Your Media Contacts Database
An excerpt from GET MEDIA SAVVY - The Ultimate eGuide to Promote Your Products, Services and Ideas to the World!
Whether you keep your editorial contact information in an electronic database or in a Rolodex, your media contact information must be kept up-to-date. Editors and publishers come and go, reporters are reassigned to new beats, and publications merge, fold or redefine their roles and target audience. It is important to constantly update and stay on top of the changes your media contacts make. I suggest you review your media contact list at least every three to four months.
By staying in touch with your media list, you can find out if they have changed jobs or assignments and it gives you an opportunity to find new contacts to add to your list and pitch your ideas and stories.
Here are some ideas for adding to and updating your contacts: Write a Letter of Introduction. When contacting a journalist for the first time, a good way to start the relationship on a positive note is by way of a letter of introduction. I suggest you do this before you send a media release or pitch a story idea. There are of course exceptions and that is when the news is critical and timing is of the essence such as when you are tying your ideas into a late-breaking news story. For most small business owners that will not be the case. When crafting your letter have an end-goal in mind. What do you want it to accomplish? Do you know exactly to whom the letter should be addressed? Your initial contact to be to the editor or publisher of the publication, a freelance writer or feature journalist.
Do your homework before sending the letter. Your letter should highlight why this particular individual (and audience) would likely be interested in your story or idea. Keep in mind that the main purpose for this letter of introduction is to begin a dialog and introduce you as the go-to person for your company or organization. Be sure to include all of your contact information in the letter including work, home, cell and business address and primary email information.
Make it easy for the journalist to contact you. I also suggest if you include work and home phone numbers alongside you include the best times to call. If an editor has a deadline of say 8 am and you begin work at 9 am, chances that you would be a good source are slim. Your letter of introduction should stress that your main purpose is to make the media’s job easier by being a good source of information, ideas and connections. This letter of introduction should be “what’s in it for them, not you.”
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