Knowing Whom to Call is Key to Media Relations Success

If youve got breaking news to share or a compelling story to pitch, knowing who to call is as important as the story you want to tell.

If you are a small business owner with other equally pressing deals to close and operational issues to address, chances are compiling a targeted media list isnt high on your priority list. The good news is that affordable resources are close at hand to make media list building easy and time efficient for even the most time starved business owner.

Before you invest in media list resources, however, remember that knowing your own top ten list of media outlets that represent the best potential media placements for telling your story to the right audiences is always a great place to start.

When you are familiar with the reporters who write about your business, industry, or expertise, you can demonstrate familiarity with their work as you make your pitch. That is always a winning way to start a conversation, capture attention, and earn editorial consideration.

For example, a story ran in the February 22, 2006 Wall Street Journal that addressed the challenge working couples face when returning home after a tough day at work. They find themselves in the dead zone and cant reconnect. Alice Cunningham, co-owner of Olympic Hot Tub Company (www.olympichottub.com), identified the Wall Street Journal as a priority media placement for her company and products for 2007. When she read this story, she immediately invited one of her best customers to respond to the Wall Street Journal reporter to suggest a Hot Spring spa as a good solution to help spouses get together. The reporter liked the suggestion and wrote a follow-up column a week later that offered a variety of reader ideas to solve this common lament, including buying a hot tub. This example proves that following up with reporters about current stories with supplemental ideas can be an effective way to earn the media placements that matter most to you.

If you are too time strapped to read every local newspaper or magazine and watch or listen to your targeted radio and television news programs, let the Puget Sound Media Directory make the process of identifying the right editors and reporters for your story easy and time efficient for you. My own copy from 2005 is well used and well worn, and the newly updated 2007-2008 edition is now available for purchase. Visit www.pugetsoundmediadirectory.com to learn more.

If your company has news of interest to reporters and editors across the state of Washington, the Washington State Media Directory is a useful resource. Visit www.finderbinder.com to learn more.

If you need to take your message beyond Washington State, consider www.medialistsonline.com. This service is built for publicists with only occasional needs for media contact lists. MediaLists Online allows you to generate basic media lists in a matter of minutes without having to invest substantially in software.

And, if you sell a product or service that is well targeted and well timed for national holiday gift guides or stories relevant to moms, dads, and grads, take a look at www.giftlistmedia.com. Be sure to allow plenty of lead time to pitch your stories because some national publications make decisions about holiday stories as much as six months in advance.

Now that you know about some of the useful tools available to help you share your story with the right decision makers, invest wisely in the ones that will best serve your story. Then, get into action to bring your business and expertise out of obscurity and into the media spotlight today.

When your ideal customers read about how your product or service is making a difference for others, taking advantage of a timely trend, or making news or solving problems that matter to people here and beyond, youll earn new Website visits, inquiries from qualified potential buyers, and new engagements. With such wonderful benefits waiting, my only question to you is this. What are you waiting for?

Nancy S. Juetten owns Nancy S. Juetten Marketing Inc. and is the author of the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit which helps business owners get heard, seen, and celebrated in their own backyards and beyond through the power of free publicity. Subscribe to her free Media-Savvy-to-Go ezine by visiting http://www.mediasavvytogo.com today. Get in touch with your media relations questions at nancy@nsjmktg.com or 425-641-5214.

Business Development Tips For Public Relations Business: What You Need To Know
Importance of Public Relations Business:A public relations business has become a requirement for the success of any kind of m...

The Secret To Make Oprah Winfrey Call About Your Small Business
Firstly, should Oprah Winfrey call about your small business be prepared to have a backup plan for increased productions and ...

Hispanic Media Relations Training: What to Do When Hispanic Media Call
You are a spokesperson for your company, representing it for public speaking and media interviews. You are going about your e...

Public Relations for Employment Agencies
Public Relations for employment agencies is very important because if the local businesses somehow believe that those who sig...

Media Relations: Minority Media Matters
Your boss just stopped by your office. He tells you that he has decided to put you in charge of a major upcoming news release...

Public Relations for The White House
Public Relations for the Executive Branch of the United States Government are not easy, yet they are paramount to delivering ...

Get More Ink
The client-agency relationship can be magic. Editorial will happen, phones will ring, product will be sold. This magic is t...

Articles in the News; Are they Ads, Stories or Articles
The world of Public Relations and Press Relations is certainly interesting indeed. Sometimes articles in the news are really ...

Media Relations: Ending the Press Release Crutch
When most people think of media relations, they think of press releases. To be sure, writing and distributing them is one of ...

Five Reasons to Conduct Media Interview Training
Given the importance organizations place on generating press coverage, its vital to have a strategy and skilled professionals...

Strategic Thinking To Media Visibility - A Healthy Media Visibility Prescription From Your PR Doctor
Are you getting your name, photo and the name of your business in the newspapers and professional publications? Or are you r...

Media Relations: Should You Pay For News Coverage?
Dear New York Times:Id like to be quoted in one of your news stories. Enclosed is a check for $500. Please call me to arrange...

Top 10 Ways How-To Use Press Releases To Get Free Publicity
Visualize having tons of orders and requests for your products, services, or cause. Imagine receiving calls for interviews fo...

The Nine Worst Mistakes You Can Make When Dealing With The Media
Did you get my article in yet? That question, when asked by a PR person or business owner, is enough to set a reporters teeth...

9 Rules of Media Relations Crisis Management
As the tragedy at the Sago mine in West Virginia unfolded on our televisions and front pages in January of 2006, Im certain w...

Public Relations for Crisis Centers
Crisis Centers help people in their time of need. Sometimes it is an addiction problem and sometimes it is a severe depressio...

Business Success Through Second Life
If you havent heard of Second Life, the online virtual world and latest internet phenomenon, by now, I predict that you will ...

How to Work with Newspaper Photographers
The next time a newspaper photographer takes your photo, remember the 8 things they hate:1. Bossy people who demand that othe...

The Placement Crash - The Failure of PR in the Conversation World
Traditional public relations yields a common problem called Placement Crash, which is like a sugar crash in business somethi...

Solving the Public Relations Puzzle
You often hear people refer to public relations or PR as something positive or negative that a company received in response t...