1. Network, network, network…
The best press officers know all the best journalists. They cultivate these relationships so that they can go back to them time and again with good stories. They drop them a friendly call or email to ask how they are and if they’d be interested in a particular story. They take them out for lunch – if the journalist can find the time. They make sure that when their charity’s issue comes up in the media, they’re the first contact on the journalist’s list.
2. Get a little black book
Record everything you know about the journalists you work with – and not just the basics like their contact details. Take note of their publication’s deadlines and lead times, the best times of day to reach them, whether they prefer to be contacted by email or phone, their areas of speciality – and anything else that might help when you’re pitching to them. Little details like these make you look professional and meeting journalists’ needs ensures that your relationship with them is a positive one. There’s nothing that annoys a journalist more than a press officer coming to them with the perfect story after deadline or phoning them with a long and rambling pitch when a short, sharp email would have met their needs better.
3. Read – everything
Good press officers religiously read and watch a wide range of publications and TV/radio. It means they get to know the kind of stories newspapers, magazines, TV and radio programmes use. As a result, they can work out how to best pitch their charity’s stories to particular media.
4. Learn from failure
If your press release isn’t picked up by as many publications as you’d have hoped, or a journalist rejects your pitch, try to work out why. Was your release right for their publication, or could you have tailored it better? Were you able to provide the all important case studies? Or perhaps a big story knocked yours off the news agenda? Thinking and making some notes about why your story wasn’t picked up will help you get more coverage next time.
5. Use askCHARITY.co.uk
Hundreds of journalist use askCHARITY to find charity contacts when they’re writing a story on a particular issue. Sign up – it’s free – to make sure you’re on journalists’ radar.
