How to Find Journalists Contacts for a Story Or Article You’re Writing
Understanding the Journalist’s World
Let’s dive into the world of journalists. It’s a busy, fast-paced environment filled with deadlines and pressures.
Journalists (bloggers, writers, etc.) have a unique work schedule. Their day can start early with a newsroom meeting, zoom call, or email to discuss the day’s stories. Then, they’re off, chasing leads, interviewing sources, and writing stories.
The job of a journalist is not easy. They face pressures from all sides – tight deadlines, the need for accuracy, and the constant hunt for the next big story. With the amount of competition in the market, and the amount of platforms that are competing for information they need to move fast.
It’s a high-stakes world where every second counts.
As you can imagine, deadlines are a crucial part of a journalist’s life. Stories need to be written and edited. If there’s a hot topic that you’re trying to get coverage for, it needs to go out before competitors. This urgency creates a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.
What Makes a Good Story
Journalists are always on the lookout for a great story. They want something that’s:
- newsworthy
- relevant
- engaging
- timely (you’re not talking about something that has long passed)
- proximity
- human interest
- conflict or controversy
Understanding how journalists operate can help you when you’re trying to pitch a story or if you’re looking to develop interest in your story.
Make sure your story has some (or all) of the above, and you’ll be more prepared to contact the media, and have the media actually read your pitch.
Crafting compelling narratives
A compelling narrative is key to a good story. Yes you need to have the elements listed above. But a narrative, a through line, a story arc is what grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them hooked.
When crafting your story, make sure it has a strong beginning, middle, and end.
By understanding the journalist’s world, you can tailor your approach to better meet their needs. This will not only increase your chances of getting your story picked up, but also help you build a long-term relationship with the media. Next, we’ll discuss how to build your contact list, a crucial step in getting your story noticed.
Contact Journalists – Building Your Contact List
So, you understand how journalists operate. Great!
Now, let’s focus on building your contact list. This is a crucial step in establishing media connections and developing press contacts. But how do you go about it?
Find Relevant Journalists
First, you need to identify the right journalists for your story.
This is where your media outreach strategy comes in. Start by researching journalists who cover your industry or topic. Look at their previous work, their interests, and their audience. This will help you create a targeted media list compilation.
Contact List Management: Your Media List
Once you’ve found the right journalists, it’s time for contact list management.
Organize your contacts in a way that makes sense for you.
Maybe you prefer sorting them by outlet, industry, or location. The key is to keep your media contact organization clear and accessible.
We’ve used platforms like Monday to organize our media list, but even Google Sheets or Excel will do if you’re just getting started.
Yes, there are media list management platforms that you can pay for and subscribe to. And yes they will help you stay organized.
The key is finding a system that works for you, works within your budget, and is simple enough that you’re going to use over and over again.
Finding Contact Information
Finding contact information can be a daunting and repetitive task. You’ve got to search for the right contacts, find their email addresses, explore their social media accounts, and start to build your media list.
If you’re just starting out and want to build a list of journalists for free, you’ll need to spend a bit more time exploring options like LinkedIn, Twitter, and searching blogs for contact details. These are all great ways to contact journalists and try to get the media coverage you’re looking for.
Alternatively, you can build great media lists and find journalist’s emails with just a little bit of a budget. Try platforms like Hunter to find email addresses of journalists you’re pitching, or media outlets you want to target. This is a low cost option that can help you accelerate.
Lastly, don’t forget that there are media list building platforms and media databases out there that can help you build large media lists of relevant contacts. They do cost money. And some of them are quite expensive (think thousands of dollars per year), but they can help you tell your story by connecting you with emails, contact details, and social media for relevant journalists.
What you decide to choose is up to you, your budget, and your goals.
Engaging Media Contacts
Once you have a solid media list, now, you’re ready to start engaging news contacts.
Remember, this isn’t a one-way street. Don’t just pitch your story. Show interest in their work, comment on their articles, and share their posts. This is a part of reporter networking that often gets overlooked.
By showing interest in work they’ve recently done, or in stories they’re looking to write about, you stand out from the crowd and show you’re paying attention to a journalists’ work.
Contact The Media: The Followup
As mentioned above, building a press network isn’t just about collecting contacts. It’s about creating journalist relationships. So, don’t stop at the first interaction.
Keep the conversation going, show genuine interest, and provide value. You’ll want to followup time and time again, but without being pushy or spammy (which will have the opposite effect that you’re looking for).
Seek to be a trusted source, not just another brand or PR professional looking for a brand placement.
Every Story, They’ll Read Your Pitch
Crafting the Perfect Pitch
Now that you understand the journalist’s world and have built your contact list, it’s time to craft your pitch. The perfect media pitch is more than just a summary of your story. It’s a compelling, attention-grabbing invitation that makes journalists want to know more.
Let’s dive into some effective story pitching techniques.
Headlines that Hook
A strong headline is crucial.
It’s the first thing journalists see, so make it count. Think of it as your story’s title. It should be engaging, concise, and give a clear idea of what your story is about. It’s your first chance to grab their attention, so make sure it’s a good one!
You’ll want to keep your headlines:
- short
- to the point
- use emotional words
- clearly describe what your story is about
Summaries that Sell
Next, your summary, or the body of your pitch.
This is where you expand on your headline, providing more detail about your story. Keep it short, engaging, and focused. Remember, journalists are busy people.
Include relevant details and facts, but also make it personal. Show them why your story matters.
They don’t have time for long, rambling summaries. Get to the point, and make your story idea interesting. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been pitching a story, whether you’re talking about providing expert insights, or if you think you’re going to get a full feature – you want to keep it interesting!
Your Call-To-Action (CTA)
Finish your pitch with a strong call-to-action (CTA). Your CTA should be designed to do one thing and one thing only.
Don’t try to ask the journalist or reporter to follow you on social, email you, send you more details, and book a call. That’s an overwhelming amount of information. You’d be asking them to do too much.
Instead have a clear CTA that they can activate quickly. Include a link for a bit more information if you feel it’s helpful (like your LinkedIn profile), and go from there.
Contact The Media: Journalist Outreach Strategies
Knowing how to reach out to journalists is just as important as crafting your pitch.
Be respectful of their time and workload. Personalize your pitch to each journalist, showing that you’ve done your homework. For example with Press Jockey, your AI assistant will automatically read the pitch that you’ve got in your email, read your profile, and customize your pitch instantly.
This shows respect for their work and increases the chances of your pitch being accepted.
If you’re not using a tool like Press Jockey to help you with this, you’ll want to do this on your own.
Be professional, respectful, and persistent.
Follow up on your pitches, but don’t be pushy. Build relationships with journalists, not just for this story, but for future ones as well.
Following Up Without Being Pushy
You’ve understood the journalist’s world, built your contact list, and crafted the perfect pitch. So, what’s next? It’s time to follow up, but without being pushy. Remember, it’s about building a relationship, not just making a sale.
Effective Follow-Up Methods
The key to following up is to be respectful and persistent. You want to keep your story on the journalist’s radar, but you don’t want to annoy them. Here’s how:
- Timing Your Follow-Ups: Journalists are busy. They have deadlines to meet and stories to write. So, when should you follow up? Wait for a few days before sending your first followup. If you’re going to followup after this, you’ll want to space your followups out over the course of a few days after sending your pitch. This gives them time to digest your story.
- Understanding Journalist Schedules: Journalists work in cycles. They’re busiest at the start of the week. So, try following up towards the end of the week when they’re planning their next cycle.
- Tailoring Follow-Up Messages: Personalize your messages. Remind them briefly about your story and why it’s relevant.
- Journalist-Friendly Approaches: Be friendly and professional. Remember, you’re not just selling a story, you’re building a relationship.
- Respectful Persistence: Don’t give up if you don’t get a response immediately. Be patient and persistent, but always respectful.
- Offer Value: Each follow-up should offer value. Share a new angle or an important update. Make each message count.
In the next section, we’ll look at how to build long-term relationships with journalists. It’s not just about one story, it’s about creating a partnership that benefits both of you.
With a compelling headline, a concise summary, and effective engagement techniques, you’ll be well on your way to successful news story promotion.
Building Long-Term Relationships
Now that you’ve learned how to understand a journalist’s world, build your contact list, craft the perfect pitch, and follow up without being pushy, it’s time to focus on the long haul: building long-term relationships with journalists.
Establishing Media Connections
The first step to long-lasting press bonds is establishing media connections. This means reaching out to journalists and starting a conversation. It’s not just about your story; it’s about their work, too. Show interest in what they do, and they’ll be more likely to show interest in what you have to say.
Once you’ve made contact, it’s time to nurture those journalistic relationships.
This means maintaining regular contact and showing respect for their time and work.
Offer to help them with their stories, provide insights, and be a reliable source of information. This will make you a valuable contact and strengthen your media relationship.
Finally keep in touch, even when you don’t have a story to pitch. This shows that you’re not just in it for the publicity, but genuinely value the relationship.
Maintaining long-term press connections requires effort. You need to keep the lines of communication open, respond promptly to their queries, and be respectful of their deadlines. This fosters durable media links that can last for years.
It’s not just about getting your story published; it’s about contributing to their success as well. This is the essence of prolonged media relationship management.
In conclusion, building long-term relationships with journalists is a vital part of successful PR. It requires effort, consistency, and respect, but the rewards are worth it. Not only will it increase your chances of getting your stories published, but it will also enhance your reputation as a reliable source of news and insights.
The Power of Automation
If you’re looking for cost effective ways to speed up your PR outreach and connect with more press, you’ll want to consider Press Jockey.
Designed to help you connect with more journalists faster, Press Jockey puts all of the above into practice, for any i-in-bound press or expert requests that you get from platforms out there.
Instead of reading through hundreds of in-bound press emails, Press Jockey will do it for you. You can use it to then create fantastic, personalized pitches for every response you make. All you need to do is click a button.
This can allow you to push forward with your journalist contacts, connect with more of the media, and effortlessly manage your outreach. This is how you get more press for your brand and build your contact list.
Ultimately, regardless of how you progress forward, you’ll want to use the techniques listed above to really build out your press strategy.