11 Steps for Getting Media Buzz

btrax works with a number of clients to help raise their brand profile – both to introduce them to a wider audience or reframe how people perceive them.

The below tips are effective ways we’ve found to get great media coverage and educate our clients to ensure their voice is heard among a fast and saturated media environment.

1. Identify & Refine YOUR Story.

This is the number one reason why organizations fail at attracting the media coverage that could be a game changers for mainstream awareness of them. Invest the time with your team to brainstorm or hire an outside consultant to identify what is compelling about your company story or product attributes that would make an average person perk up.

2. Reporters Are People Too.

They respond to hopeful stories as well as outrageous facts – just as their audience will. Cherrypick 1-2 people centric stories to hone and roll out repeatedly in interviews that best highlights the problem and/or the solution. They also have a need to pitch ideas at their editors constantly – go beyond self-promotion and give them valuable information or other story leads.

3. Act When the Time is Right, Not Convenient.

For most businesses, location is everything. For media, timing often is everything. Keep a sharp eye out for any way to tie your brand to the hot story of the week and pitch it. Have resources at the ready to provide media and be willing to drop everything for a few hours to push a story. Or hire a company to be on the lookout for those opportunities and take a proactive role.

4. Develop Relationships.

Build or buy the widest rolodex you can for local, regional, national and even international level media outlets. Focus on the people who are most relevant to your company and industry, but don’t ignore people in other categories. Have a greener hardware manufacturing process? Develop contacts for both hardware and environmental publications. And don’t forget foreign media, they often have freelancers or bureas in your country.

5. Craft Your Message.

Everyone hates lame emails that shows you are just blanketing a list with the same message. Go for quality and targeting over quantity and shotgunning. Pitch stories and messaging that shows you understand that media outlet’s audience.

Go ahead and broadcast a mass email, but also pick a hand full of the top reporters or publications you want to see talk about you for more personalized outreach.

6. Respond Immediately to Media Inquiries.

This is the second reason why organizations miss big media opportunities. If they are calling, you can generally assume they have picked your topic to cover, since they don’t have time to waste interviewing someone that won’t make the story. Waiting even one day (and even one hour!) reduces your chance of coverage significantly as most reporters are on deadline. Immediate is the key word.

7. Make it Easy for Them to Choose You.

Be ready for media when they come calling. Have information on hand such as specific statistics with sources, photos they can run alongside text or as b-roll, and contacts relevant to the topic outside your organization (every article tends to have two or more voices).

Ask them more about what angle they are reporting on (education, local government, etc.) and provide information targeted to their motivations, so they are more likely to use material from your conversation.

8. Tie Local Efforts to Big Trends.

Media love two things: riding the hot topics of the day and stories appealing to their regional demographic base. Mentioning local examples (home town success story, community fears, etc.) when talking about big issues or tying your local efforts to things happening at a higher level (federal legislation, global trends, etc.) will help push the story higher up in publication layouts and newsfeeds.

9. Avoid Policy Speak & Technical Language.

If the average person would ask what a word you used means, chances are your voice won’t make it into the article. If you must use uncommon terminology or acronyms, make sure to define those for the reporter. Or better yet, find a way to just replace with simpler phrases.

10. Staying on Message Without Coming Off as Uncooperative.

Try to repeat key points in different ways. Focus on soundbites – the kind of things you’ve told other people in conversation that have evoked “wow” responses for how much improvement can be made or how bad the problem is. Reporters may already have in their mind what kind of story they want to write, but keeping them on your points not theirs you can influence how the story turns out.

11. Multiplying Your Impact.

Work hard to be more than a one time source – get the reporters email and phone number. Then followup on the interview with brief and select supporting info. Let them know you liked a story and how you promoted it.

Develop a relationship with them so they are open to you pitching stories directly to them (not too many and always specific). Next time they might call you first for a story angle.

Photo by jcortell