1 minute read
Help the media 41
by iKnow
41
HELP THE MEDIA
The most valuable publicity is to be recommended by someone you trust. Second best is to be recommended by the media.
The idea To get mentions in the press and the other media, it’s important to build relationships with journalists. Bloggers too, but we’ll about that separately. When there’s something new to say about a brand, organisations usually send a press release. But then you have to hope that journalists will pay attention to your press release not the other hundreds arriving on their desks and into their inboxes.
Of course journalists are busy, and often companies think they’ll be too busy to pick up the phone. On the other hand journalists like everyone else have a job to do. They have a page to fi ll with words and pictures they believe will interest their own customers, their readers, so don’t be put off. You can help them to do their job by giving them a useful, interesting story.
Whether you use a PR agency or have your own in-house people, when you launch something new make sure it fi ts in with the press calendar – monthly magazines are working up to six months in advance on their features – and that your events don’t clash with more important dates in the diary.
In practice • Invite journalists to experience what it is you do, so they understand what makes you different. People are much more likely to write about products and services that they’ve experienced and enjoyed. • Provide press releases which give all the information that a journalist needs, with a new angle to the story. After you have sent in your press release, follow up with a phone call to check what else you can do to help. • Tell the truth.
