Public relations is just one of those things.
It's something that every company knows they should do, but only see two ways of making it happen -- hire an expensive PR firm or cross their fingers and hope for the best. The latter is, well, not really much of a PR strategy. There is a third option, however.
Bootstrapping.
I've written in the past about how to bootstrap your PR efforts, but never really dug into the nitty gritty. It's a time intensive process, but if you're up for the challenge, getting coverage in some of the top outlets in the world is possible, and even likely. I've tried many methods, failed many times, and ultimately boiled it down to this process.
Here it is, Moz family.
Step 1 - The Mirror Check
The first step is what I like to call the mirror check, something that gets glossed over far too often. You need to put yourself in the mind of a writer. People don't want to read shit stories, and writers don't want to write them; it's a simple relationship. Before you dig into the rest of the process, make sure you've got a story that you'd be interested in reading. Honestly. If you can't look yourself in the mirror and say that you would love to read what you're pitching, hold off.
Save your time, and more importantly, everyone else's.
Step 2 - Building Your Publication List
Once you've got a solid story, it's time to start building your list of publications. I've found it helpful to break it into larger categories, such as tech blogs, mainstream media, local press, niché publications and so on. That'll give you a good outline to begin digging into the specific publications you're looking to reach out to.
It's important to note that PR isn't a numbers game, as many think. It's a quality and relevance game, not a shotgun spray. To determine relevance, you really need to engulf yourself in the content of the publication -- read at least 5 articles. Without reading the content, you aren't able to truly understand the writing style and typical news they cover. Once you've done this, add only the publications that would be interested in your story, and omit those that wouldn't. It'll save you time when we get to the next step.
Step 3 - Finding the Right Contact
This is so important that it deserves its own step. Again, it's all about relevance, even more so when you're looking for the right person to pitch your story to. What's the sweet spot for one writer, may be completely irrelevant to another. If you pitch the wrong one, well, you blew your shot. You've got to dig deep on this step. Here's the info that my list usually contains:
The first three fields are fairly self explanatory, then we get into the meat of it. The "relevance point" refers to the overlap with the writer's past work. A good way of finding the right person to pitch your story to, is to go to the publication and search for relevant content.
For example, if I'm looking pitch an article on company culture, the best way to find the right person is to search the publication for the term "Company Culture". Crazy, I know. This will bring up a great list of past content that you can dig through to find the writer that normally covers the type of story you're pitching.
Once you've got the right person, the real investigative work starts happening. Depending on the publication, when you click the author's name, you're usually taken to a page with their contact info, bio, social profiles and the like. If you're not as lucky, you'll have to resort to a good ol' Google search (or Bing search :) to find what you're looking for.
For each author, I like to make sure I've got at least their Twitter handle, Linkedin profile, Facebook profile and personal site (if they have one). What this allows you to do, is not only track down an email address in most cases, but it also allows you to gain a good understanding of their personality. Make note of things they like, what they've done recently, where they're located -- it's all publicly available, and goes a long way in making you stand out. Like anyone else, writers appreciate when you take the time to do it right. Drop these hints of deep research in your pitch.
Finally, if you aren't able to track down their email address, use tools like Rapportive to help in guessing the right contact address. If it clicks and data appears, you've got the right email address.
Step 4 - Crafting Your Pitch and Subject Line
A lot of people mess up on the pitch, the eventual email that gets sent off. They get wordy, dance around the purpose of the email, attach a press release and ultimately fail miserably. Like this kid. The pitch needs to show relevance, be compelling and maintain brevity.
To provide an example, here's a pitch that I've used in the past:
Step 5 - Let it Rip
Or, you could make it rain. Whichever you prefer.
This is the culmination of all the work you've put in. Obviously, you can't always time your news in the case of product launches and breaking news, but I've found that Sunday evening is a great time to put it out there. Most folks are lazy, and they aren't willing to put in the time on a Sunday, this leaves a nice window for your pitch and a Monday release date in most cases. It's not a necessity, but it may give you the best odds.
Also, this sounds obvious, but make sure you're ready for responses to your pitch. If the writer is interested, you'll hear back and they'll want more info. Respect their time and get back to them as soon as you can.
The rest is out of your hands.
Some General Don'ts
Before we wrap this up, I want to go over some general don'ts with PR. By no means is this list comprehensive, but it'll steer you away from the big screw-ups.
- Avoid the Embargo - Generally speaking, writers don't like embargoes. It's a liability and a pain in the ass that many would like to avoid. Send your news out when it's ready and available for consumption.
- Lose the Press Release - In my mind, the press release is dead. They're bloated, impersonal and a thing of the past. If you just want links on Yahoo! news, sure, go for it. It's not going to give you the coverage that's really valuable, though. At the very least, make sure not to attach a press release to your pitch. Do it for me, please.
- Don't Double Pitch - Don't send the same pitch to multiple people at the same publication. It shows that you're just firing off as many emails as you can, and it's a sure way to get you ignored.
- Skip the General Address - Most publications recommend that you send to a generic email address like [email protected], it's the catch-all for poor pitches. People that don't want to see success usually go this route, it's the easy way to spray the shotgun, but it rarely yields results. Use it as your last option, but not the default.
- Put Down the Phone - This may be unconventional for most folks that do PR, but I believe that we live in a digital age, where phones are a secondary thing. Sure, if there's interest, hop on a call by all means. But don't do your pitching via a phone call. It catches folks off guard, and makes the encounter confrontational, with only a few seconds to tell them what they want to hear.
- Don't Suck - Most importantly, don't suck. Be a good person, not someone that's just on the hunt for links. Provide the writer with value, help them do their job and be awesome. It's amazing what good intent can do.
Conclusion
Executing on a PR push is time intensive, and demanding of finesse. It's why PR firms demand upwards of $15,000/month, with no guarantee on output. I'm not a public relations pro. By no means is this the end all be all of PR processes, but it's what I've found to be successful in landing press -- earning coverage in Wired, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Mashable and many more. That said, what worked for me, may not work for all.
As with everything in tech, iterate, iterate, iterate.
If you run across any specific questions as you're working through it, feel free to drop them in the comments or just shoot me a line, I'm always happy to help.
Go forth!
Hi Andrew,
it's nice to see you posting again in the blog after such a long time, and with such a great post.
What you describe, IMO, doesn't differ that much from what we usually do when it comes to outreach bloggers or web masters.
If you think it, when we do outreach a blog, we tend to get to know well what it really talks about, its style, the personal idiosincrasies of the bloggers. We follow him on Twitter and usually we start our outreach there, somehow as it was a natural consequence of the many conversations we have shared with him.
Therefore, the problem when it comes to outreach news sites and doing corporate PR is mostly psychologic from a link builder front. You know: trying to reach Wired or the New York Times psychologically it is not the same than reaching a blogger expert in your niche but, let's say so, less "glamourous". The reality is that those sites (oh... the Guardian an an ... note the stupified echo) have people like me, like you and like that less glamourous blogger working in. So, the outreach tactics are the same, with just the difficulty add on of having to fight also against the stressing pressure usually those journalists have to deal with (they live with a writing schedule).
What I like of your post, Andrew, is exactly that you remind us how to PR is not that different that old classic outreach, the personalized one, where you have to know the right contact, follow him in order to have things to talk with him about and creating a common language that can breaks the diffidence that usually exists.
That's spot on, Gianluca. The methods are the same, regardless of the size or scale of the person/publication you're reaching out to.
The same applies to business development as well, as Mark noted. It's all about providing value, and making that value evident.
Thanks for the love.
Well done - great write up. I am a big fan of the approach, whereby you skip the conventional Press Release and head straight to contacting the writers. I can see how the results of this would be much better than your standard press release.
Your actual pitch email is crafted very well also. I will definitely have to use a variation of it as i try this approach in the coming week.
Thanks again.
Glad it was helpful -- thanks for taking the time to read!
As an SEO professional that now works at one of the big PR firms (Ketchum.com). I think your quick and dirty list is great. Though I do have to plug a tool that we use here for our media pitches and link building work that speads up the process of evaluating a page AND finding the contact info. It's called BuzzStream, and I wouldn't be able to do my job without it.
We have also noticed that we often get coverage from reporters who follow our client's Twitter accounts, and are prompted to write stories from the news that is tweeted. BuzzStream helps you find both email contact info, but social media profiles as well.
Holy crap. This is gold! I'm starting to have to do some PR type link building for one of my clients, so I will put this into play ASAP.
Seriously, thank you Andrew!
"People don't want to read shit stories"
You get a Thumb Up for cursing, and a share on Google+ for the message behind it. I understand free information may not solve all my problems, but if I'm going to spend my time reading something, I expect value.
Great message.
Yay for cursing, and for the thumbs up! :)
hahaha, who doesn't love cursing?
Great article with common sense advice that most people ignore! As a marketer and pr consultant I work with many clients that want me to create a press release and get them "articles in magazines and blogs"among other publicity requests. When I ask them what is the "news" that will interest both writers and readers, they are stumped. Most companies are so entrenched in their product or service that they think is just amazing, but don't realize that journalists get hundreds of pitches and there must be some sort of "angle."
I also agree with doing as much research as you can, and make sure you actually read some articles from the writer. Im also a Food Editor and have been pitched products that make no sense for my readership.
The worst offense is someone getting my name wrong! You can tell that they were sending out a blanket email and didn't bother to check the name. Opps!
Hi Andrew,
I can relate to your post very well.I read your article with pure concentration and focus. From a SEO company, I find it very refreshing. Last time I read about PR 101 is when I bought the book of Raleigh Pinskey.
It's good that you organize it in a step by step or chronological order. First, you have to Know yourself and your market. Next is to find where to place your article, then you find the perfect writer. I will check out 'Rapportive' as per your suggestion.
I agree 100% about the general email. As much as possible, find the direct email of the concerned person. This is like hitting the bull's eye in a dart board.I agree with gfiorelli1, this tip may also be used for other groups such as bloggers and webmaster. As kdaly100 said, if you have a plan and collect data very religiously, you will be successful, in PR and and SEO services as well.
Can't wait for your next post.
Cheers,
SEO services Manila
Thanks for the ideas Andrew - really insightful and some genuinely fresh techniques.
These techniques seem to be great for doing PR without actually 'doing PR'. As you rightly say, many people simply don't have the time or budget to get involved with large PR agencies and expensive campaigns. I think a large share of online marketers, SEOs and buiness development folks fit this mould.
One point that really stuck out for me was your fifth 'don't' - Put down the phone.
I always feel more respected if someone reaches out to me with an introductory email. Calling out of the blue catches people whilst they're in the middle of things and they don't have time to focus on your pitch. I feel happier chatting to someone who has given me the chance to familiarise myself with their product or idea, and allowed me to schedule a time when we can both focus on the discussion at hand.
A small point, but one that can make or break the pitch and the future relationship.
Thanks, Pete. It's funny, traditional PR folks got all sorts of riled up about that point. Perhaps it's due to the fact that their livelihood depends on selling a story, and they see calling as the best way to "close the deal."
I don't look at PR as selling, I see it as providing value. If you provide value in your pitch, they'll get back to you. If they don't, you don't have a strong enough story -- leave it at that.
Glad you agree.
Thanks for this very interesting piece.
Quite interesting how you have put this forward. You are essentially almost applying typical marketing metrics at a PR level to segment your target writer and appraoch them in the right manner.
Would have never looked at it this way, and one generally assumes with PR that you go with the mass blanket approach!
Good reading, thanks!!
Not a bad post, some good guidleines to follow. I do have to disagree that the press release is dead though. It hasn't gone away, it's just changed, and the serious pro's who know their stuff understand that and use it to their advantage. Another hting, while you urge people not to contact the generic email given ([email protected]) there are actually quite a number of media contacts that can't stand when people don't go this route. If the outlet clearly spells out their guidelines for contacting them, and you purposefully circumvent them to try and better your own chances, it may backfire. You may have inadvertently sent it to the wrong contact, guaranteeing you get no coverage, or it could be a sign that you just can't follow direction. This tip has to be used with caution.
Good post, Andrew. PR tends to be foreign territory for a lot of marketers and entreprenuers.
I used to work at one of those expensive PR firms and they tend to work well for enterprises that a) have that kind of a PR budget and b) choose not to put resources toward building PR internally. Another reason why agencies work for enterprises is due to the "relationship factor." Many of the steps you outlined aren't necessary when you have established relationships with reporters. Companies either rely on great staff retention (because the relationships move when people move) or staffing PR firms that focus on maintaining those relationships.
For small and medium-size businesses, agencies usually don't fit the bill or aren't necessary because you don't generate enough news to maximize an agency investment.
You touched upon newsworthiness, but that's more of a contingency than a step. If you have a great product or story, media will be begging for it rather than you begging for their attention. Looking back at the story placements you've had, how many of them were really about the steps you followed or the newsworthiness of the story? I think the "mirror check" is good guidance but most people LOVE reading about themselves and have a hard time determining whether a broader readership would feel the same. Experience understanding coverage of an industry, as well as general journalism princicples for newsworthiness such as timeliness, novelty, proximity, prominence, etc. that can be helpful in determining if coverage is worth chasing in the first place.
Thanks for the toughtful comment, Paolo. You touch on a great point about who PR agencies are for. As an enterprise, they're most likely the best solution, but as you noted, many companies aren't in a position to take advantage of what they offer. That leaves bootstrapping, which I know all too well. :)
Thanks for dropping some knowledge, couldn't agree more.
Nice post! There's really not as much as a barrier to getting the attention of writers as a lot of people think. Sometimes you just have to know people through your network and other times being present in the right comment sections of the right stories will get you a response or nod from the person you want to be in touch with. While the uber expensive PR firms do have their place, it's important for business owners to realize that their funds don't limit their exposure necessarily.
Another post on SEO BLog which goes back to emphasise (and very well too) that it is by working with a consistent plan over time that you will get results from your SEO/SEM/PR efforts.
It is now clear that the tool of choice of any self respecting marketing professional in this space is the Excel spreadsheet where they build data and information over time and hope that the hard work pays off.
Blog posts like these if expanded would be the basis of a book in itself. Cue SEOMOZ book in your Christmas stockings next Christmas.
Thanks for the post.
I love the roadmap you supplied. Really great reference sheet and I imagine even more helpful for people that aren’t used to the process of reaching out and finding new contacts.
The funny thing is I do a lot of business development and contact finding on a daily basis and it never even occurred to me to apply those same tactics to contacting writers and press. I was reading this saying yes I do that, yes I understand, but then the light bulb went on and I realized those same tactics can be used for even more purposes.
Great article!!! Thank you for taking the time to share this.
Oh, and by the way, “attach a press release and ultimately fail miserably. Like this kid” LMAO Awesome!!!!
The overlap between business development and PR tactics is huge! Glad you enjoyed the post, and the epic .gif :)
This is pitchmanship at it's very "core",as I know Dumont recognizes this term from his workouts at Thrive, and just like there, he nails it. Talk to people the way they want to be talked to, in a manner that fits them best. And save your shotgun spray for late night COD fests.
Props to including your personality in the release, too. This separates the herd.
Excellent post and nice strategy on reaching the right person. Once again another article that pushes the idea of content being king - as you say "Step 1 - The Mirror Check". If only more people took this advice, the internet would be a better place!
Is it perfectly acceptable to just contact writers like this? I'm trying to promote the company I work for (in bookselling) but find it hard to generate press even though we have a great USP.
My question is basically - is this ethical?
Hi Benj25 -
I've worked in the PR industry in the past for some time. It shouldn't feel 'ethcially questionable,' like you're trying to 'get one over' on reporters, writers, and editors. They want to give their readers something intriguing and useful. What does your company offer that's highly valuable to a specific market? Is your company engaging in some kind of strategy, promotion, charity, etc, which is unique and again, useful for the public to know about? If so, be confident in contacting writers and editors; you have something to 'offer' them.
Are you merely trying to get some 'exposure' for your business? If you don't have something immediately unique to share or express, then I would take a patient approach and begin making some connections first, (Twitter, Facebook, blog sites, etc;) perhaps inquire about guest blogging opportunities to slowly but surely gain some attention. There was a good post on SEOmoz about recruiting guest spots a few posts back.
I definitely share Anthony's sentiment. If you're thinking about it from a 'promoting' or 'exposure' position, you've already lost (see: don't suck)
Hey Andrew thanks for this awesome post. These steps are certainly different than the usual strategy that people implement in a Press Release publication.I have to try them once to know the outcome.Oh, and that kid was really funny with the ball bouncing off him.
Great post, I think I'm going to encorporate a lot of the tips above in pushing my company! time to get working
This is pretty much how you do when you go around and outreach bloggers for Guest blogging opportunities or straight link requests. Off-course with press Release you have to be extra conscious (this is how I feel) as they are more official and a bit more serious then Guest Blogging or link request.
One thing I seriously agree here is the personal contact with Journalists and Media persons... This is important to have personal contacts or else this is pretty difficult for your email to get considered.
Another thing that IMO is worth noticing especially when you are contacting news journalist and related kind of people... email is not enough contact them over the phone or meet them in person (if possible) to get the work done.
Good Read!
Great post.. excellent... keep update next post early.
Thanks in Advance.
Andrew,
Can you go into more detail about embargoes? What about exclusives? I always get different advice from the experts about this.
If we want to really shoot for the stars and get into a big publication, do we give them a day or two to respond and then send it out.
If we had a big news story in 10 days, how would you map out the next days leading up to it? Sorry, this is probably its own blog post in itself.
You bet, Sarah.
So, an exclusive is different than an embargo. An embargo is essentially sending the same news to a handfull of publications and giving them a date/time that they need to hold before they publish the news. Some editors break the embargo, which renders it useless. Others stay true, but it's a pain for a writer.
Exclusives are great, if you're willing to sacrifice coverage in other publications. You're essentially using the same idea of a date and time that they can release, but there's no other publications in the mix, as it's an exclusive. They like this.
The 10 days leading up is definitely a blog post in itself, I'll try and get something outlining this soon.
Thanks Andrew. Let me know if you need a guinea pig to test it out.
great post, thanks for this use full post
Not being a PR man, this has given me a great heads up into building a more powerful PR/link program with my copywriter. Thanks a lot.
I think it's pretty good for a link builder as well as most of the processes are about the same.
Nice post, roflmao, love the .gif of that kid, you made my day with you great sense of humor. Thanks for the post, there are some really interesting tips in there. But a lot of thanks for the General Don’ts section, knowing what not to do makes doing it right a lot easier. Thanks a lot.
You bet -- glad you got a kick out of the GIF, I know I did. :)
Thanks for the article, several good points. I definitely agree with what you call the mirror approach, but I would say put yourself in the place of the reader, not the writer. I've been working on this step over the last week and think it makes a huge difference. Also, I have one question. I always thought you shouldn't send emails, post articles, etc. on Sunday because of the overwhelming amount of stuff that comes in people's inbox by Monday so I'm not sure what you mean here - "but I've found that Sunday evening is a great time to put it out there. Most folks are lazy, and they aren't willing to put in the time on a Sunday, this leaves a nice window for your pitch and a Monday release date in most cases"
Thanks for the tips!
Sorry more not making this clearer. I was speaking from a 'probability of getting covered' perspective, as it's the day that has worked best for me.
I'm not sure about readership numbers, but I know the frequency of pitches that a writer recieves on a Sunday is quite a bit less than in the middle of the week. It's easier to get your pitch read on this day. But, the success really depends on whether the writer is 'plugged in' on Sundays -- I've found that most are.
Definitely worth trying.
great post !
Excellent post. I'll be putting this to use soon, thanks!
Nice tips Andrew. One thing that I wanted to point out is that what you're really talking about here is media relations and outreach, which is just one component of PR. But I agree that companies don't always need to bring in (expensive) outside help to build and execute a solid PR plan. There's a lot of value in bootstrapping PR and other inbound marketing efforts.
You're right, by no means is this a media strategy. It's simply a quick and dirty guide to getting coverage.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Some great one-liner PR notes from a notable reporter, Rafe Needleman of CNET, are on his PRTips website. Subscribe to the RSS feed; I promise it will be worth it.
Great tips, I use them as a resource all the time.