Recently I asked an established Australian journalist what his number one PR gripe was. His answer: PR professionals that don’t familiarize themselves with his publication before pitching in a story. I have heard this numerous times from journalists and I can completely understand their frustrations. If a PR has little knowledge of a publication, they will have no idea of the story’s relevance to its target readers, making it impossible to demonstrate to a journalist the value in running the story.
When you are pitching in a story to a journalist you want to explain to him/her why your client’s story is of interest to their readers. You need to approach the journalist with a clear angle, a concise pitch and a reason why they should cover it.
At Blue by Red PR, every morning we read the daily papers, look online and circulate stories of relevance to our clients. The news agenda changes all the time, making good old fashioned reading the only real way to keep abreast of news, industry updates and hot media topics. It may be a time consuming task, but it certainly pays off in terms of knowledge, offering a greater quality and scope of coverage for our clients.
Another advantage of regular reading is the ability to pick out new journalist contacts to start relationships with. Media companies are known for their regular restructuring, with many journalists moving freelance, switching roles etc, and so it’s important to keep an eye out and take note of any journalist changes, making sure you are updating databases accordingly. I can imagine PRs cold calling and asking for someone who left their company two years ago is probably another topic high up on a list of a journalist’s list of bugbears.
My top tip: Head to work 15minutes earlier in the morning. Flick through a couple of daily papers and check out national news sites to make sure you’ll over the day’s current affairs. In addition, if you don’t have twitter, I would strongly suggest signing up as it’s often the first place you’ll hear about breaking news and industry updates.
Here are some of our favourite news sites for keeping up to date on local, and national, current affairs for both Red PR and our clients:
National News
Sydney / Brisbane specific news
Industry updates / PR relevant
