Pitching to busy media figures in various media environments
By Leo Valiquette
Public relations, or, to be more exact, media relations for the purpose of getting a story told through some manner of media outlet, is a process that takes its cue from a basic tenet of marketing – understand who your potential customers are, what they want, and what they need.
Journalists want a good story that they believe is timely and relevant for their readers. But articulating your story to them isn’t always enough for reasons that may have to do with the nature of the medium in question, the constraints of newsroom resources and what else is needed to create a well-rounded and complete piece of coverage.
In my post last week, I mentioned that a strong media launch must always begin with two key activities: The development of the media materials and the development of the media list. As I wrote then, creating that media list is a tedious but altogether necessary grind to ensure that you have identified not only those media who would have an interest in your story, but who also have potential to move your market by virtue of their audience size and makeup.
Assuming that you have done your proper due diligence and caught the harried attention of a journalist or editor who has some interest in your story, circumstances can still conspire against you.
