How to establish and maintain good relations to journalists
And what are journalists actually looking for?
Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash
Generally, journalists are under pressure. While this may sound like an assumption, it’s a fact. For many of the publications to which they contribute, they have experienced decreasing advertising revenues and circulation, and target groups are demanding tailored and special interest pieces to be helpful and relevant for their everyday life. To serve them well, journalists need to deliver the right content ‒ partly based on and from the numerous pitches they receive every day. Unfortunately, there are also many useless and irrelevant emails that journalists have to filter on a daily basis, which can be very time-consuming. In some conversations we’ve had with journalists, it came out that nearly 60 to 70 % are being deleted after reading the subject line. On average, those journalists receive 20 to 40 emails every hour.
Therefore, receiving great stories and on-point content from PR people is absolutely crucial for journalists. Last year’s Cision report on the State of Media 2021 shows that press releases are their second most important source of information after news agencies (like dpa).* However, journalists say that only 0 to 25 % of the pitches in the last year were relevant for them.** This literally means that the rest were useless.
So if you plan to do PR or are already fighting the daily comms fight, what does that mean for you?
We’ve summarized what journalists look for most in a pitch email as follows:
Straight-forward subject lines and/or headlines that don’t exaggerate or oversell to them
Concise pitches with the most relevant information, possibly supported by infographics or easy to digest data reworks
A clear offer: Is it news? Is it expertise? Is it background information? Is it bold commentary?
If news: the most relevant information should be highlighted for the journalists
If expertise: let the journalists know who said what and why
If backgrounder: give journalists the context in two to three sentences
If commentary: journalists prefer bold statements in the form of quotes or sound bites
Correct information, checked facts, and if applicable, reliable sources
Easy download of visual assets
Make sure you have a clear way of working and an understanding of the media target group in order to deliver:
Well-structured pitches and press releases
Broadcast-ready original sound bites
Inspiring feature offers
Incorrect information, unreliability, or texts that are overtly promotional are frowned upon and can even put you on the blacklist, as can pushy follow-ups. There is a place for the follow-up call, which can be seen as a helpful reminder by some, but are extremely annoying to others. In PR, following up on pitches may be a love-hate issue, and you should always take into account which journalists appreciate follow-ups. And those who don’t.
Generally speaking, a PR consultant or internal comms person should know what he/she is pitching to whom, and why they are doing it, by knowing the journalists’ working methods and content preferences. Therefore, the relationship between journalists and PR people will always need some affection and authentic relationship handling to stay on journalists' radar.
Here are some tips for you on how to establish good relations with journalists that will last beyond just a ‘once in a while’ story.
Establish
Do your research on the journalist’s background, e.g. where he/she has worked before and what experience he/she has. This will help you understand their interests and see if there’s a match with your clients and/or your topic.
Read articles from the journalist to get to know his/her reporting style.
Pitch individually ‒ try to give a journalist exactly what he/she is looking for.
Maintain
Follow up with good intention (as a reminder) – but as mentioned before: if a follow-up is unwanted, respect that.
Stay in contact (in a professional and friendly way). Imagine only going back to an acquaintance when you need something and asking for something – nobody likes that.
Demonstrate that you are a reliable source for industry information, not just sharing information about what matters to your company.
Read articles from journalists, even if it doesn’t obviously relate to your topic or company. This shows true interest in what they do and eventually offers space for common topics.
Be helpful!
Last but not least, a nice way of staying in touch with journalists, who are open to meet up, is to invite them for lunch or a coffee break (in person or virtually). Therefore, Laika is doing regular lunch & learn sessions with various journalists to get to know how they work and what stories interest them at the moment. Thanks again to GIGA, rbb, Gruner & Jahr, Computerbild, Payment & Banking … for insightful sessions and an inspiring exchange :)
To sum this up, most importantly, comms people should be aware that most journalists have limited time to read each and every pitch. Therefore, subject lines need to be straight-forward and informative. If emails are to be opened, the news needs to be well-structured, factually accurate and accompanied by all relevant assets. As described before, the work for comms people starts before the pitch. Getting to know the journalist and his/her reporting style as well as their chosen subject areas of interest is essential to your work. You get the point “don’t simply contact journalists when you want something. Think how you can help them with their daily work.
It’s a never-ending process, so good luck, both with establishing, and maintaining good journalist relationships.