I read something the other day about best practices for getting influencers to read your press releases. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, are we really talking about this stuff in 2014?
I have been in the journalism game for a decade, writing for newspapers primarily before diving headfirst into the partnered content space (more on that later). I’ve also been on the public relations side. I have written press releases. And I have seen them fester on the unvisited sites of my past employers’ organizations.
Don’t get me wrong. Press releases are valuable to a point. They present the basic facts of an issue in an effective way. And they can be a valuable background resource for a writer or producer who is mulling over a topic. But they do not lead to coverage in and of themselves. Not by a longshot.
One time I spoke to a public relations class at Columbia College in Chicago, and the students asked me about the effectiveness of following up with a phone call after hitting send on their email blasts. I almost jumped out the window.
If you want to get your client’s story covered, few things are less effective than a rushed follow-up on an impersonal email.
Reporters and bloggers and social media rock stars are bombarded by these things every day—and half the time for pitches that don’t even fall under their coverage areas. You wouldn’t believe how many buttoned-up and out-of-demo pitches I got when I worked for a very laid-back and demo-specific outlet in my newspaper days.
Which brings me back to the partnered content space I mentioned earlier. Today, I help brands tell stories wherever their audiences may be.
The era of the press release as story vehicle is over. The middleman is no longer needed. Instead, brands with stories to tell can connect directly with influencers by putting together thoughtful, engaging and relevant content that those in the media can interact with.
The influencers who decide what to cover and how to do it are smart people, and they very quickly can see through a flimsy blast in a tired template. But if you can share a story—an actual, factual, reported and sourced story—that piques their interest, maybe down the line they’ll be inclined to cover your client. Maybe it will give them an idea for an angle that hasn’t been considered yet.
It’s like anything else in life. If you want something, you have to work for it.
No one has ever gotten a first date with an email blast. No one has ever landed her dream job by doing nothing more than hitting “send.” Same goes for media mentions. Unless you make that connection, unless you focus your story and present your client’s best side in an authentic way, you’re not going to get anywhere.
It’s all about authenticity.
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