How To Build a Relationship With a Journalist.
Building a good relationship with a journalist is essential to gaining frequent press coverage. Positive relationships with journalists can mean more opportunities ranging from product features in editorials to a full piece about your business. You could even begin to be reached out to for quotes or to provide product images for pieces you haven’t even pitched because the journalist knows of your brand and your reliability! Sound good? Use the steps below to get you started...
Interacting on Social Media
Interacting with your contact on social media is a great way to build your relationship as it shows your genuine interest in their work. You can like, comment, reply, and share their posts in order to show not only your engagement with their work but your eagerness to support them by distributing it. It’s also helpful to know what they are currently working on, as it allows you to tailor your pitches properly and even be aware if they’ve shared that they’re not currently taking pitches.
Mentioning Previous Work
Reading your contact’s work is essential. Looking at their past articles will give you a sense of what their writing style is like and what they like to write about. This is important as not only should you know whether their writing style suits your product, but you can then tailor your pitches to their style. Bringing up their past works in pitches shows your interest in them specifically; it sets you apart from any mass sent press releases.
Reach Out To The Right Contacts
If your product or service is in the category of hospitality, and your contact is specifically a beauty writer, it’s likely to be a waste of both of your time in reaching out to them. Not only will your contact have less interest in your business, meaning anything they would write would appear disengaged, but they’re unlikely to even respond at all, as it shows you’ve likely not done your research on them properly.
Stay Polite & Friendly
Journalists, much like anyone else, aren’t likely to respond well to curt and impolite emails. Writing in a friendly, polite, and professional manner not only means you’re more likely to receive a positive response but also demonstrates to your contact that you would be a delight to work with if they agreed to give you some press coverage. It’s unlikely any journalist would want to work with anyone that might cause them some hassle further down the line.
Be Respectful Of Their Time
Like anyone, journalists can be pressed for time in their jobs. Stories they write tend to be on-demand, and they often have a lot of leads to follow up on. Keep in mind that they won’t always be able to respond instantly, or even at all during a busy period. You have a much better chance of building a stronger relationship with a journalist by being fully aware and respectful of their schedules.
Be Persistent But Not Irritating
Journalist’s hectic schedules mean that responses to you may be delayed, or even forgotten. Sometimes, they don’t have the time to chase up leads by themselves, which means it’s sometimes a good idea for you to be persistent and send a polite and friendly follow-up email after 2-7 days have passed. This demonstrates you’re eager to work with them, however, it is best to ensure that your follow-up email notes your awareness of their busy schedule. Don’t pester your contact with a handful of follow-up emails when they don’t reply as that can only damage your relationship.
Nurture All Replies, Even Rejections
Sometimes you’ll be met with responses that aren’t quite what you want to hear. Though this can be disappointing, it’s important to keep in mind that this is still an opportunity to build your relationship. Rejections should be met with gratitude for the journalist's time and consideration, which leaves the door open to continue building a strong relationship. Sometimes, your press release just doesn’t fit the publication’s theme for that time, so nurturing any reply from them shows your contact that you are a pleasure to work with, meaning they’re more likely to reconsider you when the time is right.
Listen
Listening is key to any good relationship. Show your contact that you’ve listened to any conversation you may have had in order to make them feel valued by you. A great example of this is that some journalists prefer to receive all information in the body of an email as opposed to an attached press release. If a journalist has told you that this is the case for them, they’ll appreciate you playing by these rules and will be way more likely to open and read your emails.
Megan is a PR & Content Marketing Intern at Unearth PR
Instagram ~ @meg.selway