For most startup founders, youâll probably be introduced to your first journalists by your investors. Those introductions are worth their weight in gold, but to transfer that relationship youâll need to have something newsworthy to write about or to spend some time with that person learning what you can bring to the table too.
In agencies, honestly, the process isnât so dissimilar. For nearly all the agencies Iâve worked with, relationships with journalists are kept personally â but when a new contact is needed at a publication, a message will shoot into slack or be posted on the â[Insert Region] Mediaâ channel on Teams and the requests will be made for introductions. Nearly always, thereâs one or two people at any agency that hold the largest number of relationships â not unlike the well-known vs lesser well-known investors. The problem with this â thereâs no useful data kept on how to improve those relationships over time, and itâs not scalable.
Why personal relationships mean opened emails
When you unpack why PRs maintain tight relationships with journalists the answer is a simple one â it could mean prioritisation. Why do journalists keep close relationships with PRs? The answer, especially for early relationships is two-fold.
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Availability of information â friendly PRs means a one-to-many access for content and experts
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Guarantee of quality â a personal relationship hopefully means an unspoken agreement with that person that they wonât clog up your inbox with pitches that arenât relevant â because it would risk the relationship
Naturally we do also all have friendly relationships weâve made with journalists over a number of years, but those often actually tend move away from the workplace. The truth is though, in most cases journalists would much rather have the relationship with the company direct â itâs just that approach to news gathering isnât so scalable.
No healthy relationship is all or nothing
For startups thinking about how to market their business early and build a credible brand, early conversations with journalists are everything, but itâs worth bearing in mind that in the moment, itâs not all or nothing. Just because a publication isnât interested in writing about you right now, doesnât mean you shouldnât learn what might get them interested in the future.
Like your investors, just because theyâre not interested now, doesnât mean they wonât be when you have more credibility and stronger track record behind you. Building lasting relationships with journalists takes time, but like other advocates of your business, it is ultimately worth the investment.
Start a âsweetheartâ list and do your research
You wouldnât sail into a sales pitch without first learning about what your prospect is doing and how you can solve their problems. Journalists arenât any different, their business might be writing, but their revenue comes from their readers â directly or indirectly (via advertising), so think about who their readers are and what they want to see first before diving into your pitch. Create a shortlist of 20 â 30 journalists that regularly write about topics that you want to talk about and work out whether you can credibly fit into their areas of interest.
Follow those journalists on social media too and donât be afraid to engage junior journalists at news organisations, theyâll be looking to build their early relationships too and expand their social followings. By following journalists on Twitter youâll be able to learn about what theyâre interested in sharing and how they personally like to engage. In the old days youâd call and have an afternoonâs worth of deep dive on the going topic, not quite as efficient â though I do miss it.
Collect data against your relationships
If youâre running a marketing team, youâre probably already tracking open rates, conversion rates, click-through rates, turn this technology on your PR work where you can too. Of the journalists on your âSweetheart Listâ how many of them open your emails, click on your content, publish your news? Create these benchmarks from the beginning and youâll always have something to work with. Your incoming comms leads will thank you too if you can already tell them you have a 60% success rate pitching thought-leadership articles to one publication or another â itâll save them time and youâll know your outcomes in advance and be able to improve them over time.
Lastly, seems obvious â but make your content accessible
Journalists donât have much time. Most of the journalists I know receive between 200 â 300 pitches a day⌠in an 8-hour working day thatâs a new story every 90 seconds. Donât make them ask for images, details on your solution, customer segments, backgrounds on your competitors, keep all of that information in one place and share it with them.
In a market where your value is related to your ability to provide fast access to high quality information, make life as easy as possible for your newest stakeholders and use your research, relationship notes, data feedback and judgement to build relationships with journalists from the beginning.
Tom Lawrence is Founder and CEO at mvpr