How-To Tuesday: Reaching Media Contacts

Today I want to teach you how to reach the media. You’d do this if you had a press release you wanted to get out or a product you wanted a journalist or blogger to review. It’s not difficult, but there are a few guidelines that will increase your chances of getting through.

1. Research. First you need to decide on the publications you think would be a good target for your press release or product. What do your customers read? What industry are you trying to target? First make a list of these magazines, newspapers, blogs, and websites.

2. What section? Knowing the media source alone isn’t enough. If you notice, every magazine has different sections. Many have product review sections as well as news and others, so decide which is the best fit. Also don’t overlook product placement. Gardening publications have articles on gardens, so if you have a hose or garden product, you might be able to get it placed in the photo with attribution in the back of the magazine.

3. Now, who do I contact? Search the website (even if it’s a newspaper or magazine) for the editor over the section you decided on. Editors are better than journalists for your efforts, because they’re the decision makers. If you can’t find the editor, use the journalist who writes the section. Make sure to spell the contact’s name correctly and get their email and phone number. You can easily do this in a spreadsheet.

Tips

• Keep your lists updated. If you have an old list, make sure the contacts are still with the publication.
• Spend time reading each one. There’s nothing worse than pitching a publication that’s a bad fit because you didn’t do your homework!
• Don’t bug. Send a preliminary email and follow up by email or phone a week later. Don’t bombard your contact.
• Take good notes. If an editor asks not to be contacted, make a note.
• For the contacts who reply, put them in a special file, like in your Outlook, with notes on their friendliness. Makes it that much easier next go ’round.