In all your outreach to the media you have to remember this important fact: The media isn’t here to serve your interests. They serve their readers, viewers and listeners — not people out to publicize their own business or endeavors. But they do need you because their audience is interested in what you have to offer.
The keys to every successful PR campaign are a solid and relevant pitch, and the follow up, which I’m going to touch on now. Seems easy enough, but it’s tricky; you have to follow up without following up.
I keep telling you how busy the media are so you will understand that to be their friend, you have to make their job easy. That means not badgering them about whether or not they received your pitch. It’s OK to make one phone call or email to remind them and offer further assistance, but the last thing overworked reporters need is to spend time talking to publicity seekers about where their pitch stands. So whenever you do contact them again be sure you have something of value to add that’s relevant to their audience. It could be tied to a breaking news story or an upcoming holiday, but just make sure it’s valuable to them. They’ll be appreciative and you’ll definitely increase your chances of building a relationship with them, all without even having to do a follow up.
