Want more media coverage? Start here

Want more media coverage? Of course you do. Here’s 5 steps to get you there.

1. Find your tribe

First things first, ask yourself “who cares?” May seem harsh but It’s a necessary first step. On the path to getting more coverage on your awesome person, place or thing, you first need to determine who’s interested. If you haven’t clearly defined your potential audience, nothing else matters. Create a profile that describes them to a fine point.

With that out of the way, you’re ready to start the next crucial step of focusing on the media that reaches your audience. When searching, go deeper than just “art magazines” or “journalists who cover sports”. Chances are you already have a choice lists of sites and writers you visit regularly to stay abreast of your industry, so start with there. In turn, check out who they read and follow on social. Set up Google Alerts​ with key words to let you know whenever your subject matter is in the news, and if it’s in the budget, use a service offered by companies such as Cision​, Agility PR​, and Meltwater​ that offer media database access. These databases allow you to specifically search and have contact information for journalists, outlets, publications and influencers who cover your beat. To be clear, unless you’re a powerbroker, you can do this on your own. Remember, you only have to delve into the media world that you fit into. Get to know it well, then stay up to date with changes. Just like you and I, journalists don’t always stay on the same path so check in regularly to make sure they’re still part of your tribe.

2. Customize your outreach

Now that you’ve determined your audience and have a killer listing of who’s talking to them already, it’s time to plan how you’ll get in touch. First, you’ll want to do another once-over on that list. Identify your “stars”; the ones who cover your area often and well. Custom pitches are time consuming so you’ll want to spend most of your efforts crafting outreach for this list, because, they’re worth it. Read the last few articles/posts they’ve done. Identify the trend or sentiment and include that trend as part of the reason you’re reaching out to them specifically. Next, you’re selling them on why they are especially suited to cover your topic for a particular publication. Get to the point, their time is precious and in short supply, but give enough info to make it compelling.

This could be the start of a great relationship, so treat it that way. Be respectful of their time, mindful of their workload, say please and thanks, and stay in touch. Lastly, the journalist/site/publication needs content, and lots of it, every single day. You have a source of content. So rather than approach like a beggar, approach like a business partner.

3. Follow-up

There’s no cute pun here. Seriously, just follow-up. Journalists get so very many pitches every day. May are ill-fitting, poorly written, or worse. They do a lot of skimming, ignoring, and deleting, it’s a survival tool. Therefore, when you know you have something worth a second look, don’t be afraid to follow-up. Ask what they thought of the pitch/idea, and if they’re interested. Suggest an alternate angle and whether a later date night work better. Even if they’re not, they could be interested later, so use the opportunity for feedback. If you get interaction, keep or add them to that special list. Start to get to know them better through their writing, and try them again when you have another great idea. If they cover you, be sure to send a thank-you.

4. Stay informed

You can in fact make an educated guess as to whether a journalist might be interested in your story — by staying current. Stay abreast of what’s trending in the news and world at large, and within your industry. What are you seeing a lot of articles about? What seems to be the hot topic of the moment? The more in-tune your pitches are with what is currently happening, the more likely your pitch fits into the editorial plan, and therefore, be seen as a valuable source.

5. Analyze the results

Once you’ve gone through a complete cycle, do an analysis. Assess what worked, what didn’t, the feedback you received, and how many responses and subsequent hits you got. Keep track of all results, tools like Google Analytics​ can help with hard stats about how hits are helping to drive traffic for you. Armed with learnings and experience under your belt, the process gets easier. Before you know it, you’ll be your own damn expert.