Imagine you’re at a huge music festival. It’s a big, crowded field of thousands of people, and you and a few of your friends are trying to lead another friend to your location. But there are no landmarks and all you can really say is that you’re somewhere to the left of the stage and back a bit. Your friend, unfortunately, will have no easy time finding you among thousands of other festivalgoers. That is roughly what media outreach can be like.
If you’re just one in a crowd, it can be near impossible for a reporter to find you (Photo by William Hall Raine, 1931)
However, if in this imaginary situation there were landmarks nearby – a sign, a big tree, a pole, etc. – you’d have a much easier time directing your friend to your location. In media outreach, your landmarks are events. These are the hooks that grab reporter’s attention and give them reason to act on your story. To be useful, events must be timely and relevant. Here’s a partial list of types of events you can harness to bolster your media outreach efforts.
Major events in your company
If you’re a startup, an investment announcement is a timely way to get some attention. It’s a vote of confidence in your company that signals future possibilities. Publications that focus on startups are always searching for the next big thing and pay attention to these.
If you’re a more established company, getting a big name client, or passing a milestone are other opportunities to put yourself out there with a renewed mark of credibility.
Topical, planned events
These can be holidays, festivals, or other publicity events like awareness months. During these events, reporters will be on the lookout for items of interest they can use to fill out their coverage. Clients of ours have used holidays and events like St. Patrick’s Day and the World Cup because they are relevant to what they do.
Relevancy is essential however as it is all too often that marketers and public relations departments stretch themselves to force a connection between their client and an event. This more often then not creates embarrassing, cringe-worthy pitches.
Breaking news events
These are the hardest to prepare for and depend most crucially on the relationships you’ve already developed. But as you are scanning news and developments in fields related to your business, keep an eye out for breaking and developing stories to which you could add expert commentary, or examples of solutions. This doesn’t have to be headline news-type stories, but any notable event like a court ruling, a notable statement by a public figure, a viral video clip. Anything that will naturally turn reporters’ attentions toward your industry.
Catching a reporter’s eye will always be a difficult task, but using events to your advantage will help you catch their attention quicker, and keep it when they’re thinking about your industry.
