Having a difficult time getting noticed by reporters you’re targeting for your PR campaign? Here are a few proven ways to win them over. And the best part is it won’t cost you much money to do it.
Like just about everyone else, reporters get flattered when YOU notice THEM. They like it when someone reads their stories in a newspaper like The New York Times, a magazine, or even on television. After all, they got into journalism because they wanted to help make a difference by bringing news to people on a large scale. Believe it or not, few people out there actually let them know what a great job they did on a story. Plenty of people let them know when they didn’t like a story. But few people tell them when they did do a good story.
This is your chance to start perfecting a lost art of publicity – flattery.
The first thing you want to do is make a list of the reporters you want to get noticed by. This is probably not hard to do if you’ve already been trying to get some publicity for your business. But keep track of their name, their email address and phone number.
The second and probably most important part is to study what they write about, or follow their stories on television. The essence of this exercise is to comment on their stories in a positive way. But in order to be able to effectively do this, you do need to know what their stories are about. If their stories (both for print and television) can be found online, simply setup a Google alert to track their name and stories. This way, you will get email notification when one of their stories appears. This saves you lots of time because their stories are delivered to your email inbox, rather than you having to go look for their stories in the library or bookstore like Barnes & Noble.
Third, the art of follow up. When you do see a story, send them an email thanking them for sharing the story. If it’s a news story that doesn’t really move you one way or the other, you can still send them an email or give them a phone call thanking them for the story and sharing a comment. Many reporters deliver news hoping their stories start some kind of dialogue within their community. Plus, getting noticed translates to higher readership or viewership ratings – good for their business.
Fourth, if you happen to have a blog set up on your Web site, take their story and blog about it! Add in some opinions of your own. Spreading their story around even further on the Web in a positive way is extremely flattering. If you send them an email with “I blogged about your story” in the subject line, your email to them will get opened up.
In the end, by doing these steps, you are helping to establish a relationship with the reporter. Everything you do for publicity should be about finding an excuse to get noticed by a reporter you want to have write about you or talk about you. And by understanding marketing and PR techniques like this, you’ll go a long way towards attracting more publicity for your business since you’ll begin to develop relationships with reporters.
Even if you aren’t stuck in this situation, I challenge you to send a positive email to a reporter in response to a recent story he/she may have done. Don’t try to promote your company. Just say a little thank you and tell them you appreciated the story. But don’t get overzealous with the same reporter. Once or twice is all you need. Don’t start emailing them every week as the reporter will then get turned off by your aggressiveness.
Try it and share your success story with us here by leaving a comment.
