Category: Media Relations

I recently had the honor of being listed under Qwoted 100’s Best of The Best in Public Relations, a quarterly ranking which recognizes PR professionals with the highest pitching response rates from journalists on the platform.

Qwoted created this ranking after taking into consideration key factors such as the rate of responses from journalists, the speed of replies from reporters, as well as positive interactions between the journalist and PR professional.

Receiving this ranking got me thinking about how the nature of the pitch has evolved over the past two years. In some ways, the core of the pitch has remained the same, in other ways, the nature of the media pitch has drastically changed.

To continue to succeed in today’s media landscape, we’ve put together key tips for media pitching in 2022.

1. Do your research

Take a second to reflect on how you feel when you receive a cold call from a telemarketer prompting you to buy something that is completely irrelevant to you. This is the same feeling journalists get when they receive a “cold” email from a new PR contact and the subject is completely irrelevant to their beat.

As a PR professional, you not only risk immediately being deleted from the reporter’s inbox, but you also risk being ignored by the journalist moving forward.

The first step to landing the pitch involves research. It’s important to look into the reporter’s background, recent articles and social media feeds to understand what they are reporting on. This part of the media pitching process is critical as it will help you identify the best media contacts that will respond to your pitch.

2. Keep the pitch concise

According to Muck Rack, some journalists can receive upwards of 300 emails a day, forcing a majority of them to just scan the subject of the email or the call to action to decide whether to delete it or reply to it. This gives PR professionals 30 seconds tops to be considered as a viable source.

Therefore, it’s important to keep all pitches concise—250 words or less—and have a clear subject and call to action for the reporter. Consider eliminating any “fluff” words within the pitch to get to the point of your request in a timely manner.

If you would like to offer an interview to the journalist or let them know they can use the information within the pitch for their upcoming story, make sure you explicitly say so within the pitch.

3. Remember: timing is everything

Traditionally, journalists have typically been more responsive to pitches during the first part of the day. PR professionals should work to send out proactive pitches and pitches discussing evergreen stories or features in the AM.

However, if there is a breaking story during the middle of the day that is relevant for your client and a particular media contact, it is critical to quickly pitch that select media contact with relevant information as close as possible to the time that the news broke.

Keep in mind that the pitch should include information that adds value to the reporter’s story. For example, if you have unique data that is pertinent to the story include it within the pitch!

4. Make the connection

As you get in contact with journalists and begin coordinating next steps for a potential story, it is the PR professional’s responsibility to create an ongoing conversation and connection with the reporter.

Whether you are pitching the reporter via a platform such as Qwoted or HARO, or using email or Twitter, you must ensure the entire process is as flawless as possible. Make sure you provide as much information to the journalist as possible. Reduce ambiguity and establish a trust between yourself and the journalist.

5. Always follow up

Once the reporter has taken the media interview with your source or received the materials they need for the story, be sure to follow up with the reporter to thank them for the story and stay in close contact for any upcoming opportunities.

I know this last step can sound trivial. However, following up can make all the difference in keeping you top of mind for any future needs the reporter may have.

Landing the pitch in 2022

A lot has changed during the past two years, especially in the media relations world.

While reporters may be more spread out than ever before, and working in a new hybrid environment like the rest of us, the media pitch is still one of the main methods for communicating with journalists and landing the story for your clients. Therefore, it is crucial that PR pros perfect the art of the pitch in order to accrue results.

Our president Catherine Seeds has worked in public relations for many years and one of her favorite parts of the job is building long-term relationships with reporters. Those looking to build their own long-term relationships should check out her latest audio clip, which shares top tips for media relations. Can’t catch the video or prefer to read? We’ve included a transcription of her recommendations below.

Build long-term relationships with reporters:

If you are in PR, then you know how hard it can be, especially in today’s media landscape, to get in front of key media contacts in a meaningful way. Hi, I’m Catherine Seeds, president of Ketner Group Communications and I’m so glad you are listening in. Today, we are going to talk about building long-term relationships with reporters.

Let’s get to it!

So, I like to think of relationships with reporters as a marriage. What do the best marriages consist of you ask? Well, a lot, lol! Relationships are not always easy and they take work, but when you and your partner get it right – it can result in something extremely special. The same goes with your relationships with journalists!

Let’s talk four easy things you can do to create a lasting rapport with a reporter:

1. Be a good listener (aka research!):

This is one of the first things we all learn as PR practitioners. When we think about listening to journalists, this means really understanding what topics they are most interested in and what is going to get their attention. Listening is all about doing your homework on the journalist, reading their previous articles, knowing how they prefer to be contacted and understanding their passions as writers. You can’t possibly expect to build a relationship with an editor or reporter if you don’t LISTEN to the things that are important to them.

Listening and identifying what will make a journalist think “this PR person gets me” could be, as Humphrey Bogart says in the movie classic Casablanca, “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

2. Be patient:

Once you’ve done your homework, listened and established a connection with a journalist – that does not mean you or your client will grace the top fold of the Wall Street Journal right away. Patience, especially in today’s very competitive media landscape, is critical to long-term PR success. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “To lose patience is to lose the battle.” But that does not mean you have to sit back and wait for things to happen.

As our friends at Muckrack recently wrote, as a PR professional, you need to remember that you are planting seeds – not shot-gunning beers. Having a quality relationship with a reporter does not mean only reaching out to them when you need something – it means putting in the work and planning for the long game to achieve optimum results.

Make it a practice each week or month to simply engage with those reporters that are most important to you. Send them a nice note about a recent article they’ve written, give them a shout out on social media or offer to meet them for coffee to catch up. They key here is to keep developing that relationship while also staying top of mind with the reporter the next time they write about a topic that could be a fit for your client.

3. Be relevant:

As PR pros, it is our job to stay on top of breaking news, relevant topics and differentiated points of view. In short, you need to do what you can to make a journalist’s life a little bit easier!

When pitching a journalist, it is important to bring fresh ideas to the table! In Cision’s “2021 Global State of the Media” report, one of the important key takeaways is to be a trendsetter. In the report, Cision reminds us that “journalists are looking for stories that speak to what’s happening in the world right now, so the better you are at delivering stories with timely narratives, the more of an asset you will be. Sage advice indeed!

Once you’ve secured an interview, make sure you or your client continues to bring their A game to the table with valuable information, such as:

• What does this news mean for your customers and the industry, and why should the journalist’s audience care?
• What is one key thing that (your customer or industry watchers) should consider or think about as they are digesting this news?
• How can you or your company provide further analysis and a point of view for this news? Do you have unique data to highlight the story, or can you point to outliers or differentiators in the story?

In short, think like a journalist would, and not just what is important to you or your client.

4. Be human:

At the end of the day, it is important to remember that journalists are people, too. They have the same worries, fears, joys, anger, wants and needs as we do.

Journalists are pressed for time more than ever before, and they do not need PR people following up repeatedly on a pitch, especially, if it is not something they are interested in. (Remember, be a good listener!) According to the same Cision report I cited earlier, nearly three in 10 journalists say they never want follow up at all, while many want at least two days to look over a pitch first.

No one appreciates getting annoying emails that are not relevant to us, and journalists are no different. Be human, be kind and be thoughtful when it comes to communication with the media – it will be a win-win for everyone if you do!

There are many other ways to develop long-term relationships with journalists, but the most important thing to remember is approaching it like you would any other relationship. Build trust, create thoughtful communication and above all, be helpful.

Keep the conversation going:

For more tips and advice on building relationships with the media, please visit our blog. Are you Interested in doing more with your media relations strategy? We’d love to see how we can help jump-start your activities and support you for the long-haul. Email us at [email protected]

Until next time, work hard – play hard – and be nice to people!

We’re more than a year into the pandemic and the media relations landscape has evolved with the changing times. When COVID-19 outbreaks spiked in the U.S. in March 2020, most newsrooms went into full crisis mode. The stories that the media were interested in covering prior to the pandemic shifted almost overnight.

Journalists immediately pivoted to covering breaking news and ongoing developments to keep their audiences informed, and during the initial weeks of the pandemic there was not much room for reporting on anything else.

Through 2020, the nature of media relations, interviews, newsrooms and reporting changed. We went from regular phone and in-person interviews to having all conversations over Zoom while sitting in our makeshift living room offices and kitchen tables. During this time, it was all about focusing on the basics.

In the world of journalism and media relations, we’re just beginning to see signs of a potential ‘return to normal’ on the horizon. Journalists, specifically within the B2B space, are now focused on reporting on the future and how businesses and consumers can best prepare.

As tumultuous as this past year was, it also presented some key lessons about the media landscape that should not be ignored.

Lesson one: personalizing the connection

While 2020 took many things away from us, it also created an opportunity to make new connections with key media targets.

As we all found ourselves stuck to the confines of our homes, we also found that we had more time to start conversations. However, to land these interviews with journalists, personalization became more crucial than ever.

For example, Cision’s  2021 Global State of the Media Report revealed that “1 in 4 journalists receive over 100 pitches per week with most ending up in the virtual trash due to irrelevance.”

You would not reach out to a prospect customer with irrelevant information would you? In that same vein, journalists need a personalized approach, especially in today’s environment during which newsrooms are lean and mean–and journalists have more being demanded of them every day.

Even before COVID, newsrooms were stretched thin. Throughout 2019 and 2020, many publications unfortunately had to cut their staff and journalists. This required those left in the newsroom to be extremely resourceful with their time.

This past year showed the importance of ensuring each pitch was targeted and provided value to each journalist from the get-go. While journalists have been more willing and available to speak with more story resources, these conversations need to provide value to the journalist to help them do their job.

Lesson two: providing relevance and differentiation

Besides being personalized, sources also need to come to the table with relevant and differentiated points of view. It’s about identifying how you can best answer the journalist’s questions and provide responses that other publications have not fully answered.

In preparing for interviews, we recommend our clients analyze the following questions in order to bring value to the journalist:

• What is the breaking news?
• What does this news mean and why should the journalist’s audience care?
• What does this news mean for your customers and your industry?
• What is one key thing that (your customer or industry watchers) should consider or think about as they are digesting this news?
• How can you or your company provide further analysis and a point of view for this news?

Keep in mind that if you have unique data that can really highlight what’s going on in the industry or point to outliers or differentiators, that’s always very interesting and helpful for journalists.

Lesson three: treating journalists as you treat your best customers

Being able to position yourself as a helpful resource is certainly a great way to develop a relationship over time. It’s about keeping in mind the various ways you can bring something that the journalist needs to every interaction with them.

A key lesson here, especially during this past year, is to always treat journalists like you would treat your best customers. They’re every bit as important to the company as your customer relationships. And, just like your best customers, you want to make sure you are helping answer their questions, identifying new ways to think about things and helping them do their job.

After 2020? Personalize, differentiate and foster.

2020 was challenging, there’s no question about it. However, the past year also put an emphasis on the journalist/ source relationship and presented key lessons to succeed within this environment. It all boils down to added value.

Journalists are pressed for time more than ever before and need valuable resources to help them write the most accurate and engaging article. As a source, you can help them by personalizing your approach, providing value through differentiation, and fostering a long-term relationship.

Interested in doing more with your media relations strategy in 2021? We’d love to see how we can help jump-start your activities and support you for the long-haul. Let’s chat.