How do you get media coverage?

Posted by Cindy on Oct 8, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments

Excerpt from Word Tracker’s post “Drive Sales and Links for SEO Through Online PR”  by Ken McGaffin, Oct. 8, 2010

This is so true when working with the media!  Work with the reporters and editors, not against them.  Understand they are under extreme pressure and find out what they need.

So how do you get media coverage?

First, you’ve got to understand what journalists need. That’s where a lot of businesses go wrong.

There’s no use being pushy or angry if they don’t respond – that will get you nowhere.

You’ve got to be patient, helpful and gradually build up trust – that takes time.

What journalists want – and what you must give them – are newsworthy stories, at the right time and in the right way.

Newsrooms are busy places. There’s a lot going on and the last thing you want to do is waste a journalist’s time.

The media image of an intrepid journalist, out to get his story whatever it takes, is a Hollywood invention. All but a very few journalists have time to really chase a story – the vast majority just have to work quickly and rarely have the time to gather all the relevant information they need.

They’re likely to be desk bound and work to tight deadlines: it’s a hugely pressurized job.

So if you understand and then solve their problem, they’ll love you forever …

They want good stories and they want to hear real opinions from real people. It’s not just big companies that are of interest, but almost any business story. Many business defeat themselves by thinking no-one would be interested in them. The exact reverse is true.

Business Week Columnist, Carmine Gallo puts it really well, “As a journalist I learned that everyone has a story to tell … whether you work in agriculture, automobiles, technology, finance or any number of other industries, you have a magnificent story to tell. Dig deep to identify that which you are most passionate about.”

It’s that passion that will get a journalist interested in what you have to say.

And there are so many types of story that they might cover. Publishing, like any industry, has its models and its patterns that get repeated time and again. These story templates help a journalist create stories.

So get to understand the templates, fit your business into them and you’ll make yourself attractive to journalists.

To read more from this article go to WordTracker .