By Leo Valiquette
Last week I talked about how any media coverage can be good media coverage if it provides an opportunity to establish rapport with a journalist.
Of course, this statement comes with a big fat caveat – it’s only true if said journalist is not on a witch hunt and sizing up you or your organization for a stake and a pyre. But if you have bad news to share, or find yourself embroiled in some kind of juicy scandal, then what you need is a program for crisis communications. That’s a different beast and not my focus here.
Instead, let’s look at how you can go about getting the media’s attention when journalists don’t have an obvious reason to come to your door or don’t know your story well enough to understand why they should.
It starts with the strength of the story
“I’d like to get covered in your magazine.” Editors get this kind of vague request all the time. I should know – I was a managing editor of a business publication and still play that role on a freelance basis. But you have to help them out and provide a compelling reason why. They need a “news hook” and the simple fact that you exist and do whatever it is that you do is seldom enough. Have you just landed a big funding round, nailed a contract that has turned your business into a top industry player, or announced a major product release? Are you a recognized industry expert who can speak on a timely topic that is relevant to a publication’s readership?
Understand your target
These days, journalists are making editorial decisions and editors are still working as journalists and pumping out stories on deadline. From daily newspapers to trade magazines, it has become the nature of the industry as declining ad revenues cut editorial budgets and force remaining staff to handle more work. Don’t assume that the managing editor or the editor-in-chief of a publication makes all of the decisions about what gets covered and what does not. Often, it’s in the hands of the individual journalist who covers “that stuff” on a regular basis. Television stations and some daily newspapers are exceptions to this, where dedicated assignment editors may still call the shots.
Don’t be a Mary Sue
In fiction, a Mary Sue is a character who is unrealistically flawless and therefore flat and boring. The story of any business is rife with ups and downs, successes and failures, and lessons that where learned the hard way. You don’t have to lift your skirts all the way to entice the media. Does anyone need to know that your co-founders almost punched each other out in the last board meeting? No. But if the media’s interest is on the story of your business, you can’t be afraid to talk about real challenges and setbacks. Drama and conflict are what make for compelling reading.
Let your customers speak for you
If the media’s interest is on the products or services that you provide, it’s usually best to give your customers the podium. Trade and industry press in particular hunger for compelling case studies and customer testimonials. Nothing validates your offering better than a customer who willingly doled out the cash for it and has positive things to say about the outcome. However, be advised that many journalists will want to talk to your customer alone. It’s therefore crucial to decide in advance which of your customers would be the best choice to put before the media and discuss with them the story that they will tell. I’m not suggesting that you put words in their mouths, but you do need to know which words are likely to come out of their mouths. I’ve seen it happen where a reference customer who had supposedly been prescreened waited until they were talking to a journalist to reveal their dissatisfaction with aspects of the vendor’s product – ouch!
Embargoes maybe, exclusives no
Playing obvious favourites with the media will only burn you in the long run. To put it bluntly, your business is likely not on the scale of an industry titan such as Apple with the weight and influence to dictate to the media. In some circumstances it may be advantageous to provide select media with an embargo — advance access to the news that you will be distributing, usually on the understanding that they do not publish anything until after your news has been issued. An exclusive, on the other hand, involves giving only one or a few media outlets your story. Regardless of why you think you should do this, you are basically flipping the bird at a majority of the press – do you really think that will play to your advantage?
It isn’t all about you
In addition to reference customers, a journalist may be looking for a variety of other sources of information – analyst reports, research data from think tanks and government agencies, even a bearing on who you consider to be your chief competitors. Help them out. Point them in the right direction or even give them access to third-party research your team has already compiled or paid for. All this builds good will.
Remember, you didn’t pay for this coverage
As I said in last week’s post, ultimate control over how the story turns out will reside with the journalist. At best, you may be given the chance to review facts and figures or specific quotes. Few journalists, however, will allow you to review the entire story prior to publication. This is standard practice in the industry and falls under the heading of “journalistic independence.” Consider this as a reader – if a story is passed off as independent journalism as opposed to paid advertising content, but one of the sources in the story was allowed to influence how it was written, would you still view the publication as a reliable source of news and information?
Image: Wine with Christina
