2008 August Archive at PRactical Relations

Before sending out your press releases to the journalists in your media database, have you ever tried sending an introductory email to ask whether the journalist would in fact be interested in receiving the type of press releases and angles you have planned?

A PR professional named Scott Duehlmeier did just that when he sent a short, descriptive email to a well-known blogger, Chris Brogan, asking if Chris would be interested in receiving further emails with PR announcements from their clients.

Have a look at Scott’s email on Chris’ post “Great PR manners go a long way”. Chris refers to it as “a very polite, very personal-seeming opt-in letter”, which came across well because it was “human-sounding”.

Unfortunately, far too many journalists (and bloggers) are on the receiving end of the spray-and-pray press release distribution approach. Even though software can automatically enter the journalist’s name into the email, they can mostly tell that they’re part of a mass mailing, especially if it starts with “I thought you’d find this interesting”.

Nothing beats personalised, thoughtful communication if you want a good response from the journalists. Of course, if all you’re looking for is a long list of media contacts to tick off and show to your client, then you may need to revisit what your PR goals are.

For some great tips on how journalists like to be pitched to, sign up for this free media pitching tips email series. It’s full of advice on various PR-related topics from editors, producers and journalists across South Africa.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Christmas gifts Media with long lead times, like consumer magazines, will be busy working on their end-of-year, Summer editions now. Those magazines with features or supplements covering December gift guides will need to start gathering their products and ideas now in August, while some would’ve already started in July.

If you have a product, brand or experience that you think will fit in the Christmas gift guides, make sure to do your research straight away to find the media you need to pitch to. Remember that many magazines will prefer to take their own photographs of the products to maintain consistency and quality. Once you’ve successfully explained why your product would be a good fit for the publication and the target audience, make sure to have the product ready to courier. If they don’t receive it in time for their photo shoots, you’ll miss out on a great opportunity.

Don’t send unsolicited products to the editors. They’re bound to receive so many boxes, packages, media kits and gifts, that your product might just get lost. Rather get in touch first and see what the journalists are looking for and then find an angle of how your product could match their needs.

Important question to ask yourself before pitching your product for the first time: Who would use/buy my product?
Be specific with your answer. Hint - there is no such thing as “the general public”, that creature does not exist. There are hundreds of different publications for a reason, because every person has different interests, values and priorities. Once you know who your real target audience is, only contact those media that actually talk to your target audience. Being relevant is critical if you want to build a good relationship with the journalist.

For help in finding the right media and the most relevant media contacts, have a look at Encyclomedia’s media database research service, where you can customise any media database you need and Encyclomedia will verify all the information just before you receive it.

Pic source: Flickr

Popularity: 17% [?]