How To Do PR STEP 2 — Find the Right Media Outlets and Writers
Getting media mentions and presence online gives you leverage that can provide marketing returns well beyond your initial investment of time or money.
Last week, I posted about the six goals you might have for your media outreach. Once you have set your own goal, it’s time to identify the outlets and writers that will help you accomplish that goal.
Start by figuring out the food chain of various outlets, or the type of content and stories they read and repeat. For example, if you’re targeting Upworthy, you know that positive and uplifting stories are their focus. Those are the stories that perform well for them and tend to get lots of shares.
Ryan Holiday has written a book Trust Me I’m Lying, which is an excellent resource on this approach. He spoke at the Public Relations Society of America’s Western District Conference when it was held in Riverside — I was glad to be there — and he caused quite a stir!
You’ll also want to think about your outlets’ goals and how those align with your own. For an outlet like Upworthy, the goal is to go viral. They want to spread their story to as many people as possible. For others, it’s high engagement and exclusive rights.
Next, identify your outlets’ writers. These are the actual people who will write and publish the story.
What type of writer do you need? Someone who writes about news, entertainment, or the financial “beat”? What type of content do these writers share? What’s the hierarchy at the outlet? While the top writers may have more clout, those lower on the ladder need to publish more stories. They’re more likely to run with a good story you supply.
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Remember that their incentive is to get a topic approved by their editor — and get pageviews after publication.
An example PR win could be identifying a junior staff writer at an outlet who is responsible for the daily “fun & fluffy” type content. You have exactly that kind of story and she is in constant need of fun, interesting & entertaining material. Win/win!
By identifying these variables, you’ll start to formulate a list of the writers and outlets that are most relevant to you, your product, and services — and your PR goals.
If you’re having trouble coming up with outlets on your own, try sorting through google news for the types of outlets and writers that relate to your topic.
For example, if I want to get awareness for a new aromatic oils infuser, I would search Google News for “wellness products” or “spa products” to see the types of outlets and writers reporting on these topics and if they align with my product. If they do, I add them to my list of outlets and reports, which I keep in a spreadsheet.
Keep in mind that when you’re doing outreach to achieve your PR goals, you could go the traditional “throw it at the wall” method — and send out a high-volume pitch — or you could use the many tools at your disposal to really learn about your outlets and writers, what they cover, and how to contact them.
You can send 100 generic, template emails hoping for one percent of the recipients to respond, or you can spend a bit more time researching your “dream” outlets in order to send ten emails that will get you a ten percent response rate…or even higher.
Be sure to find and follow the writers and outlets you are targeting on social media. You can learn a lot about a writer based on what they share and comment on. And pay attention, too, to the time of day they post or comment, because that will be a good time of day to send an email with your story idea. Add notes to your spreadsheet so you can use this information to craft your perfect pitch.
Pitching, which just means that you will present your idea to various outlets, is our topic for next week. Your homework this week is to find five outlets and writers/reports you would like to target in your pitch.
