Around this time every year I tell clients, “now is the time to be coordinating your PR strategy”. If you have a new product, service, finding, anything really, you have more chance of securing media coverage during the fast approaching holiday season.
So, why would you start planning this in September/October?
- You need to consider your target audience and drill down into where they are going for news.
- Then you need to collect contact details for these media outlets to create your very own media contacts list.
- You also need to consider the deadlines of the media outlets you are interested in approaching. Is their deadline three months prior to publication? Magazines usually have as long a lead time, for example.
- You will need to create a killer media release – something that instantly captures the receiving journalist’s attention, while balancing your business strategies and goals with media guidelines and expectations.
- Allow extra time because soft news stories are often bumped for breaking news, but held over for the next run. You should at least be looking to a late October – early November PR campaign rollout.
- And if you haven’t run your own PR campaign before, you’ll need some help understanding:
- What makes something newsworthy
- How to write an effective media release
- How to make cold calls and pitch a story
- How to distribute a media release and follow up
- How to build positive ongoing relationships with media contacts
- Other tips and tricks, do’s and don’ts.
It sounds like a big task, but with the right kind of advice and insights, it’s actually pretty easy. To help SMEs and non-profits, we offer PR mentoring workshops for $150 that are prepared and presented online or in person by a journalist turned marketing and communications manager.
Having sat on both sides of the news desk, Kirsty Jagger offers unique insights to assist your business with its media marketing.
Although these are introductory PR mentoring workshops, they are very comprehensive. Participants should leave the public relations mentoring workshop feeling confident they know how to approach the media with the aim of raising the profile of their organisation.
Before you commit to anything, check out our media, marketing and communications consultancy packages – starting at $85.