Keeping The Love Alive With Mainstream Media
My friends over at Bulldog Reporter have a terrific weekly audio conference series featuring two types of panels: top journalists or top PR experts. I've helped them run the panels in the past and now serve as a guest moderator when the regular moderator, Brian Pittman, has other duties. You can learn more about the panels they offer here. They're not cheap but if you work in an organization and can amortize the cost by getting a conference room full of listeners, it's pretty cost-effective.
From time to time, I will be listening in on their weekly audio conferences and reporting to you some of the highlights. Yesterday's audio conference was "Top Editors Share How to Keep the Love Alive with Mainstream Media" featuring:
- Dan Reed, Business/Travel Editor, USA Today
- Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired
- Gary North, Senior Copy Editor, Variety/Daily Variety
- Tom Hallman Jr., Features Editor, Portland Oregonian
- Dan Reed: Build the relationship -- spend time with journalists more than twice a year pitching out of the blue or hounding them with a pitch a week but never talking to them. Call and ask what they are interested in. But face-t0-face deskside briefings with PR people are of low value -- unlikely to a result in a story.
- Chris Anderson: Read the media you're pitching. Don't pitch them unless you know what they do. I don't want relationships. I'm not looking to have lunch with anyone, I just want people to know what we do.
- Gary North: You're building a career-long relationship -- person you are getting to know now may move to another publication, so keep a long-term perspective. Be a resource person. If I call you, I probably need your help now.
- Tom Hallman: You live and die with your pitch -- you can be the greatest guy but if you're pitch is no good, it doesn't matter. Pitch to the actual writer, not an editor. If the pitch is good, the writer knows how to navigate the newsroom to get it in the paper.