Three Alternative Methods for Identifying the Right Media Contact

July 23, 2015July 21, 2015Stephanie Vermillion Leave a comment

As new PR pros, you’ve likely sat through a webinar or listened to some sort of training for PR software and services such as Cision or Vocus.

While an extremely useful tool for building media lists and identifying media contacts to reach out to with the awesome story you have to tell, don’t fall into the trap of letting these portals be the be-all and end-all of how you determine who you’re going to pitch or share your news release with.

As an entry-level PR pro at my first job right out of college, I was asked to build a list of media contacts that might be interested in sharing details of the large-scale art installations at an upcoming music festival. Of course, my list included the likes of the local weekly alternative publications and those already who had shown an interest in the music festival.

But it also included Rolling Stone, and Forbes.

My supervisor – and mentor to this day – immediately questioned me on this. Why would Rolling Stone, let alone Forbes, write about a collection of art installations? That doesn’t exactly fall into their realm of the publications’ typical coverage topics.

But I stood my ground because I knew I had done my research. Sure enough, Rolling Stone was the first-ever national placement of my career on the art installations of an electronic dance music festival.

What’s the lesson here? I didn’t use Cision to find these contacts.

Here are three alternative methods for identifying the right media contact for your pitch or news release:

Use the outlet’s search function.

Admittedly, this is easier when you know what outlet you’re hoping to see your client’s story featured. For example, you know you have an excellent finance story.

Head to Fortune.com (or whatever outlet you’ve identified) and search for topics similar to your client. Is the pitch on the state of the economy? On an innovative payment system? Search using these terms to identify who has covered this type of story for the outlet in the past and go from there.

Take to Twitter.

More times than not, you will find a reporter using the method above and find that their email address is as elusive as the golden snitch. This is where social media can be an excellent tool to identify a media contact’s info.

A simple tweet to the journalist giving them a quick synopsis that you want to reach out to them with a story idea and a request to have them DM you their email address can work magical wonders.

Additionally, consider using Twitter to cross-check that the journalist is the right fit. Often times, you’ll find that their designated beat / what they cover is referenced in their Twitter bio.

Ask another reporter.

Read: this is not to say email or call a random reporter and ask them who you should pitch.

Rather, this is a recommendation to never take no for an answer. As part of pitching or sending a news release, there’s the follow-up phone call. If a reporter turns you down, don’t let that be the final word. Ask them, “Do you think this might a better fit for someone else at the outlet?”

Remember that the person on the other end of the phone is in fact a person. They are likely willing to help you and point you in the right direction.

And if not, the worst they can tell you is no.

These are just a few tried and true methods I’ve found to be helpful when Cision or Vocus just doesn’t have the answers you’re looking for. Do you have another tool or route you’ve taken to find a media contact? I’d love to hear it! Share with me on Twitter at @shandihuber.

Shandi Huber is a senior account executive at Wordsworth Communications, a public relations agency in Cincinnati, Ohio. An enthusiast for all social media platforms, you can often find her pinning her dream closet on Pinterest or posting photos of her new puppy on Instagram. Connect with Shandi on LinkedIn and Twitter(@shandihuber).

How to Build your Media Contact Network

July 21, 2015July 21, 2015Stephanie Vermillion Leave a comment

When I started working in my current role at a strategic communications agency, the company encouraged me to find my passion and become an expert in it. My love of writing and a good challenge drew me to media relations.

I attended webinars, met with specialists at the company and networked with local public relations professionals to learn more about the art of media relations.

The most important strategy I found in my research is that media relations should be a two-way relationship with the press (Click to Tweet!).

As public relations professionals, we have a responsibility to provide a service to the media, acting as a resource by providing relevant story ideas and assets.

Sure, this is great in theory, but as a new professional—how do I start building these relationships?

1. Only send relevant pitches.

Be respectful of your media contacts by researching what they cover before sending your pitch. Establishing this trust early on will help build strong relationships with your contacts.

2. Network whenever possible.

Look for opportunities to reach out to media contacts in your community and build those relationships. Get to know them and find out how you can work best together. I met a local news producer at a PRSA luncheon, and set up a coffee meeting with her the following week. She shared her perspective on working with public relations professionals, and we discussed the types of stories she’d like me to send her. (Check out your local PRSA chapter for similar media networking events in your area!)

3. Connect on social media.

Much like the other relationships in your life, social media can be used to communicate with the media contacts you work with. You can use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social channels to build relationships with the media.

4. Be patient.

It takes time to master the art of media relations and build your network.

Media relations is not an exact science. It’s all about finding out what works for you, and for your contacts.

What steps did you take to kick-start your career in media relations and build your network?

About Callie Turgeon

Callie Turgeon graduated from Gonzaga University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations, with a concentration in promotions and entrepreneurial leadership. She is currently an account associate at MSLGROUP, where she works mostly with commodity food accounts. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Five Tips to Fine-Tune Your Media Relations in Sports PR

July 17, 2015Ashleigh Mavros Leave a comment

Good communication skills and strong media relationships are essential for any PR professional to be successful with those they work with, but with the different public relations industries becoming more and more niche these days, there are some keys things to keep in mind depending on which media outlets you are pitching and working with the most.

For those working in the action-packed and non-stop sports and entertainment industries (or looking to get into these areas), here are five tips to keep in mind to help you fine-tune your media pitches, break through with key media contacts and more to further develop your media relations:

Timeliness & Relevance

As the old saying goes, “timing is everything.” In the sports and entertainment industries, this is even more important to remember when it comes to PR and pitching specific media reporters whether they are with long or short lead outlets.

More often than not, unless something is breaking news, it is best to tie your media pitches into something timely occurring that the outlet and reporters are covering (or could cover) whether it a large sporting event (such as the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, US Open, etc.), the start of a new sporting season (like golf and tennis season swinging under way each summer or football season and college sports getting started again each Fall) or anything else that’s relevant so that there is a direct tie-in to the media reporter and their upcoming editorial calendar an outlet.

Keep the Competition in Mind

When working in the sports and entertainment industries and with the media coverage surrounding them, to say it is a highly competitive space for coverage would be an understatement. When pitching various media try to keep in mind everyone else they are being pitched by and those who work with leagues, teams, events, brands, athletes, etc. and try to determine what your best pitch angle is to make you stand out from the rest and break through to the media contact.

In addition to the timeliness and relevance of what you are pitching, think of creative ways to enhance your pitches by determining the best subject line (and one that isn’t over the top or misleading), including images with your text or bullet-pointing information so your pitch helps you get straight to the point.

Don’t Get Discouraged if You Don’t Hear Back

Sometimes I like to think that “PR” more accurately stands for “persistency = results.” Like when sending out a press release announcement to a large database of media contacts (or on a newswire), you don’t always receive a lot of immediate feedback from those you sent it to.

If you don’t hear back on your pitch within an appropriate amount of time (of which there is no magic rule of thumb for), make sure and send a follow-up email or give them a call to see if they received your information. As for cold call media pitching, it seems more media prefer to receive email pitches first before being cold-called with pitches but that once you have established communication or a relationship with them that they are more willing and likely to talk on the phone with you.

Making Sure You Manage Expectations

For those of us who work in sports along with a lot of us who work in public relations, the phrase “under promising and over delivering” is very important to remember. This applies not only to those you work with/for, but also the media you’re building relationships with and collaborating on coverage opportunities.

When it comes down to things like determining how much time a media reporter can have in an interview or how much time they need to schedule photo shoots, it’s important to be aware of tight timelines and deadlines. It is in everyone’s best interest to be honest and forthcoming about what you (and who you work with/for) can and cannot do so that you are appropriately managing the media’s expectations. By doing so, this will help you with building lasting media relationships for both the short term and long term.

Keep up with What the Media are Covering

With the integration of social media into our daily lives and almost every move we’ve made in the past five or six years, this has become both a blessing and a curse at times for those of us who work in PR. Social media demands our constant attention (not to mention that sports related coverage consumes about 90% of twitter and all tweets produced daily).

However, social media also provides us an opportunity to follow key media reporters, see what they are covering and determine better pitches to add a more personable touch to connect with them and develop our relationships. While it is impossible to follow every media contact you want to get through to and see what they are covering, for the ones you do follow it allows some extra insight on events they are planning to attend, products they like, things they are passionate about and any other tidbits of information you might not have known otherwise that can help you determine a good tie-in when getting in touch with them.

I would also keep in mind that social media channels are NOT the best or recommended way to pitch key media contacts, but that it can’t hurt to respond to their posts and engage in conversations that potentially could help make you stand out to them when they do receive pitches and emails from you at another time.

About the PRSA Entertainment & Sports Section

Practitioners working in the high-profile worlds of sports and entertainment face unique challenges. PRSA’s Entertainment and Sports Section offers great opportunities to connect with peers who understand your issues and are willing to share solutions. Through in-person and virtual networking events, newsletters and other resources, the Section helps practitioners develop public relations and management skills directly relevant to their entertainment and sports environments.

Natalie P. Mikolich, is the 2016 Chair-Elect of the PRSA Entertainment and Sports Section and the Founder of npm|pr (www.npmpr.com). Natalie has worked with a variety of national businesses in different industries ranging from sports, fitness, health, beauty and luxury lifestyle to non-profit organizations and special events in addition to world class professional and Olympic athletes. Along with this, Natalie has provided public relations services for some of the leading global sports and entertainment agencies. Follow her on Twitter @npmikolich.

Leave Your Mark: A Book Review

June 29, 2015Stephanie Vermillion Leave a comment

Reading “Leave Your Mark” was like having a chat with the career mentor I always wanted, the kind of book I wish existed when I was in college.

Described as a career mentorship in a book, Aliza Licht takes readers on a tour of her career – from majoring in neurobiology in college to being SVP of Global Communications for Donna Karan International, while sprinkling invaluable nuggets of advice throughout her story.

DKNY PR Girl revolutionized the way brands use social media and Aliza Licht’s ideas and advice could very well change the way we young professionals use social media professionally – to search for jobs, too reach out to brands and pros we admire and to build our own personal brands. There’s so much to learn from her experiences whether you have a passion for fashion or not.

Unlike other career books out there, “Leave Your Mark” isn’t a how-to book. Reading it won’t tell you how to complete a particular task during your career or explain a certain trend in our industry. It’s not a textbook, but it’s something every aspiring, young and seasoned PR professional should read and keep on their bookshelves.

Aliza breaks down the book into sections on finding your dream career path, crafting the perfect resume and cover letter, getting the most out of an internship, nailing interviews, promotions and raises, getting ahead, handling a difficult boss or trouble coworker, using social media to your advantage and building your own personal brand.

Among the many gems she shares, these are the five best tips I found in “Leave Your Mark.”

You reap what you sow.

Early on, Aliza tells a story relayed to her from a colleague. Her colleague received an email from an acquaintance on behalf of her daughter. Daughter wasn’t involved in the conversation at all – never even bothered to email herself. She didn’t get a job with the company, of course. The moral of this story is that you’ll only benefit from the work that you put in. If you’re not willing to put in the effort to find or get the job, it won’t be yours.

Attention to detail is important no matter the job.

The most important thing you can do when applying for a job or internship is to pay attention. Applications have instructions, whether you’re applying online, via social media or the old fashioned way, and if you can’t follow whatever instructions were set, your application won’t even make it to the hiring manager’s desk. Same for spelling, grammar and, the worst offense of all, addressing it to the wrong person. The devil is in the details.

Leverage your existing network in the job hunt.

Cold calls don’t really do much for anyone really. Aliza makes this point by saying that those who contact a potential new place of employment themselves are at a disadvantage and telling her own story of securing her first job at DKNY. She had heard of an opening at DKNY and asked an editor friend of hers to reach out and recommend her, which made DKNY seek her out. This can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re trying to relocate as you may not have connections in your new home, but when possible, it’s always the best way to go.

Social media isn’t personal anymore.

We may love to use social media to share photos of our favorite meals or to live-tweet our favorite TV shows (excuse me while I blow up everyone’s Twitter feeds on Thursday nights. You can thank Shonda Rimes), but social media isn’t personal for PR pros. Your social media accounts are a virtual resume, whether you like it or not, and it’s important to make sure that you’re not costing yourself a job because of your affinity for oversharing or less-than-ideal after-work behavior.

The best brand you can build is you.

The biggest thing I took away from “Leave Your Mark” were all of the great tips on building my own personal brand. Aliza shows through her own experience that building you is the most important thing you can do in your career. By working hard wherever you are, learning everything you can and always putting your best foot forward, you’ll build a great reputation for yourself that will precede you in your career.

Robyn Rudish-Laning is a graduate of Duquesne University, with a bachelor’s in Public Relations, a master’s in Media Arts and Technology, and currently works as a PR Associate with Pretty Living PR, a boutique firm based in Pittsburgh. Find her on LinkedIn orTwitter or read her PR-focused blog

Book Review: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: Telling Your Story In A Noisy Social World

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015Stephanie Vermillion Leave a comment

Training. It’s a part of an athlete’s life, but it’s also important to PR pros.

From newbies to veterans, we all need to train ourselves to be storytellers for our companies, our clients and even our personal brands, on all the right social networks.

Conferences are great for training, but if you’re on a tight budget, especially as a new PR pro, your best bet is to hit the books. Enter Gary Vaynerchuk and his third book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” which will train you how to tell your story in a noisy social world.

Vaynerchuk asks readers to consider “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” as a “training camp to prepare you to storytell on today’s most important social media sites.”

The objective of great storytelling is to create outstanding content on the right platform, and he compares doing that to the sport of boxing (hence the jabs and right hook).

Key takeaways

I highlighted a lot of great points throughout my copy of the book, and the following three takeaways stood out to me most.

1. “Content is king, but context is God.”

You can create really great content that is compelling, but if you put it out on the wrong platform—or it misses what a certain platform is all about—it won’t be the hit you expect it to be. And as Vaynerchuk points out, content for the sake of content is pointless.

2. “No matter who you are or what kind of company or organization you work for, your number-one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are.”

It could be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter , etc., but it is most likely that customers are on all three and even more than that. You need to make sure that your content is relevant to your customer on the platforms they utilize most.

3. “Skillful, native storytelling increases the likelihood that a person will share your content with a friend.”

That increases your brand’s audience further and further. Shareable content makes your brand more memorable in the future and tells your story beyond your network of consumers.

Train by example

If you’re the typical new PR pro, you were probably a first adopter of many social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest) that Vaynerchuk covers in “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.”

You know the ins and outs of these sites. But don’t think that means this book isn’t relevant to you!

It is easy for brands to get in the grind of posting the same content to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (I’ve seen it happen before), but that way of promoting content is a great disservice for the very reason why context is so important.

The best way to complete the training that this book offers is to flip through to the “color commentary.” This is where he breaks social networks up by chapter and gives countless examples of good and bad content with screenshots of various campaigns.

Some will make you rethink your strategy, and others will make you cringe, asking “what were they thinking?!”

Do you believe in the power of storytelling and context? What do you consider to be the most important way to get your brand noticed?

Victoria Beppler is a graduate of Waynesburg University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations as well a Master of Business Administration in Market Development. She currently manages social media, email marketing, the annual fund and more for her alma mater as the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations. When she isn’t in the office or traveling to alumni events around the country, you can find her working on a DIY project or hanging out with her husband, Josh, and their dog, Brinkley. Connect with Victoria on Linkedin and Twitter (@victoriabeppler).

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