By Jill Pyle
A few weeks ago, my colleague Linda wrote a blog entry about how difficult it is for her to imagine what pre-Internet public relations would have been like. After going through the exercise of building an international media list for the launch of the Touch Bionics i-LIMB Hand, I can’t imagine how such a list could have been compiled in any reasonable period of time without the help of Google and the ability to access online content from print and broadcast media outlets. Notice, I don’t mention any branded media contact database as my savior. That’s because we don’t rely on them.
I’m willing to bet that more than a few PR firms, or at least their newly hired interns, would think we’re crazy for not using one of the available media databases to grab all seemingly relevant contacts, export email address and blast out news releases.
Rather than use media databases to export hundreds of peoples’ contact information, much of which is out of date or incomplete, we merely use them as a starting point. We tend to build out our media lists by scouring the Internet, taking the time to learn about the publications and people that cover each client’s space. Our approach may take significantly more time than the almost automated process of relying on a media database, but it’s worth it.
By taking the time to get to know the topics covered in the publications we target, as well as the beats covered by specific journalists, we are able to call, and send pitch letters, knowing for certain that our target should be interested in our client. This immediately leads to meaningful conversations about the potential to secure coverage for our client at some point during the course of an ongoing public relations program.
