As a Westchester blogger, I get pitched at least 50 times a week on why I should write about someone’s company. Some of the pitches are solid; the rest go straight to my trashcan. In an effort to help you, the reader, get your story told on Stacyknows (or other Westchester outlets) I wanted to share some great Westchester PR tips from Westchester publicist & social media extraordinaire Kris Ruby of Westchester PR firm Ruby Media Group.
How to Stay Relevant to the Media
By Kris Ruby, Ruby Media Group
In order for your business to succeed, you need steady media exposure. To do this, it’s important to stay relevant. Stay in touch with what is currently going on in the media and utilize that to create new, timely angles and ideas to pitch to journalists and producers. It’s best to review and update your media campaign to make sure it is not outdated. This audit will help to secure more placements in the media and, ultimately, achieve your goal of increasing business exposure.
Identify Target Media Outlets
What magazines and newspapers do you want to write about your business? Do you want to see your business featured in Forbes or Wired Magazine or is your local newspaper the best place to reach your audience? Do you dream of being on The View or hope that, one day, your restaurant will be profiled on The Food Network? Before you can audit your campaign, you need to decide who your target media outlets are and, then, how to best stay relevant and get their attention.
Target Audience
You daydream of being on the cover of Widget Magazine, but is that the best publication to reach your target audience? Does it establish you as a leader in your industry? To determine this, you first need to know who your target audience is. For example, your ideal customer is male 20-somethings, so ideally you want to be featured in a magazine such as Men’s Health, but if you are trying to reach a more upscale gentleman, your target audience would be more along the lines of Esquire magazine.
Now that you know your customer and your target media, it’s time to see what you can do to stay relevant in the media’s eyes.
- What are you doing right now and what has it accomplished? Has your business been featured before? If so, why was the media interested? What success have you already had? In publicity, history can repeat itself, because if a publication was interested in your business once, chances are that with a more current angle, they may be interested in featuring you again.
- Are you establishing yourself as a thought leader? Do you have a blog and are you consistently providing content for your customers? Journalists and producers often scroll blogs for ideas, so reaching out with valuable, educated content can draw attention to the media.
- Have you met the media? Do you know the local business editor? Have you been in contact with the local news producers? Do local bloggers know about your business? If possible, arrange a media event at your site to meet the media. For example, a restaurant can open the doors for a media dinner to promote the launch of a new head chef. A winery can offer media wine tasting days, while a country club can offer the media passes to try out the new golf course and learn about what’s new at the club.
- Propose relevant sponsorship/advertising opportunities. In today’s publishing world, sponsors are important. Once you commit to a sponsorship, your company could receive perks including advertorials and article placements. Yes, you’re paying for a feature, but it does open doors.
- Don’t dismiss blog power. Not only can your blog attract your customers, but other bloggers can draw attention to your business too. For example, if you are a fashion business, reach out to fashion bloggers to talk about your new product or clothing line. If you’re the author of a YA book, there are a wide variety of YA book bloggers with tens of thousands of followers. Approach them in a respectable, professional manner and pitch to them the same way you would pitch to the editor of O or Esquire magazine. Again, however, make sure your target audience matches the blog.
- Hold monthly topic meetings. Every month, evaluate where your market is and what topic you need to write about to get attention. For example, if you are a lawyer and are pitching an article idea to a journalist about the legal ramifications of deflategate on the NFL, it’s best to either tie it into the Super Bowl’s anniversary or when another similar incident happens. Any other time and the pitch just isn’t relevant.
- Spread the word. Once you get a placement, make sure you spread the word about it so that other publications, bloggers and producers can hear about you. If your subject is timely, make sure to stop posting about it when it looks like it might be out of date.
Finally, keep at it. To stay relevant, you have to stay on top of media trends as well as trends in your business and your competitor’s business. By doing so, you’ll be able to spot the right time to pitch the media about a timely topic, and you just might score the most successful placement possible.
For more information, visit www.rubymediagroup.com or www.krisruby.com and follow Ruby Media Group on Twitter: @sparklingruby and @rubymediagroup
©2017 Ruby Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
