PR Do’s and Don’ts
As public relations professional you are going to have to
deal with a number of different people, one of the main people being a journalist.
It is vital to your career that you build and maintain a positive relationship
with journalists. Public Relations
professionals and journalists rely on each other, PR professionals are a great
networking source for the journalists and journalists give clients of the PR
professional some publicity.
According to Business
News Daily, these are the few basic dos and don’ts to help maintain a
positive relationship with your journalist.
Dos
1.) Personalize your pitch
- The
reporter wants to feel flattered, they don’t want to be just be another someone
on your list. Learn the reporters name and address them. Make your pitch
personal. Nothing will get your email the delete button quicker than having “To
Whom It May Concern,” or even worse, the wrong name! So come on, do your
research.
2.) Have a good subject line
- Reporters
receive tons of emails a day. Grab their attention by having a strong subject
line. Provide some of your 5 W’s and a H in the subject line. If it fits their
particular beat, then you have a better chance of them opening up your email.
3.) Research
- When you
are reaching out a reporter, research some of their previous work and make sure
to reference that in your pitch. Again, flatter the reporter.
Don’ts
1.) Argue with the
reporter
- If the
reporter chooses not to write about your client or event, then kindly accept
and move on. Don’t burn bridges.
2.) Be afraid to reach out in the future.
-If a
reporter did not write about your previous pitch, reach out to them again at a
later time with a different one.
Along with the tips listed above, do these also, reach
out to your client on social media, try and meet with them person if possible,
and always stay positive.
“The benefit of being positive is that it increases the likelihood
of your relationship to continue,” Dan Siegel of Stokepoint said.
These tips might seem like common sense, but they truly are
the foundation of relationship building.
Works Cited:
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