Why you can't shortcut a media relationship

Sometimes, pitching stories feels a little awkward.

Spend any time on LinkedIn and you will see journalists posting about it: bad stories, poorly pitched, scattergun style. The frustration is fair. But it is worth sparing a thought for the person on the other end of the pitch, too.

The pressure to announce

Picture the publicist under pressure to announce something, to anyone, right now, to get coverage. The product news is a big deal for the client, and surely it should matter to the world.

The PR usually knows this approach will not work. But there is often pressure that leads to PRs doing what they are told, against their better instincts. I have been there.

So the problem is rarely the person sending the pitch. It is a system that asks them to shortcut something that cannot be shortcut.

A media profile is built like a brand

Building a media profile is much like building a brand. Turn up, consistently, with things people value, and you will have a better chance of being trusted.

Good publicists get good results, and great media relationships are a large part of why. They have earned the right to be in the room. But do not expect them to shortcut that process because you happen to be in a hurry.

The answer is not to push harder on the individual. It is to build a system that gives PR people the tools they need to do the job properly.

This is what Full Funnel PR is for

This is really what Full Funnel PR is all about.

I do not build media lists to sell in, place or distribute content. Instead, the method has a component called Media CRM, which treats media outreach as relationships earned over time rather than a list to be worked through in an afternoon.

It tiers the contacts that matter, tracks where each relationship stands, and keeps a live link between the people you know and the stories you bring them. The relationships themselves are built by being useful to journalists: a reliable source, fast with a comment, generous with data. Over time the spokespeople become known sources who get approached for comment, and coverage compounds.

That is slower than a scattergun email blast. It is also the only version that works.

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Hat tip to Jason Squires, from whom I shamelessly borrowed the idea behind the picture that ran with the original version of this post. The parallel with how sales works, and how it does not, is clear, I hope.