A Day of a Journalist - What Attracts Us and What We Ignore

Every business no matter the size can greatly benefit from the services of a professional journalist to increase profits and media coverage.. Journalists today come in many different forms and personalities and there are a variety of ways of grabbing their attention. Today there are television journalists, print journalists and online journalists. This article will outline the main ways in which you can attract journalists to cover stories on your company or business, as well as things you should avoid so they are not deterred from you.
 

Make Their Job Easier

When approaching a journalist with possible story ideas you should ensure that you have all facts and figures regarding your campaign available to you quickly and efficiently. Journalists usually work under very tight schedules meaning they need all relevant information and contact details at their disposal. There have been many cases where media coverage has been lost simply due to the fact that key information was not available on time.
 

Be Believable In Your Claims

There's no point in running to a journalist with an unbelievable headline. Your article should of course be engaging but be careful not to discredit yourself in your attempts to make it so. Nothing ticks off a journalist more than writing an article only to find out that there was little, if any substantial evidence backing the claim of the product or service you are selling.
 

Know the Publication(s)

It is extremely important to know the type of publication you wish your story to be covered in. There's no point in handing in a press release to the wrong type of journalist as you will simply not get a response in return. If you work for a car manufacturing company, and you've managed to increase employment in a depressed area, then you should be able to approach many wide reaching publications. If however, you've simply created a new type of airbag for cars, then your publications will be limited to automotive magazines and the like. If you pitch your story to the wrong type of journalist, you will simply be ignored.
 

Compelling Press Releases

With the help of a PR Firm or freelance journalist, you can create a compelling press release which outlines everything that needs to be covered in the article. It should be clear, informative and above all written in a persuasive fashion as to make the journalist want to cover the potential story. The headline should immediately grab the journalists attention as well as again make his job easier by having half the article written for him. If you've written a really concise and engaging article or press release for the journalist, half of his work is done, and he is much more likely to pick up the story.
 

Spin Your Story Accordingly

If you wish to have your story covered in numerous different types of publications, then you can't approach each of these journalists with the same press release or pitch ideas. Instead you will need to tailor each pitch to suit the publication at hand. This is called spinning and article writers do this all the time. You may be able to see different angles as to which the story can be covered with one publication covering it from a 'hard-news' perspective (which is event driven news 'of the moment') while another may cover it from a more educational viewpoint. If you genuinely do want your story covered from multiple angles keep in touch with local journalists and develop contact lists as these people can help spread the word.