Trolling For Media Coverage

March 7, 2008 on 9:16 am | In Journalism, Media, Media Relations, Online, PR, Public Relations | 4 Comments

 

Old school media relations pros remember when it was all about telephone pitching. That’s how you got virtually all of your coverage. With the advent of the Internet, the online distributed press release is becoming a more important piece of the arsenal. Here’s why,

A whopping 98 percent of journalists go online daily looking for news, according to a Middleberg/Ross survey titled, ” The Seventh Annual Middleberg / Ross Survey of Media in the Wired World: Journalists Use of Internet at All-Time High.”

Now, instead of cold pitching a journalist, we have our release out in the digital water like bait. We’re trolling, and when the info hungry journalist is researching a story, BAM. We’ve set the hook.

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  • Adam Stokke

    This is definitely a paradigm shift, to use an often quoted phrase.

    I am currently involved with a group that has produced a very innovative new marketing idea, has one an award or two, and is poised to potentially take off in a big way. Unfortunately, due to our budget (or lack thereof), PR remains an area where we’ve been lacking.

    Is it enough to have one’s assets out there, on the web, and wait for hungry journalists to pounce, or are there some strategies that serve to ‘bait the hook’ for a startup with potential looking to garner press? Just throwing that out there and wondering if anyone has any advice/ideas.

  • http://www.my-creativeteam.com Harry Hoover

    Adam, you still need to get the message in front of specific journalists. Since this is marketing innovation, first do some research on key bloggers and journalists who cover that milieu. For instance you might want to develop a custom-tailored pitch for Stuart Elliott, who covers advertising and marketing for the New York Times. The key is to tailor each pitch for each individual and to make sure there really is news involved.

  • Adam Stokke

    Harry, thanks for your advice. I’m conducting that research now, in fact. I am curious if you are aware of any resources (preferably net-based and freely accessible) which may simplify the task of finding the right contact people within a wide variety of media organizations, or whether that’s something you pretty much have to do via a lot of sleuthing to obtain? Your thoughts, again, would be appreciated.

  • http://www.my-creativeteam.com Harry Hoover

    Adam, there are a number of sources who will do that for you. First, you need to narrow down the kinds of reporters you are trying to reach, e.g., marketing and advertising, technology, etc. Once you have a fairly good idea of targets, go to one of these sources for lists. https://listbuilder.bulldogreporter.com/

    http://www.gebbiepress.com/AA/

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