By Liz van der Westhuizen

Take the ‘Updates’ as example: Media Update, Marketing Update and Publicity Update cover all media, marketing and publicity related content. Yet, regularly, I get emailed press releases regarding products and services completely irrelevant to these websites. Not only does this irritate me, but more importantly, it points to the fact that the PR who sent the release has not successfully done his/her job. It is also obvious that the concerned PR does not have a targeted media list and is just taking the spray and pray approach to getting media coverage.

Now, this approach generally yields one of two results. The most likely is that the journalist receiving the release just deletes it, or even labels your emails as junk/spam. The other possibility is that your release gets coverage, but that coverage has very little impact on your target market. Even if a journalist is so hard-up for content that they publish your cosmetics-related release in a construction-related publication, few of the readers of this publication are actually going to be paying attention to the piece.

A targeted media list is absolutely integral to any communications/PR campaign. As explained on See &amp Be PR’s blog), “your media list will essentially be your go-to document whenever you need to contact the press, be it for press release distribution, to invite media to a press conference or to pitch a story for a feature article …” The Idea Suite takes this principle even further by stressing that “a comprehensive, targeted and up-to-date media list is the foundation for any PR campaign”.

As The Idea Suite points out “a media list doesn’t just begin with the media contacts – you must firstly have a good understanding of who your campaign is targeting”. This is an important point and gaining this information should precede the formation of any media list.
By knowing who your target audience is, where they are based and what they would read, you gain the first crucial details with which you will start compiling your targeted media list. This, ultimately, helps you execute a ‘killer’ PR plan.

Once you have a solid understanding of the above information, you can start investigating which publications would reach your target market. Now, you can spend hours and hours researching details on Google, or you can set aside a couple of hundred ‘randelas’ a month and subscribe to a service like Target Media. A service such as this allows you to save time, as it is an up-to-date database of all the publications and broadcast stations in South Africa. Not only can you search a specific topic to see which publications cover it (and get their details or get the details of a specific journalist), but you can also create various media lists and even email your press release straight from the portal to the selected media list.

However, it has been my experience that many PR practitioners battle to justify additional spend to their numbers orientated management, so, should you fall into the number-cruncher-limited-budget category, you can always DIY your list. Jennifer Nichols, CEO of FlackList, advises that you take the following steps:

Identify the story
“Identify a specific segment of media who would be receptive to your story”. As mentioned earlier, this is crucial. Nichols recommends that you ask yourself what the story is and which media would be most interested in the story. Don’t waste your time by sending the release to a generic media list.

Sharpen your focus
Once you have decided which media you should focus on, narrow the scope down even more. Nichols explains that “if food reporters are your target audience, identify which part of that sector you want to pitch your story to”.

Create your media list
Once you know exactly which types of media you want to target, you can start putting together your media list. In targeting food bloggers for example, you can now start researching their details and simultaneously copy them onto your list.

Monitor
“Don’t think your task is done after you have found your contacts,” warns Nichols. You need to be on the lookout for any changes within the publications that you target. Also, keep an eye out for new up-and-coming journalists, or reporters who are taking an interest in areas relevant to your campaign.

While it may initially take some time to do the research and compile your targeted media list, it should result in quality coverage which actually reaches your target audience and doesn’t frustrate any journalists in the process.

What do you think? Have you got any tips on how to compile a targeted media list? Tell us below.