How to decide which journalists to pitch.

Rather than create “media lists” to which press releases are sent, you’ll get better results by creating a “media CRM” - the basis of a strategic and structured approach to earning attention, based on building relationships.

Like many of us, journalists don’t like the hard-sell. Attention has to be earned.

The classic image of Alec Baldwin in the 1992 film "Glengarry Glen Ross" has in many respects dominated sales thinking for the last 30 years, the idea that the persistent hustler ends up winning. There’s also a lot of argument to the contrary.

Does this mean successful people are those who hustle and persist to move to a quick close, or those who take a more measured nurture and earn approach? As with many things, I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle, and I think this is true in PR as much as it is in any transactional human relationship.

The ABC mnemonic above is what captured the imagination, but equally as important is the mnemonic behind him that we can’t see > AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) which describes the mental state a buyer goes through.

In PR, attention is hard to earn - before you even start to think about what ‘interest’ means to a journalist. The reality is that most businesses have little ability to attract attention, let alone raise serious interest which is why media relations is better thought of as an ongoing process rather than a project or campaign.

Here I explain the chellenges with the traditional PR approach and suggest an alternative.

The problem with media lists

PR agencies have traditionally created media lists for clients. These are often wish lists of journalists who clients want to cover their stories. The issue is, just because a client wants a certain journalist to write about them, doesn't mean that they will.  

Much like a sales process, a pitch will only 'convert' when the conditions are right.

Partly this is down to client pressure (it's quite hard to say to a client, no, I didn't call the editor of the FT about your new product update) and partly down to internal agency cultures and some PR people not being to create a tailored pitch that's good enough ("just phone the f**king journalist", "I don't want excuses, I want coverage") hence a hit-and-hope approach.

I follow a lot of journalists on LinkedIn and you'll often see them posting about bad pitches; usually irrelevant press releases that look like they have been mailmerged.

Most agencies have long-since stopped doing this, but it still happens. This is why PR people retain a bad reputation for poor, unfocused pitching.

Not every story is created equal

Part of my thinking around 'full funnel PR' is that media relations (like any kind of relationship building) is a process that needs to consider the journey a prospect will take to conversion from "I didn't even know I had this problem" to "I want to buy your solution".

The biggest determinant of who might cover a story is impact and fame.

If your brand is completely unknown, you may still earn blanket high-impact media coverage if you have an incredible story. 

For example, Taylor Swift has decided to take shares in your business - Widget Inc. valuing it at $7bn. She has agreed to make a select appearance in your local pub to announce it. You can invite a handful of five journalists who will have an exclusive interview with her and she'll send her private jet to get them wherever they are in the world, and throw in VIP tickets for their families to come to her next gig near them. 

You don't need to do much work to sell this story. It's got big names, big numbers and an air of exclusive experience about it. But of course very few of us will have a story as good as this, so we have to work with what we have and deploy ‘what you have’ to maximum effect.

This starts like any other sales and marketing question.

Do I sell what I have right now to people that I know will be in market for this product? That’s one buyer.

Or do I go away and create a product for a different buyer?

Much conflict between PRs and clients comes from a misalignment on how strong the ‘product’ is. Clients often think they have a great story, whilst PRs will always need to strike a balance between being positive and circumspect.

Alignment starts by developing a common understanding and awareness around what the buyer wants.

Different journalists want different things

Broadly journalists fit into different categories. Reporters or correspondents find news. Features Editors decide on longer-form features, and may commission/ accept opinion articles. Others do interviews. Producers book guests for broadcast. Freelancers work differently to staffers. All will want different things, and have different eligibility criteria. 

And it varies title to title, market to market, person to person.

PRs will create packages based on what each journalist wants, using whatever the client can offer. A media CRM stores that information, tracks previous engagement, and reminds you to get in touch - like any other CRM.

I tend to categorise journalists like this:

- Known: they have covered you/ the business before

- Home Turf: they cover companies your size in your market

- Familiar: have covered similar competitors/ topics in your sector

- Opinion: may be open to an opinion article, or feature

- Profile: they interview people as part of a wider look at the business

- Aspirational: they may cover you in future with the right content

The pitch will vary for each.

Getting started

If your business already has a CRM (eg a Hubspot, Salesforce, Copper, whatever) then it makes sense to create a sub-audience within that CRM and an engagement funnel.

If not, then a simple spreadsheet will do.

• Draft Longlist: Who do you already know? Who has written about your competitive set? Who covers your topics or issues? Who does your audience revere and respect? 

• Find Threads: In which areas do we have a distinctive point of view and when might these enter the news? Have they ever written about one of our customers/ connections/ clients? What kinds of media do they report/ cover? Is there anything else we can pick up on?

• Plan Engagement: Where are these journalists? Do they write for other titles? Are they active on social? Do they host/ attend events? Does anyone I know, know them? 

Based on this, you will get a better idea of who your top-20 could be for proactive outreach. Engaging journalists then becomes part of the business' habitual operations.

How to engage

Some you will simply follow & nurture. Engage & comment on their posts. Make sure you read their content. Get in their line of sight. 

Others you may realistically have something you can offer straight away. Perhaps they have written an article you have a point of view on. Maybe you have a good connection. Possibly a formatted feature (like a Q&A) you're eligible for.

Others may require the creation of a new story to interest them, like a big-brand case study, an experience, a news exclusive or data-findings.

When to start 

A lot of this you can get started on before hiring a PR professional, and doing so will put you in a better position as and when you do. 

Sometimes clients may think hiring an agency will help them break into national/ global media titles because they have active relationships.

Relationships mean the PR will know what the journalist wants, and can help broker an interest having earned trust, but this does not mean they will cover your story.

The story has to be suitable for that journalist. 

The truth is that however good the relationships and quality of story on offer, a company that has never earned media coverage on its own 'home turf' of local media and/ or trade niche, and has unknown spokespeople who don't have any profile, will find it much harder and expensive to cut through.

Rather like fitness training - hiring a PR expert coach to help you run a sub five-hour marathon is more likely to yield a result if you're already clocking in at five hours and virtually impossible if you can't do a 5k.