If you can internalize one thing in [the PR] process, it’s that the journalist is your customer. They are busy, overworked, with deadlines, and lots of irrelevant dogshit pitches crufting up their inbox. And they have their own constituencies to please (their readers, their editors). This is why this is B2B sales: you’re selling them on something that is going to make them successful at their job – in the short term, a story that is going to please their readership, get shared, and drive page views, in the longer term a relationship where you can provide an ongoing stream of those stories and other help.
So always think about it in that context: How can I help this reporter deliver pertinent content to his readership, in the most streamlined, least time-intensive way possible, and, shocker, a lot of that will revolve around doing annoying pre-work for them. Which leaves them more time to do the writing and analysis – which is what they and their readers prefer, anyway.
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