Media Relations

"All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends.
All things being not quite so equal, people still want to do business with their friends.
Hint: To climb the ladder of success, you don’t need more techniques and strategies, you need more friends.”
–Jeffrey Gitomer

Developing and maintaining strong relationships with the media is crucial in the Public Relations field. With the boom of new media in the last decade, the job of the publicist is rising to a new level. The PR industry is forced to think outside the box, address transparency and cover all forms of media. Practitioners must learn how to connect with everyone from expert bloggers to broadcast journalists.

However technology changes communication though in the future, it does not change the fact that relationships are everything. Author Jeffrey Gitomer gets to the core of networking and relationship building in his book, The Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships.




Words of advice from Gitomer:

How to connect with Influential people requires these things:
1. An ability to get in front of them so they will come to know you as someone worthy of connecting with.
2. When you meet the person of influence for the first time, you better have something powerful to ask or something powerful to say, or you will have blown an opportunity from the very outset.
3. Have a way to communicate after the meeting.

“The question you have to ask yourself is: how can I make people better as a result of connecting with me?
-Note well: This is not just a strategy to connect at a networking event; this is a strategy to connect with anyone, anywhere, at anytime.”

Intern Insight

This past summer I took a internship position with sports lifestyle brand, Puma, in West Hollywood. Working in the Entertainment Marketing Division, I saw networking at it’s best. Several people in this division have PR background and use it to get face time for the brand in everything from Self magazine to US Weekly, to Entourage.



A few lessons I learned on the job that make the difference:

1. Who you know and who knows you?
When you have friends in high places it can make your job much easier. If it takes 5 people to get through to the right person to break your story, it helps to know him or her. If you don’t, know the person right before them. You’ll save a lot of time.

Being in the heart of the media’s social scene is important too. Are you visible? If they tend to hang out at a particular lunch spot or bar, there you should be also. You cant depend on Myspace to have a friend connection. You need real face time yourself but make sure you on the ball, even in casual settings.

2. People like free stuff
If you are looking for a magazine to recommend or showcase your product, send them some stuff free along with a media kit. Don’t confuse this with bribing. Give the media the chance to speak of your product from experience, which is better anyways in today’s world.

3. Experience and credibility are crucial
Need I say more?




Working with the Media

From those on the front lines, here are some great words of advice for improving Media Relations Skills.



Jennifer Matarazzo, the associate editor of Fitness Magazine gave PR Newswire tips on pitching to Fitness.

1. Jennifer likes email because it is easier and can be checked frequently.
2. Make sure what you pitch is appropriate to the publication
3. Know who your pitching to and what they do.
4. “I’ll get back to you” means she will call if interested. If a journalist is truly interested in your product they will always return your call.
5. Matarazzo doesn’t mind direct calls if it’s in the morning when it is quieter.

She also informs PR professionals that “if you’re sending information about a product, include the price and always state ‘what makes it cool.’ What is different about that particular product? If your sending a study, include how the results were achieved.”

As I mentioned earlier, for product submission to Fitness, Matarazzo stresses the importance of testing the product herself and writing on experience, not a press release.

*This article may be found here


A Final Word from Ben

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”
– Ben Franklin

"Be Smart!" as my dad would say. For those entering the PR field, keep this in mind, be humble, ethical and make friends.