Taking Your Campaign To The Media

I know how scary it can be taking your first step in contacting the media. By the media, I mean – bloggers, newsletter writers, website editors, magazine editors, radio and television producers and, dare I mention them, journalists!

Like you, I often put off making contact for as long as I can but once I break the ice, it’s never so hard. And it gets easier each time you practice. After all, the worst that can happen is that you will be rejected or ignored. But there are always more fish in the sea!

To put you at ease a little, I’m going to share some tips and etiquette to follow to make your first steps that little bit easier.

Contacting The Media

There are some key rules you need to know when contacting media producers of any kind. First of all, you will need to know who you are going to contact. Depending on where you are, there is usually a book of some sort available with media contacts. If you do not want to buy one, you can usually find one in your local library or compile your own using The Internet.

Rules Of The Game

• Don’t follow up with a phone call to see if the person approached received your release. Many reporters, editors or bloggers would regard this as an unwelcome intrusion into their busy lives. If you do follow up, make sure you have a reason to call.

• Depending on the circumstances, another approach would be to call first, pitch your story and then follow up with your release.

• If you follow this tactic, don’t dive into the pitch straight away. Once you have your contact on the phone, don’t scare them by giving them a prepared speech immediately. People in every kind of media are very busy and may often be on another line or working on an article.

• Instead, introduce yourself politely, say you have a story that might be of interest to them and then ask if it’s a good time for them. If they say yes, then you can go ahead and start your pitch. If they say no, ask when it would be appropriate to call back.

• Get to know the editorial calendar. It is very important to get to know the deadlines of the media you are contacting. Bloggers may have considerable flexibility. Newspapers usually have daily deadlines, whilst magazines might have weekly, monthly or quarterly output.

• It will be helpful to know the deadlines as your approach is less likely to succeed and will be unwelcome as deadlines approach. You will multiply your chances of reaching your contact and finding him or her in a receptive frame of mind if you know the deadlines and editorial calendar he or she is working to.

It is also very helpful to know what kind of stories to pitch at different stages of the year. To get into the media more frequently, you will need to know what stories are hot at different times of the year. This will not only dramatically increase your chances of getting media coverage but also increase the number of times you win exposure.

This is why I’ve created a month-by-month guide on what features and articles are welcome at which time of the year. Applying such an approach is essential for anyone who wants to get publicity repeatedly. Master this and you will be in the media every season of the year.

I’m very excited about this product. I have been working hard to make it as useful as possible for you and I believe it’s now as good as anything in the industry. It will help you establish yourself. But I will tell you more about this tomorrow.

For now, I would like to thank you for following this course. I hope it has been interesting to you and that it will help you, or your organization, get noticed. Please believe in yourself, remain true to your ideals, and never give up.