Working with the Media

PR isn’t a dark art, or rocket science. Neither is it all about having the right contacts anymore. Good PR just involves a bit of homework. By that, I mean research, research and a bit more research.

Before we even get to the media, I’m going to ask you to start with looking at the people you would like to reach. I’ve got a questionnaire you can have to help you examine what you’re looking to achieve as a business and who you need to speak to in order to achieve business success (for a copy see bottom of page). Hopefully this will focus you on the type of media you should be looking to target. There’s little point in getting coverage in your own trade media if the people you want to provide a product or service to read something completely different.

You may be wondering what your target audience watch, read, listen to and view online. The quickest way of finding this is out is simple. Ask them! All businesses have customers who love them and would be willing to give you that information. Ask a few of them though, not just one. The answers may surprise you.

Once you’ve started identifying a pattern or have a clearer idea, go and buy the newspapers or magazines they are talking about, or listen to their favourite radio programme, or look at the websites they look at. Start putting yourself in their shoes and start thinking like your customers do. Which parts of those magazines interest them and have the information they are looking for? What are they looking to achieve? What are their pains or business concerns?

Now here’s the key bit. Dissect the magazines. Look and read the different sections. Read them again and start looking at the sections your stories could fit into. Look at the news section. Have you got a story to tell that would work? Look at the analysis or comment sections, look at the columnists. What are they saying? Have you got something to contribute to them? If the answer is no, can you create something to fit?

What I’m driving at is it is pointless pumping out irrelevant press releases or bits of information to the media. They don’t appreciate their inboxes being clogged up with rubbish. Only give them stories that fit with their publication AND have relevance to their readers.

Be of service to the media. Journalists are under pressure – particularly national journalists – to fill pages, often in a short time frame. Others only have a small number of staff writers. Be mindful of this. If you can make their jobs easier by providing something that fits with their pages, they will be more appreciative of spending time talking to you or reading your email. It’s not unusual for a journalist to receive 100 plus emails a day with press releases that have been sent out en masse that aren’t personalised.

The print media in particular have journalists who are responsible for different sections. When you’re doing your homework, you will notice that certain journalists write about certain things. You will see that stories often have a name attached to them. Look at what else that journalist has written before, and even reference a recent similar story they have written to show that you have done your homework.

If you are picking up the phone to speak to a journalist, make a few notes before you do so. Think about the cold sales calls you get and how much time you would give someone on the phone! Pick out three or four points that will tick their boxes straight away. That way you will only take up a small amount of their precious time and hopefully you will have engaged them with something of interest.

If they are really short of time, they may ask you to drop them an email. Again, keep your email short and to the point and relevant. Once you have emailed, please, please, please don’t call a journalist to ask them if they received your email. That is probably the quickest way to annoy them. They’re busy people. If a journalist is interested they will email you back or call. Sometimes this can be months after you’ve initially made contact.

If a journalist does come back to you to ask for more information, a photo, or to set up a telephone interview, always respond as quickly as possible, even if it is to ask them what the deadline is, or that you’re on the case. This is all part of being of service to them.

Once you know that you’re being included in a story, or you have been interviewed, don’t ask to have sight of the copy before it goes to print. This isn’t usual practice, and a journalist may take it that you don’t trust them. The key is to give them the right information in the first place, especially anything factual. After a phone interview, if you have mentioned any statistics, or any products with unusual spellings, it is fine to email them over to clarify.

If your story achieves a significant piece of coverage, a quick ‘thank you’ email with perhaps another story idea doesn’t do any harm. It shows that you appreciate what they have done for you and it shows how you can be of service to them in the future.

And finally... don’t be frightened of the media. They aren’t there to trip you up. With the right information and the right contact, they can be a fantastic help for telling your story to your target audience.

Maria Kennedy runs Bedford-based consultancy cremePR, designed to create stars out of small and medium-sized businesses. Email Maria for a copy of the questionnaire mentioned.

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Working with the Media