
• 01:00 that would not be very useful if your company sells baby products.
• 01:04 So be selective, identify the main media figures in your field and
• 01:09 then contact them.
• 01:11 They'll naturally be interested in what they have to say.
• 01:14 To find out whom the top journalists are in your field you can do a quick
• 01:19 Google search as I did for technology journalists and it's that easy.
• 01:24 Now getting to know journalists, this is the next step and
• 01:28 it's a little bit like dating because you get to know the journalists and
• 01:32 the editors that you've identified in your selection and you read their work.
• 01:36 You become familiar with their tone, you learn about their content preferences and
• 01:41 the content of their writing and then ask yourself what do they love writing about?
• 01:46 What are their passions, and what is their style?
• 01:49 And now if you can conform your press release to their preferences,
• 01:54 your work has a greater chance of getting published,
• 01:58 because it'll be along the same wavelengths as that of your media figures.
• 02:03 It really helps if you can show journalists your support,
• 02:06 because most journalists will have their own blocks and
• 02:09 social media outlets where they published their latest scoop.
• 02:13 And so you can find your journalist on social media, like them,
• 02:17 befriend them, follow them and then comment on their work.
• 02:21 If you want to do really well for them, share it on the social media.
• 02:25 Okay, I know now what you're thinking,
• 02:27 we're quickly going from dating to stalking.
• 02:31 Okay, but your aim is to get journalists and
• 02:33 editors to notice that you enjoy their work and that you support it.
• 02:39 You can go as far as encouraging your own social media followers to follow
• 02:43 your media contacts.
• 02:44 Promoting a journalists work is going to create
• 02:48 a positive vibe in your relationship with them.
• 02:51 Nowadays people connect globally though social media but
• 02:55 is this a suitable way to establish contact with journalists?
• 02:59 I would say yes, but not all social media is appropriate for contacting journalists.
• 03:04 Personally I would say Facebook is not suitable, any contact to a journalist
• 03:10 through Facebook could be frowned upon and possibly be ignored.
• 03:14 Also when you're emailing a journalist,
• 03:17 use their work email only because this promotes professionalism and
• 03:22 it will increased the chances of getting a response.
• 03:25 So instead what you could do is use channels like LinkedIn, Google+ and
• 03:30 also Twitter because these are more professional platforms which will
• 03:35 increase the chance of your contacts being formed and maintained.
• 03:40 Social media is effective,
• 03:42 but it cannot replace the value of establishing personal contacts.
• 03:47 So to achieve this aim, you should attend events with media presence.
• 03:51 So, here you can introduce yourself to a journalist or two and
• 03:55 give them your business card and have a relaxed and genuine discussion.
• 03:59 You can also interact with them like you would with any other person.
• 04:04 Their job consists of reading dozens of press releases so
• 04:08 you want to be refreshing and light hearted instead.
• 04:11 Cuz this way you'll stand out more than other people who
• 04:15 are trying to just get their press release accepted.
• 04:19 From there on, you just want to keep regular contact.
• 04:22 Some of the ways in which you can maintain a connection with journalists and editors
• 04:26 is to send wishes on their birthday, on Christmas, on New Year's, and so forth.
• 04:30 Although my personal favorite is still commenting on their articles or
• 04:35 perhaps sharing it.
• 04:37 When they write a great article you can even send them quick email or
• 04:41 post to social media comment that will complement them for doing a great job.
• 04:45 If the journalist have got time and you're in the same city, by all means,
• 04:49 you can also take them for a quick coffee or lunch.

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