If you want to reach your marketing goals, you have to continue creating campaigns that produce results. You have to build an effective website, create high quality content and have a strong social media presence.
Whether you are a general physician, an orthopedic or a diabetes specialist, you have to create brand awareness. A crucial part of it is building relationships with the media.
Here are 7 tactics that can help to improve your relationships with them and boost your media outreach to help BOOST your next press release distribution:
Identify your target.
The first thing that you need to do in media outreach is identifying your target reporters. How would you target them if you don’t know them?
Whether it is you or your PR professional in charge of this technique, you have to know how you can reach the reporters who are most likely to give you coverage. Build a media list that contains important details about them: media contact, title, publication, email address, phone number and social media handles.
You have to exert effort to reach them. Visit their social media profiles. Read their profiles and stories.
Make a connection by liking, sharing or commenting on their posts. It’s one way they can spot you and remember you the time you pitch them.
Ready your platforms.
If you want reporters to connect with you, ensure that you have solid platforms. Have an easy-to-navigate website and social media profiles.
Ensure that you post regularly and stay updated. Blog often. Write articles.
Include all your content in the newsroom where the media and your stakeholders can learn more about you. You want to ensure that your platforms are ready each time because you have to grab the opportunity once they check on you.
Complete your story.
What do you want to share with your target? Aside from presenting the facts, you should have a story to share.
Write your story. It should be ready to be pulled out anytime you need it. Make sure that you also include images, video and infographics to make it more appealing to the press.
Build an updated media list.
You have to have a list of media that you want to target. A well thought list serves as a useful tool to gain publicity.
You want to make sure that you’re including reporters and publications that are related to your niche. You’re going to target them for your next pitching. You can’t just include all names of reporters that you’ve seen in your research.
Include reporters who cover the same beat (pharmaceutical, medicine, technology, food, fashion). You have to ensure that you use your research skills to get important details about them.
Personalize it.
When pitching, you can’t just send a generalize or a copy paste pitch to save time and effort. Reporters know what it looks like. You can’t outsmart them.
A copy paste pitch doesn’t use the first name of the reporter. It starts with Sir/ Madam. There’s no personalize message that builds rapport.
Reporters are impressed with a pitch that shows that the people behind it made an effort to know them. You can mention their latest social media post that caught your attention, an article that you love or someone you know mutually in the department.
You should also tell them straight away what your content is all about, and why it matters to their beat. Do you think it can help them enrich their beat?
Build relationships outside work.
Journalists and influencers are also human. One possible way to build rapport with them is to spend time outside work and talk nothing related to work.
You can start inviting them at events you sponsored, a coffee meeting, lunch or dinner. Don’t just do it because you have an upcoming event or you want coverage. Do it even you don’t need it.
It’s like planting seeds, watering it and nourishing it and reap the fruits later. If they need resources, offer yours. Ensure them that your brand assets are available anytime they may need them.
Show your credibility.
Get out of your online site. Do more blogging, write guest posts, do trade shows, seminars, webinars, write white papers, write a book or sponsor an event.
