How to Choose the Right Media Outlets to Pitch
You’ve been diligent applying best practices of marketing online; and, your business has a both a great content and marketing strategy – but, are you utilizing the many ways to gain more exposure from the media?
If not, I’m sure your first thought is, “Where do I find the right media outlets?”
Finding the right sources is just the beginning to attracting journalists and TV stations.
Choosing the right fit for your market is the next step, which takes some research, but is well worth the effort in order to increase your chances of getting noticed.
How to Find the Right Media Outlets for Your Business
Not every journalist or television station will be the best fit for you. It’s important to know first what topics are covered, the level of readers and viewers, and how much influence an individual contact may have.
Just like your own target market research your business will want to do the same when it comes to finding the right media channels to reach out to. This means what they are covering should match as closely as possible to what is published on your website and on social media.
For instance, a B2B business will want to seek after professional magazines geared toward entrepreneurs, and small business. If you are a retail seller online then there are plenty of ecommerce sources to tap into, which will help your business garner more replies as they will be interested in the same topics that you promote.
Now that you have focused on the media outlets that best fit with your business model it’s time to reach out, and a great tool that I use is called, Alltop, which is a large aggregated resource of content from a variety of media and blogging resources.
If you are a Google Chrome user, then you can also tap into the Web Scraper extension, which pulls from Alltop directly through targeted keywords for your niche. This will allow your business to find the right media outlets for your market. A simple right click will allow you to save the information you need as you build your list.
Would you like to find out what’s currently being covered in the news for your business? The Google News Downloader can be very handy for this:
This will produce a list of current articles, which points your business to the right sources to contact for coverage of your products or services. The information will also help you discover the pain points of your customers, and what they are seeking answers for.
In order to effectively ‘pitch’ media professionals be sure that your business has a well laid-out plan, much like a story pitch to a producer or agent. Keep the topic focused, and stick to one of these angles:
● Breaking News – This can be topical related to a recent event rather than your business, presenting a problem that needs to be solved.
● Holidays and New Seasons – Determine how your business can best meet the needs of your market whether it be travel tips, a how-to, shopping tips, ect. Focus on the buyer and how to best meet their needs.
● Industry Trends – Is there a current buzz around a certain topic going on your industry? How can your business best deliver a solution? For example, a technology company can offer advice on the most reliable products to consumers.
● Write About Your Business Lessons – Readers and journalists love personal stories. Is there an event that your company has grown from that can be shared with your audience? This could be a financial decision or even a buying story. Whatever works for your market backtrack and pull from your own experiences and pitch those story ideas to journalists.
In order to increase your business’s chances of being covered by the media your company should also invest time to create a press kit, which will clearly outline your mission statement, and any accomplishments that are news worthy. Marketing speaker and coach, Jay Baer, has a great example of this on his website:
Once your business has been published by a few media outlets more opportunities will open up for you in the future, which will bring your greater visibility and build credibility both online and offline.
Susan Gilbert
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