I love Ben Affleck's first scene in the movie "Boiler Room." I always felt that the quote above perfectly relates to companies and press coverage. The ones who don’t get coverage will quickly dismiss it as useless and a waste of time and money to pursue, while the ones who regularly get coverage just smile and hope that you keep thinking that way...
Over the last 12 years, I have been featured in hundreds of major newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs (everything ranging from the NY Times, USA Today and CNN to TechCrunch, Entrepreneur and so on), and I can tell you first-hand that it has helped me and my companies in an enormous way. It's brought me:
- Publicity (well duh, Chris!)
- Clients
- Partnerships
- Links
- Traffic
- Improved Employee Morale
- Credibility
- Money
Even more importantly, I have helped hundreds of businesses and friends get coverage. In many cases, the coverage they received was the tipping point for their career or business. A couple of weeks ago, someone who I met at a conference and became a friend of mine told me:
"Incidentally, your advice on PR in the past has been invaluable with [their domain] - PR is our biggest source of traffic by miles."
I had no idea this was the case. Their site has been extremely successful, and it got me thinking that I had never really laid everything out in one place. See, PR isn't the core of my business. I'm not a PR genius or even a PR flack. BlueGlass doesn't offer traditional PR services; we do it as part of an overall Internet marketing campaign.
I've worked with a bunch of different PR people in my career. Some were amazing, some were terrible. I've done lots of things on my own (some were amazing and some were terrible). With all of that, I have learned a lot and I want to share it with you.
So without further adieu, here are 91 ways/tips/thoughts/things that have helped me get and maximize press coverage over the last 12 years. This is the stuff that's worked for me and with a little bit of tenacity, I am positive it can work for you, as well!
Know WHO You Are and WHAT You Want
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Determine your message by answering the following questions:
* What’s different about you or your company?* What are you the expert of?* What makes you better than your competitors?* What’s your “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP)?
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Determine if you want national or local coverage (or both!).
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What can you use (beyond your company or expertise) to help you stand out? I’ve used my hair. This guy used yellow shoes.
- Create a list of everywhere you want to be covered: newspapers, sites, blogs, trade journals, etc.
Build Your Media List
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Identify the reporters at each publication who write about the specific topic for which you want to be covered.
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Find their contact info. This will usually be included with their stories, but if it's not, search LinkedIn, Google, or on the publication’s site. If you’re still stuck, call the publication.
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Create a spreadsheet with all of the publications, corresponding reporters, and their contact info. Include a column for notes where you can keep track of preferred contact methods, pitching preferences, best time to contact, and any other relevant info you learn after you’ve gotten to know each reporter.
- Or, use a tool like Bulldog Reporter (pay as you go) or MEDIAtlas (yearly $$$ subscription).
Research (And Then Research Some More)
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Read a reporter’s work before you reach out to him or her. Write down your thoughts on some of his or her recent stories.
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Is the reporter’s email at the end of his or her articles? This is a good sign they’re open to contact. Tip: Most journalists have (at least) two email addresses. One for the public (the catch-all) and one that they actually use. This is why your email subject line and the email itself are SO important. You have to be the ‘"signal" in all the ‘"noise" they have to get through.
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Do the reporters respond to comments on the site or blog that they write on? Do they respond only to certain types of comments or to all of them? Make notes of particular comments that they react most favorably to.
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Is he Mr. Twitter 2012? Is she a Google + Gal? Start following them to feel out their personalities and observe how responsive they are to other people online.
- Many of the list building services will tell you how the reporter likes to be contacted. Follow those directions.
The Art of the Email
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Make contact with the reporter via email, telling them how much you enjoyed their latest piece and which parts you enjoyed the most. You’ll be shocked by how many reporters will respond to a quick congratulatory note. Tip: Don’t half-ass this step. If you didn’t really read it and aren’t familiar with their work at all, don’t do this.
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Follow best email marketing practices (especially with your subject line). Your subject line will most likely mean the difference between making contact with the journalist. Make it count. You’ll need to catch the reporter’s attention in an overflowing inbox.
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Keep the email short. Remove at least one sentence from whatever you wrote...
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NEVER include attachments.
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When they respond, tell them what you do and let them know you’d love to help with any stories they have coming up if they relate to what you do.
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Try to get quoted on timely topics. Once you’ve made initial contact, email them when breaking news happens and give your own unique perspective. Keep it short and sweet.
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Include a short bio (& a link to your longer one with a picture of you) in the message. This will save them from having to get more information from you if they’re on a tight deadline to get a story out.
- Stay on top of "What’s Hot" in your industry so that you can proactively pitch. Pitch yourself as an expert source or figure out a way to work your company into the pitch. There are a bunch of good sites that can help you with this:
- Google Trends or Trendistic to see what’s hot right now
- Google Alerts (free) or Giga Alert (small subscription fee but a bit more comprehensive) to monitor activity based on specific topics (i.e. “content marketing” or “Facebook advertising”).
- And for our industry: Hacker News and Pinboard’s Popular section help me to find stories that might not have hit the mainstream yet. It’s important to not forget to step outside of your bubble on a daily basis.
Working the Phones
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If you’re not a phone person, you’ll need to learn how to muscle through it or at least “fake it until you make it." Some reporters prefer email communication, while others prefer the phone (especially if they’re in a hurry to gather a lot of information).
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Know what you’re talking about. I can’t stress the importance of this one enough. You won’t be able to look things up while you’re on the phone (at least, not discreetly). Prepare before any calls to ensure you really know the topic inside and out.
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Be energetic and positive. Tip: It might sound corny, but smiling while you’re on the phone automatically makes you sound friendlier. Being likeable can make a reporter more comfortable reaching out to you for help on future stories. If you had a choice between talking to a miserable person or a happy one (all things being equal), who would you choose? I thought so...
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Always tell the reporter something unusual or unexpected that will make you stick out and guarantee you end up in their story. We live in a 140-character, sound-bite driven world. Remember this...
- Be definitive. Have a clear opinion on the subject. This is going to help them get that quote they need.
Growing Your Relationships
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A strong relationship with just one reporter can be invaluable. Treat each of these relationships like gold, and you can count on coverage for years. I have been in more than 30 stories in USA Today, mostly in the same reporter’s articles (and the others were from people he introduced me to at the paper). This one relationship that I cultivated was one of the most valuable assets early in my career.
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Be adaptable. Some opportunities may not be exactly what you’re after, but being flexible and able to accommodate a reporter’s story in spite of this (and still work your message in somehow!) will position you as a dependable source.
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Always go above and beyond. After a call or interview, send follow up info such as links, supporting materials, etc. Few things will make you stand out in a reporter’s mind more than making his or her job easier.
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Pitch ideas. As journalism moves into a purely online form, journalists are competing more than ever for original stories. Again, making a reporter’s work easier will make you stand out. Come up with story ideas for them in which you can also offer your expertise (and work your message in).
- Send a thank you note after an interview reminding the reporter you’re eager to help with anything in the future.
Social media makes all of the above much easier and effective...
Use LinkedIn
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Once you’ve established contact, add the reporters you’re targeting as connections on LinkedIn.
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Use the import tool to find reporters with whom you’ve already emailed back and forth.
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Always send a personalized message when adding a new contact. Make it original; don’t use the default greetings supplied by LinkedIn. ;Tip: DON’T select that you were colleagues at your company (this is the quickest way to make sure someone won’t add you as a connection - journalist or not).
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Understand how journalists use LinkedIn.
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Optimize your profile so you can be found by reporters looking for a source: use keywords in your title, summary, and throughout your past job descriptions.
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Be approachable. Make it clear in your summary you’re open to press contacts or mention publications you’ve appeared in.
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Include all of your contact information in your profile: phone numbers, email, social profiles, office location, etc.
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Make your profile public so you’ll show up in search results even if you’re not someone’s 2nd- or 3rd- degree connection.
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Additionally, a public profile allows non-connections to see your contact info. This allows direct access to contacting you without being in your network.
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Add your Skills & Expertise to your profile. These are easily searchable and are a quick way for reporters to find possible sources.
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Influencers can “rank” on the Skills & Expertise page. Some of the best ways to rank for a certain skill include joining (and participating in) groups around that skill and following related companies for that skill.
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Be active on LinkedIn Answers to position yourself as an expert on a given topic. Experts are featured on each topic’s Answers page. You can also display your Expert topics on your profile.
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Subscribe to the RSS feed for the Answers topics you want to become an “expert” in; this will save you from checking back for new questions.
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Customize your LinkedIn Today page. This news aggregator features the most popular content being shared on LinkedIn and Twitter, grouped by industry. It automatically shows you headlines based on your profession, but you can select which topics you want to see headlines from and even follow specific publications.
- By studying what’s popular on LinkedIn Today, you can get a good idea of which publications are highly shareable among certain professional crowds. Consider targeting some these publications if people in your company’s target industry are sharing from them often.
Use Twitter
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Follow all of the reporters you’re targeting. Here’s a good list of journalists on Twitter.
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For help finding journalists on Twitter from a specific publication, use the Muckrack directory.
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Create a Twitter list of these reporters so you can easily keep up with them in a separate stream. Remember, lists can be made private, so only you can see them and the people listed don’t know they’re listed.
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Share their stuff. Don’t just hit the retweet button, but add a few words of your thoughts on their piece when you share a link to their story. This will help you stand out to really popular reporters who get hundreds of tweets.
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Attribute a reporter with an @mention anytime you share a link to his or her story.
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Don’t forget to make local connections. Use LocalTweeps to find reporters in your area.
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Track (and participate in) journalism-related hashtags. A few include: #journchat (weekly chat among journalists, Mondays at 8 p.m. EST), #haro (“help a reporter out," used by journalists looking for sources), and #ddj (data-driven journalism topics)
- Be there when a reporter needs help right away. Follow @profnet to see reporter needs based on deadline times, and @helpareporter specifies immediate needs by placing “URGHARO” at the beginning of tweets.
Use Facebook
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Understand why journalists use Facebook: to share their stories, interact with their readers, curate content and find sources.
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Many journalists now allow you to subscribe to their Facebook updates, so their posts show up in your newsfeed without being their friend. Search the reporters you’re trying to connect with by name, and if they‘ve enabled the subscription option, subscribe to their posts.
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Interact with them and become visible by liking and commenting on their posts.
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When sharing a link to a story from a journalist you’re forming a relationship with, but you’re not yet Facebook friends, set these updates as public so anyone can see them. When a journalist views how many “shares” their story has, your post will be visible.
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“Like” the pages of the publications you’re targeting. If you can’t find a publication by searching directly on Facebook, their site will most definitely have a link to their page.
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Liking a page allows you to share content directly from the page. If a reporter doesn’t allow subscriptions like I mentioned above, this is the next best method for sharing their stories on Facebook.
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Using Facebook Ads, you can make your company visible to reporters. Facebook Ads can target users based on where they work (like a publication you’re trying to target!).
- In regards to the above, use these ads strictly for branding purposes and have them lead to more info about your company (a compelling landing page with recent news, press releases and media coverage is ideal).
Make Them Come to You (Inbound Coverage)
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Create kick-ass content! Among many other reasons, extraordinary content can lead reporters TO you. There’s a big reason why content marketing is so hot right now (and always has been and will be). It's also one of the reasons why you constantly see people like Danny Sullivan show up in so many articles about search engines.
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Conduct market research on current trends in your industry. Publish the full results, but also consider making these into easily digestible forms, like a blog post of the most interesting findings.
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Also conduct surveys and opinion polls around hot (or emerging) topics in your industry.
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Publish your most compelling case studies. These can be used as examples by the press when reporting on your industry.
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Make all of the above into visual formats such as videos, infographics, kinectic typography. Because so many publications are online, they also need visual and/or interactive content to include in stories.
- Set up your Google authorship profile to appear as a credible source and help your content stand out in the SERPs.
The Importance of Social Proof
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Add relevant social sharing buttons to your blog that also display the number of tweets, likes, shares, etc., a post has gotten (check out this post from Kristi Hines for more about displaying social proof).
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Enable comments on your blog, but also make participation easy to see by placing the number of comments at the top of each post. An added bonus of responding to all of your blog comments: it doubles the number of comments on each post.
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Create a “Featured In” section on your site listing some of the publications you’ve appeared in.
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List your most impressive past and upcoming speaking engagements on your site. An event inviting you to speak is proof you know your stuff.
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Actively grow your following on social networks. Your Twitter followers are by no means a direct reflection of your knowledge, but a down-to-the-wire reporter who needs an authority on a topic immediately may use this to help gauge your level of expertise. Do this by following other people, sharing great content and engaging in conversations daily.
- If you have a large number of email subscribers, put this number next to your sign-up section (this will also help to attract even more new subscribers!).
What to Do Once You Get Coverage
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Share it on all of your social networks.
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Treat the article or post like it’s your own. Build links to it. Encourage sharing. Drive traffic to it!
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Include the link in your email newsletter and/or in your signature.
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Put it on your site. Start an “As Seen In” section... you’ll need it once you keep getting a ton of coverage!
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Let the reporter know you’ve been driving traffic to the story. If you contribute to the success of a piece, the reporter will be more willing to talk to you again.
- Most media websites have a most popular/most emailed/most shared/etc. widget on their site. Many also do round-up posts, email, Tweet, share on Facebook, etc. about the most popular stories of the day/week/month. If you help to promote your story and get in one of these spots, you will get the extra coverage.
A. B. C. (Always Be Connecting)
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Actively introduce reporters, bloggers, and journalists to people who can help them out. Keep them up-to-date on the latest trends and things that you see happening. Don’t expect anything in return immediately.
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Seek out guest blogging opportunities in your industry. This not only helps build your authority and gains visibility for you and your company, but also presents a chance for link building. Most blogs will allow at least a branded link within your guest post or author bio.
- When you can’t actually help a reporter with a story (either you don’t have time or it’s completely outside of your expertise) refer them to someone who can. This saves the reporter time, and helps your friend. Win-win.
Measure Results
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Start a spreadsheet with the link to the story and columns for key metrics like: social shares, links, referral traffic, and lead generation.
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Track metrics like social shares and comments. If the publications makes these number visible, this will be easy....
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If they don't, you will need to track down the shares yourself. A basic search on Twitter with the link to the story will pull up all instances of shares, regardless of a link shortener being used. Plugging the URL into Topsy will show the number of tweets shared as well as the level of influence of those who shared.
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Keep track of the number of links to your coverage. Using something like Open Site Explorer is the easiest way to go about it, but you can also track these by setting up a Google Alert for “link:<the story URL>”.
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You can also count the number of times stories linking to your coverage were shared and commented on.
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Monitor your analytics for referral traffic. Note all instances of traffic from the original story and the sites that linked to the story.
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Pay attention to your organic traffic for searches leading to your site that relate to the topic discussed in your coverage.
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Use tools such as Topsy (free) Trackur ($), Sprout Social ($) or Radian6 ($$) to monitor buzz across the social web.
- Did you get a lot of new leads/sales after coverage? Many times, new customers will tell you themselves where they heard about you (keep track of this!). Also include a “how did you hear about us” option in your contact forms and allow space to include a source. KISSinsights is a great tool to help with this.
At the end of the day, it comes down to tenacity and not being afraid to ask for something. Don't get caught up in thinking that you aren't worthy of press coverage or that a reporter doesn't want to hear from you. Just ask. The worst that someone can do is ignore you or say no. Simply by asking and actively pitching, you are ahead of the vast majority of your competitors.
With that thought in mind, if you liked this post, would you mind thumbing it up and/or leaving a comment below? I want to know, what has worked for you? Where have you found success or hit roadblocks?
Hi Chris,
Thanks for an informative post here, but there are certain concerns that I have always had when it comes to PR. For starters I am really not sure if PR marketing is the right way to go for small businesses. I mean because they are starting out it can get difficult for them to get recognition in the earlier stages. My second concern being time, I guess when we try to apply all these strategies it will surely take a lot of time. Explaining the Time constraint will be a very difficult for agencies to explain to their clients especially mid-size clients. My third concern is brand partiality. I mean lets be honest here, a startup will ideally not be able to convince a Journalist, in fact there is a very high probability that these small brands will get ignored and big brands will always be given preference. Also a lot of other PR websites like PRWEB are pretty expensive.
Also from what i understand, aligning the other internet marketing strategies like SEO, PPC and maybe to some extent SMM will be a herculean task.
Somewhere down the line I can’t help but think that lot of investment is necessary in order to make the PR strategy a SUCCESS. Please correct me if i am wrong.
Outlining an Ideal step by Step process is always so great to read and listen but lets be honest, I guess it’s the practical aspect that needs to be highlighted.
- Sajeet
That is why you first need to Know 'WHO You Are and WHAT You Want'. Only then you can align your business goals with your PR and other internet marketing strategies.
Hi Sajeet,
even though I agree with you about how bigger may be the difficulty for Small Businesses to have a great scale PR Policy and about what you call "brand partiality", I believe that you paint a too dark landscape.
Take, for instance, the Startup example you used, and taking for granted that - yes - PR and outreach is something that require time and dedication, I believe that it is not such an impossible task to obtain the attention of the right people in the right media following just half of the tips Chris listed, 50% of what are - if we read them a second time - pure intelligent common sense and take 1 second to understood and put in practice.
For instance, and without needing to rely with any PR Agency, a startup could concentrate its efforts trying to "become friend" of the those ones curating in TechCrunch, Mashable and Wired startup columns. I can confirm, in my own little scale, that you need just one good contact to start having all the others... it is a sort of "rule of relation": if you break the wall of indifference with one influencer in your field, you have already won the interest of all the others influencers in that same field. And broken the wall of indifference, proved the value you can offer to those people, then - almost inevitably - things tend to get more personal and friendly and easy.
It is simply strategy and planning carefully how to design your approach to these people, who - we must remember it always - are eager for news and extremely bored by white noise buzz.
The "secret" is to not go after all the Media at the same time, because that will just diluate your PR effectviness. Do as the ancient Roman did: one enemy at the time... and you may conquer an empire.
Hi Sajeet -
Thanks for the comment and for your question & concerns. Himanshu's point is a very good one and I think by skipping that, many companies fail and then think PR isn't right for them (or whatever
Gianluca really said many of the things that I would have and probably even more :)
The only thing I will add is don't get overwhelmed by thinking you have to do EVERYTHING and get covered EVERYWHERE. I posted this as part of a comment below but I think it will be helpful to reiterate for context:
* The title might be a bit restricting for some people because of how we traditionally view 'the press' and hence 'press covergae. Media has changed so much in the last 10 (and especially the last few) years that there is no such thing as traditional press coverage. In some cases your targets might be WSJ or The Times in many cases it might be on influential blogs such as SEOmoz or SEObook. Don't let old thinking box you in.
* Many of these tips center around researching, having clear & targeted messaging and building strong relationships. These are also extremely important for things like link building, outreach and the like.
At the end of the day, so much of this comes down to constantly trying to connect with new people (whether that's a reporter, blogger, website owner or some other influencer) and trying to helping people out on a constant basis (without expecting something in return). Those two things have helped me so much and I feel that they are pretty universal.
Thanks!
Gianluca and Chris,
Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it :)
- Sajeet
I have just started a small SEO business, and my first thoughts were the same...But then I sat back for a second and looked outside the box. Obviously it could be quite difficult to get a connection in with the big media newspapers & news sites. However there's no reason we can't start off small. Aim for a local newspaper that only goes out to a fairly small geographic area. They're generally hungry for stories, because they've got to fill a newspaper with local news.
Develop your relationship with them and start getting stories in there fairly regularly...Be creative about the stories you develop. For example I live in a city where SEO is not yet very commonplace (we're a bit behind the times). I'm thinking of a story about why my city needs to catch up on SEO. Talk about the return on investment that SEO can provide. Give specific results. "A 300% increase in sales in 6 months". This will benefit you in a few ways because more people will start looking at SEO, and more importantly they've seen that you're company has achieved strong results. Your company is going to be the first point of call for many.
Thanks for the article Chris...you've really got my mind spinning :)
"Most PR companies do not really like SEO's as they feel you are just link spammers but you really need to change that perception and show the best value possible. "
This perception can be changed if we stop talking about 'links' and 'SEO value' in our conversation. Honestly, it is the number 1 way to kill your outreach/request.
Word!
Wow Chris,
This one the best and most comprehensive PR posts i have ever read. Thanks
I used to think that getting big name journalist's attention seemed time consuming, but building relationships especially in the media industry is always worth the time.
thanks for giving all these great ways to go about it and keeping the end goals always in mind.
Relationship building is the key to it all Andrew :)
It's great to have this post finally published and see it all in one place :)
I think it would be good for me to make a couple of points:
* The title might be a bit restricting for some people because of how we traditionally view 'the press' and hence 'press covergae. Media has changed so much in the last 10 (and especially the last few) years that there is no such thing as traditional press coverage. In some cases your targets might be WSJ or The Times in many cases it might be on influential blogs such as SEOmoz or SEObook. Don't let old thinking box you in.
* Many of these tips center around researching, having clear & targeted messaging and building strong relationships. These are also extremely important for things like link building, outreach and the like.
At the end of the day, so much of this comes down to constantly trying to connect with new people (whether that's a reporter, blogger, website owner or some other influencer) and trying to helping people out on a constant basis (without expecting something in return). Those two things have helped me so much and I feel that they are pretty universal.
Thanks for reading, I hope you get a few things out of it that can help you!
Quite a chunk of good stuff here, Chris. Well done.
Thanks very much George!
Great Post. From reading your article I found that there are a lot of similarites between a press release campaign and a link building stategy. It's all about connections and managing those connections. It's given me some food for thought. Thanks.
Thanks for commenting Tudor.
I actually didn't mention press releases at all (deliberately) because I was hoping to show people how much more evolved PR is than just sending out a few press releases.
But you are absolutely correct in the similarities between PR and link building. PR is a part of any good public relations strategy (and vice-versa IMO). Many of these tips center around researching, having clear & targeted messaging and building strong relationships. That's just as important for link building as PR.
Love it! I noticed that you didn’t mention Press Releases at all. That was great and one of the things I loved most about this post. This is about building relationships and staying focused with a roadmap and a direction in mind. The funny thing about building relationships and NOT thinking so much about “what is in it for me” is at the end of the day, if you are sincere and you really mean it, you have gained a whole lot more than a link.
Hi Mark -
I absolutely loved this:
"The funny thing about building relationships and NOT thinking so much about “what is in it for me” is at the end of the day, if you are sincere and you really mean it, you have gained a whole lot more than a link."
You can learn so much about link building from Napoleon Hill or Dale Carnegie (and they were around way before link building or even the Internet ;)
Thanks for the great comment!
Yeah, that was great stuff.
These images should be printed and displayed in each of our offices. They could serve as quick reminders of what an ideal business flow should look like and what we shouldn't forget.
Good job gathering these!
Gr.,
Istvan
Great idea István!
Good post, Chris - I like your style of delivering the info (referenced in your insights). I dabbled in PR in the past. I always found being less (formal I guess?) and more direct, confident, and an aspiring contributor a sound approach. Today's PR world allows for even more informal communication (twitter, blog comments, emails) and less BS. Be direct and confident, knowing you have something to offer. The number-one tip I would direct a client's attention to is "know what you're talking about."
Obviously, the sentiment is subjective and you may have some viewers on the other side of the fence, but a reporter, editor, blogger, reader, can instantly understand whether contributing or exposure is your primary concern. I understand the endgoal of PR is exposure but it's important to shop for windows of opportunity. Being selective and shopping for quality and the proper fit is essential; but, (very often) clients expect/want results yet must accept ongoing PR is more of a 'quiet storm' which strikes when most befitting.
BTW I would've churned out seven more and dubbed this "99 Ways to Make PR Problems Equal None" haha
Man, your title is so much better than mine and I am a sucker for good titles :) BTW, you said a lot in those two paragraphs above -- right on!
This might be one of the best posts to ever appear on this site. Fantastic!
That's a really big compliment -- I am really glad you enjoyed it!
Great points, I have worked with several huge PR companies in the past some times they do have older methods in place but after several years of training and colaboration I have seen some fantastic results with PR companies. Most PR companies do not really like SEO's as they feel you are just link spammers but you really need to change that perception and show the best value possible.
I have built numerous contacts via large PR companies at industry events and really just shown hour PR and SEO can work together, becuase like the saying "PR is SEO link building on steriods".
PR companies are in the most part about having contacts with large news papers, if you have the contacts you can easily leverage your messaging.
The best instances of PR working effectievly for me in the past were dealing with large scale brand reputation management, something which is not easy at all.
Great feedback James!
Most PR companies do not really like SEO's as they feel you are just link spammers but you really need to change that perception and show the best value possible.
I agree with this to an extent but I think if you put the word 'bad' in front of SEO's it would be more accurate.
I love the point you brought up about events. It all comes down to connecting.
Chris,
I am blown away at how comprehensive this post is. Of all the "how to" and "tips" articles I've seen, this is by far among the very few at the top from a quality, depth, and value perspective. While I've followed many of these tips for a long time, and thus have found moderate success in my own efforts, they've almost exclusively been focused and contained within our industry. Though I've been interviewed for business radio, that was years ago. Reading this just turbo-charged my motivation to spread my wings out to the world of journalists and publications outside our industry.
I can't thank you enough for having taken the time to put this together and offer it up to the world.
Well thank you Alan for such a nice comment and for the note you sent me with how you are already putting this stuff into action - AWESOME!
Great post, Chris!
A looot of great input here :-)
Kind regards,
Trond
Thanks Trond - glad you enjoyed it!
My first impression Chris was do you do anything else all day? This track you took seems like it would take really a lot of time to even begin to implement.
In working with some clients the markets are specialized enough it seems difficult to come up with topics that would have much appeal beyond their industry. Maybe I would just need to think on it more to come up with some information about the industry others could find interesting enough to want to write about in some publication.
Do you know anyone who tried the Bulldog Reporter or MEDIatlas? It seems from what you say and from looking over the sites it could be possible to target a group of journalists with a good story and maybe see some results by using the database and search effectivly. It might go quicker to send out a story or piece to maybe get them to respond in some way though that may be a stretch to try that approach.
Since you like quotes here is a corolary to a popular quote: "If you want to get something done, give it to a lazy person, because he will think of an easier way to do it" - anonymous
I like your quote Warner :) It's funny because our Chairman has a similar quote: “If need something done, ask a busy person to do it.”
"My first impression Chris was do you do anything else all day? This track you took seems like it would take really a lot of time to even begin to implement."
I am a pretty busy person and these steps are more ingrained into how I do business (with a big emphasis on the connecting part).
Break it down and start with a few targets and 1 or 2 mediums. Don't try to figure out a way to appeal to 'everyone' -- go niche and then spread out from there.
"Do you know anyone who tried the Bulldog Reporter or MEDIatlas?"
I have used both. I prefer MEDIatlas but it's cost prohibitive for many companies ($6K & up per year) so that's why I also recommend Bulldog Reporter.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for sharing, I've forward this on you our Sales & Marketing team so they can get more from their press releases.
K
Excellent Kieron. Hopefully they are doing more than just sending press releases (I'm sure they are) because that should only be one component of anyone's overall media strategy.
This is the best PR post I've ever read. Very detailed and actionalble. Great job!
Thanks a lot Tom, I'm really glad you liked it!
I love that SEOs are starting to pay more attention to PR. We have an amazing marketing director who does all our PR. Just a tip: Not all newspappers post links on their articles. A lot of old school newspappers strip html links out of their articles. Make sure you check on this before you spend a lot of time pursing a reporter.
It seems like you have some great coverage out there - well done!
I would suggest building some strong links to articles like this one: https://www.inc.com/articles/2010/04/applicant-of-the-week-nerds-on-call.html or this one https://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/video/6736797-nerds-on-call-spice-up-your-love-life/. I would love to see that coming up even higher in the SERPs for your company name (especially the Inc.com one since it links directly to you guys).
"Just a tip: Not all newspappers post links on their articles."
Yep, definitely a good point but it's becoming less and less as more of the focus moves online. But if you're main goal in getting coverage is the link, then definitely check to make sure first :)
We've not always been incredibly disciplined or deliberate in our PR marketing, but when we've gotten TV, magazine and newspaper coverage it has certainly helped our small business. Thanks for the comprehensive list of ways to connect with journalists. Getting more notice from traditional press sources was one of my goals for this year. This list will help.
Thanks for the feedback Bill, I'm glad to hear that you have had success with PR in the past.
Getting more notice from traditional press sources was one of my goals for this year.
It doesn't have too be a terribly time consuming process. Set your goals, define your targets and then build those relationships!
Thank you for putting in so much work into creating more than just an article but a resource to be implemented by any company that not only wants to grow in online presence... but wants to remain in business in today.
I like the fact that you took the time to read and reply to most comments too... impressive. Nice soft sell touch for the services your firm can provide... "if you are giving so much advice for free, what's it going to be like to hire your company and pay you to work for us?"
I'd be interested to actually hear about paid services. I'm not an SEO practitioner... just want to grow our company in today's "connected" world. I fully understand the principles which really have not changed; it's the media and the tools that have.
Thanks again!
Hi Adrian, thanks a lot for the comment. I figure that if people are going to take their time to comment, that I can do the same to answer them. It's a practice that we have in place on our own blog and try to stick to (even if it's not immediate, we still try to answer every comment.
Feel free to email me with any direct questions -> cwinfield[at]blueglass.com
Thanks Geoff! It's been fun :)
Really super post. Chris is rocking writer.
Amazing post. Even though this was written way back in Feb of 2012, The tips you shared are still very helpful today.
Couldn't agree more about the relationships you build a lot of our media at Entrepreneur Handbook has come through personal relationships developed over time. The private PR network we now have results in a lot of our media buzz. Recommend building your own private network like crazy!
Awesome post, nothing to add, thanks for sharing Chris!
This is a fantastic resource for web marketers looking to get more PR. I'm sharing this with my team and intend to utilize these tactics. Great info!
Being in the right place at the right time is critical to making thae connections as well. The key is making yourself available to be there when the time arrives.
Without a doubt the most important point is to nurture any existing relationships you have with journalists, especially if you get on with him. From experience, this will come back in your favour.
I like this point you made Laura. It's so important to simply be pleasant and someone that a journalist (or anyone) would actually want to talk to as well :)
Thanks for your reply Chris. I'm making a sub list from your points (I would never remember all 92!) Aiming for a top 10.
Cheers
Nice job babysitting this post there Chris, it's nice to see people who write guest posts come back to check and follow up with the people commenting, great stuff. Great article btw, solid stuff.
What a top and simply mammoth post - so comprehensive! Nice one!
Thanks Jeremy - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Chris,
Excellent article, and I love the use of quotes! As someone who sits on both sides of the fence (as a marketing consultant and Food Editor for a popular blog), I can say that developing relationships should always be the primary objective. Everyone wants to feel like they've been "heard," and showing that you've actually read a journailist's article by making a thoughtful comment, goes a long way towards establishing good rapport.
In addition, I think that the number one mistake people make when approaching writers is to send a standard email where the blogger's name has obvious been changed. Actually, even worse is when the name is wrong - - I've had this happen more than once!
Susan
Great post.... Amazing! A lot of things clear by this great post. I like it.
Glad you liked it Gyan!
Creating content that everyone is interested in is a difficult task sometimes.
AWESOME Article!- Going to put some of this in action this week.
Don't worry about creating content that everyone is interested in John but focus on creating content that your audience (or prospective audience) is interested in.
Let me know how it goes - I love hearing people's own experiences.
Blown away by that huge number of tips - which made me wish again, that the day would have some more hours ...
But if we stay tuned, try to accomplish as much goals as possible - one after the other - at the end we should succeed if we try hard enough.
At least you had 12 years, too ;-)
I was just thinking about the hours in the day thing yesterday! I don't know if there could ever actually be enough :)
I'm always a sucker for good quotes. Great post too. Thanks for sharing.
So am I! I guess that's why I included them :)
Glad you liked the post David - thanks for commenting!
This is the best blog post I've ever read about PR.
Wow, that is really humbling to read Brian, thanks so much!
Excellent! Can see why it works. My agency does quite a few of these things when we need to build an online reputation. Love how you've got the steps and tools listed - I can see a few that I need to add to our process. Thanks so much.
It's a constantly evolving process and the only way to stay ahead (or even keep up) is to keep adding.
Thanks!
Hehe, interested article! thanks
Wow that's really optimistic. Nicely done!
Thanks Aleena, I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
Totally appreciate the helpful info! For those of us not quite fluent with this journalistic world yet it's good to know it's POSSIBLE!
Anything in life is possible. My favorite quote of all time is:
"Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week."
-- Jay Z
Great post, just out of interest, would you consider this a full time job for someone in a company?
If not how many hours would you spend on it a week roughly?
Hi Benjamin -
It really depends on your goals and the size of your company.
PR could easily be a full-time, in-house job. Large companies usually have in-house PR teams and still work with an outside agency and sometimes consultants or specialists as well.
Very helpful summary - so good I want to show it my clients. I'm far from prudish but can't help thinking the Boiler Room quote would have been better if you had censored more heavily (F***ing etc)
Thanks
KB
Thanks for the suggestion Kevin - I was originally leaning that way as well. I have taken your advice and swapped it out ;)
Very nice work here, this is a great checklist/roadmap to use and help remind you of things you did or need to do. It is so easy to forget details these days, considering how many details there are to the success of just about everything we need to do, to do right. Sometimes I feel like I am already getting Alzheimer’s, I forget something daily. So thanks for helping educate and put things in perspective. Great Post!
My pleasure Mark, thanks for your thoughts here and in the comment above!
You, as an SEO, will be great at networking with industry bloggers. But certainly you can not be a domain expert in every niche you work with. How can you compensate for that knowledge deficiency? You say Bluelglass offers it as part of an overall internet marketing strategy but certainly you don't retain domain experts for every industry you work with?
For example, if I'm hired by a surgeon to market his cosmetic surgery practice, how on earth can I connect with journalists who are so specialized and on a completely different playing field with respect to terminology, jargon and industry knowledge?
Do you think it's best to simply provide the client a best-practices document and hope that they follow your advice or can you be proactive without being a subject matter expert?
Great post btw. Just trying to think about how to apply this beyond marketing myself.
I think you raise great points and questions, Jeremy. Take a look at my comment above about finding the right fit. "How on earth can I connect with journalists..." You don't have to be the industry expert; your client should be. PR people are the middle man, the matchmakers.
The surgeon wants to market his practice? Okay. What does he have to add to that space? For instance, does he use a unique approach? cutting-edge equipment? What stories are hot right now in that industry? What shape are conversations in that space taking? How can the surgeon augment them? In many cases, the client should be able to direct attention to worthy sources. I'll go as far to say that in many cases, small outfits don't need a third-party PR source at all. Take a look at gfio's comment above.
Being in the field in the past, I would suggest any outfit seriously suggest how much it can do for itself in modern times. Jeremy you ask is it best to direct clients' attentions to best practices. In many cases, I think it is, with an experienced PR person serving as a scaffold, providing help. In many (if not all) cases, reporters/editors don't even want to speak with the PR person; they want the goods; they want to speak to the source of knowledge. Hope that helps.
sorry for the rant, mozzers - wanted to add something. Additionally, shopping for best fits is comparable to Dr. Pete's 'metrics that matter' post of recent history. Piling up multiple, ill-fitting PR mentions can have a negative influence on your site visitors (just looks like your brand is going cuckoo for exposure rather than selective expsosure). We're looking for PR "conversions" (mentions that matter) rather than conducting PR for PRs sake.
Great points and thanks for directing me to some relevant comments.
I think it's easy to get consumed with what you are directly responsible for when it comes to SEO and not pay attention to areas where other groups of people (the subject matter experts) can support your strategy. Getting the source of the knowledge, as you say, in front of the journalists or influencers is important.
Thanks for bringing up your questions/concerns Jeremy - they are all good ones.
I don't have much to add to Anthony's terrific response above but I can't stress how important it is to be prepared and do your research before embarking on anything. The first 3 sections are devoted to just that and we don't do anything before we really understand a client's industry and the landscape.
This is a great post! I always ask my customers what would you do if Google wasn't around, what other marketing do you do? every business should be following your 92 pointers.
Thanks Boris - I like the point that you bring up. It's important to think about how you can integrate your marketing efforts but it's also important to not put all your eggs in one basket.
Excellent Excellent Excellent. I love the tips and will add PR to the ever-growing list of things to do to increase business. Also, loved the quotes and graphics.
Thanks Holly - those lists sure can get long!
Thank you, Chris. Your post is amazingly insightful, full of ideas and tactics that shouldn't be hard to execute on. We've got a new PR Manager starting soon and this will be required reading for her.
Thanks Davd - I hope she gets help out of it.
I agree with you, a lot of this stuff isn't all that hard once you have put the legwork in. I think a lot of people want a magic bullet and then get discouraged and quit when they don't get that...
Definitely content meant for the main blog. Also attributed to some time spent on the Blue Glass site. Thanks for the great information!
My pleasure George. Glad you are enjoying our blog as well, the BlueGlass people put a lot into it!
Once again, a great post with massive amounts of work and thought put into it. It's much appreciated!
And so is your comment Marisa - thanks!
This post is full of lots of good ideas. Now I just need to find ways to use some of them.
Here's a good way to start:
Identify 1 to 3 newspapers/blogs/influential site/etc in your niche, that you would like to have cover you (or link to you). Find out who the reporter/journalist/blogger/etc is covering your industry. Learn about them (read some of their stuff) and then work on building a relationship with them.
Great post on PR. I think consistency is a key component to any PR program, Even if only a handful of these tips are used, if someone is consistent they will be rewarded.
Constitency is the key to so many things in marketing (and in life) right Steven? Consistency and tenacity coupled with a good attitude will get you pretty far.
Amazing. All I can say is Thank You!
My pleasure, glad to help Heydarian