press for mutual respect
With the internet and the recent advent and subsequent respect social media has received from influencers within major corporate and communication channels…there are a ton of ways for almost any business to get free publicity.
Note: if you think you’re not worthy of some press from your local paper or that you don’t have a story to tell…you’re probably wrong. You just haven’t worked hard enough at finding your story.
It takes a bit of study and work to gain the attention and respect of reporters because if you make a bad first impression on a reporter (you know, the overworked, underpaid guy or gal who has the power to get your story to the masses) you won’t be starting from zero the next time, you’ll absolutely be in negative numbers. Don’t stumble!
In spite of print media’s declining circulation, one would be unwise to discount beat reporters on their local papers or even larger papers (should your story warrant such coverage). Having a solid relationship with a reporter can mean the difference between your press release getting a one or two sentence mention in the smallish “Who’s News?” section of your paper and getting a full article with pictures. The same applies to TV and radio reporters as well. Those relationships could also be very valuable if bad news hits your business…you need the relationships in good times and in bad.
Are some reporters unworthy of respect? Sure. Some clients are too but you still gotta deal with them to achieve the desired goal: a pay day (or a press day).
The folks over at ragan.com put together a pretty smart starter list for how to deal with reporters. Read it here.
If all that still doesn’t make sense, then follow our rule: “Do unto others as you’d have done to you.” Most of the time if you treat reporters fairly, they’ll treat you fairly.
Let us know how successful you’ve been with the press and how you went about doing it.
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