Conversation Agent: What You do When They Don't Write About Your Story

I've been thinking about this issue of pitching bloggers and media outlets and getting no story. This continues to be frustrating both for the PR pro and the person being pitched.

Developing relationships takes time, and those of you who have worked in companies know that often there is precious little of it to plan as you'd like.

As a blogger, I never sit there and wonder when I'm going to get the next press release to find stories ideas.

And admittedly I tend to be picky, looking to write not just original content -- I still link out a lot in my posts -- I also work hard to be relevant to my readers.

Story gets written without you in it

When you send a press release, you probably looked to see what content the person you're pitching has written about before. Yet a beat is not was it used to be anymore. Media companies hire freelancers to cover many industries today.

Plus, rarely writers and editors rest on their laurels. In fact, upon closer inspection, you will probably find that more often than not, a great feature story was written by someone who had never written about that topic before.

How could that be? I know, you're as disappointed as I've been about this. A couple of times my CEO has called me on the carpet for missing a placement in a feature story about IT... written by someone who last week wrote about commercial real estate or car dealerships.

Don't panic. A classically-trained PR pro would research the writer, if appropriate reach out to her with additional insights -- make them good -- about her story and keep doing great work.

A new media maven does something else -- record a video with your subject matter expert talking about the article and what they'd add, then post it to your company blog with appropriate tags and links.

Do something worthy of writing

Stories catch my eye on their own merits. This past week I published about the Mayo Clinic starting a center for social media because I saw it on their blog and after a search, I only found a Q&A in the WSJ blog, and thought the story could use some context, and I had personal experience to offer to it.

A string of posts by others followed in the days that followed. I don't know if they were the result of blogger and media outreach or worked in the same way my pick up did. I'm thinking that the initiative is the reason for the pick up, not the amazing pitching skills. What do you think?

So doing something worthy of a post is the reason why you get the posts in many instances. The other part of that is talking about it in your own blog. I would wager reporters operate along similar lines.

A new media maven takes the coverage and creates a hub on the company blog to display and tag it. Bookmarking the stories with commentary on Delicious also works as a nice media room.

Make it different

Not everyone has sexy news to share every week, do they? Most of the time, it's just your standard press release vetted through several layers of approvals until everyone is comfortable -- and often until it says little or nothing of value to anyone because it's trying to say too much for everyone.

Still, if your business is in business, it does serve a need in the marketplace. Or maybe your marketing group is so good that it creates that needs. Good for you, you have a starting point. Take a stand in your release, and in your pitch. Tell me what problem your "widget/service" solves, and how it does it differently.

It's amazing how many releases could use this simple make over. Write it from the standpoint of why a specific audience would care.

A new media maven knows that the lines between marketing and PR are blurring, and knows how to think differentiation and POV while maintaining news integrity.

***

Three simple tips: 1) don't panic, or get mad, get back with them; 2) do more to be interesting, work on the product, initiative, etc. and 3) communicate what makes you different.

From your experience, what is helpful to educate your boss or general manager on the merits of creating valuable communications that address the needs of a new media world?

_________

Bonus reading:

Earned Media and Influence

How to do PR in New Media

David Spinks teaches us how to look at Blogger Outreach from the Blogger's Eyes

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Comments

Great post, Valeria. I just did a presentation for entrepreneurs on getting media coverage, and you have some great tips in here--especially about creating your own content and differentiating yourself. It's also empowering to know that you don't just have to send out releases or contact people and wait for things to happen. If you take initiative and help your company or clients stand out, the hits will come.

Posted by: Laura Scholz | August 01, 2010 at 12:27 PM

A very thought-provoking post. I'm about to launch a new blog based upon sharing creative ideas and process. Your insights in this post are very helpful.

One consideration to add. I wonder if the age of the classic "pitch" is over. Is it possible that press releases are obsolete (or soon to be)? Valeria, what you note is true in my view. Regardless of whether or not it is a press release, blog post, Facebook entry, or even your website content, stories are going to be picked up based on the whims of the writer or publication (no matter what their specialty or expertise is).

Love your message. Don't worry too much about the fact that the story gets written with or without you (it's not something you can control). Make your source story worthy of reading. And, make it different.

Posted by: Peter Rodgers | August 01, 2010 at 12:52 PM

Kudos for another thought-provoker, Valeria. I just want to flag that operating in the new media world does present new challenges but the basic challenge hasn't changed: newsworthiness and our ability to judge it.

It absolutely helps to know your audience and the difference between a media person, who is used to being pitched, or an "unclassically" trained blogger, who probably could not care less about the push of your content.

Pre-existing relationships, which indeed take time, work well with the latter. Just don't expect quick hits (read do expectation management with your management). With traditional news outlets and their increasingly thin staffs, the issue of identifying who's writing on what topic is only going to get more frustrating. Fact of life. Not much we can control.

That said, a lot of disconnects (or non-connects)can be avoided with the upfront application of old-fashioned news judgment -- e.g. being able to spot interesting facets like uniqueness, proximity, timeliness,conflict, controversy, etc.

If your information isn't newsworthy to begin with, you're probably on a myopic, self-serving path that can lead to mutual frustration. I always like to ask: "OK, we can talk about the 'what,' but to better our chances for pick-up can you help me articulate the 'so what?'"

Posted by: JohnatNokia | August 01, 2010 at 12:55 PM

@Laura - I'm not minimizing the amount of work that goes into developing content, of course. As you know, companies are often strapped for resources and going with the flow and hoping for mass distribution was the easy choice. Glad to hear you're helping entrepreneurs shift their thinking in new directions.

@Peter - I don't think press release are obsolete, and I've used them quite effectively to attract the right people to the conversation, both as part of the company's SEO/SEM toolkit, and to help more conservative organizations start to pave the way for content marketing. The structure of the press release should evolve, yes. Companies don't understand that they have more control over their story when they choose to tell it themselves and to embrace any issues they may need to iron out about their products and services.

@John - newsworthiness is important, yes. With bloggers also exclusivity, and timing. I cannot tel you how many times I reached out to a company to request an interview when one of my readers shared a really good story about their experience to wait weeks or never get a response. Same companies that reach out to me when *they* have a new something to push out, or when they have an issue blow up in their face and could have used some positive conversation coming up in search. Managing expectations with executive teams about coverage is a continuing challenge. In micro media is shows up as "why don't we have x-thousand followers?" "So what" does win the day ;)

Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | August 01, 2010 at 08:52 PM