By Darren Gilbert

A better relationship with the media will mean better coverage for your clients. It will also mean that you can approach prospective clients with the confidence that you can get hold of the right people in the media. With that in mind, here are three tips to help you improve your relationship with them.

Create a contact list

If you have a story that you want covered, you need to get it into the right hands. In order to know who these hands belong to, you need to create a list. For Bill Miltenberg, a contributor to PR News Online, it’s also crucial to keep this up to date.

He quotes Alfred Richard, senior VP of communications and talent strategy at Telemundo in his article, “Get to know their needs—the needs of an online journalist are different than the print journalist or broadcast journalist—read everything they write.” If you know this, you will be in a better place when next you have a story or idea that you want to pitch.

Adding to that, when you do have a story, if possible, get in front of them to pitch it.

Clarify your message

When emailing or calling a journalist, you must know exactly what you want to say. At the same time, you need to know everything there is to know about the subject that you’re pitching. The last thing that you want is sound like you’re reading off a script when you phone. And it happens.

Peter Granat, vice president of MediaMap agrees. He writes, “Develop a bulleted “fast facts” sheet, especially for phone pitches, that outlines your key message points. Most reporters are extremely busy and will give you only 30 seconds to make your case.”

In understanding that last point that Granat makes, you should be able to put across your story in as compelling a way as possible. If you don’t know your message, you can expect nothing more than a disinterested journalist on the other side of the phone.

Don’t pester the media

As much as you might like to have your press release or story covered, you need to understand that you don’t have final say. It is rather the journalist or their editor that gives the go-ahead. That means that you need to respect them. If they don’t want to cover the story, leave it at that. They have their reasons.

Johnny McGinley, MCIPR, MIC, CIPR Accredited Practitioner agrees. He writes on Shell LiveWIRE, “Never irritate and risk damaging any already established relationship with journalists by trying to pressurise them into covering your story or presenting it in a certain way.”

In sending out a news story or pitching an idea, you can’t expect the media to cover it exactly how you want. They have a right to cover the story in a way that caters for their audience and own journalistic style. In water that style down, you’re compromising their end product.

What are your thoughts? Do you know how else one can improve their relationship with the media? Tell us below.