How to get the press to write about your latest thought leadership project

You spent months pulling together a great piece of thought leadership and now it is time to persuade the press that it is worthy of coverage. Here are some tactics on doing that including one that could prove to be very effective. By Justin Pugsley

The suggested approach is as relevant to financial services as it is to other disciplines such as professional services and tech.?

But first the basics. When planning the media campaign, it is critical to identify the relevant media outlets and the journalists to whom the thought leadership is relevant.?

Targeting is critical because most journalists receive an avalanche of pitches every day - many are irrelevant (it is surprising how many people still take a ‘spray and pray’ approach to this task).

It is also important to understand the perspective of journalists before kicking off the media campaign. At any one time, they’ll be devoting considerable attention to what they consider to be the big story of the moment.?

Anything that sits outside their current focus has to compete with other items looking to fill space in their publications or media channels.?

If your organisation is prominent that alone might be enough to scoop press coverage. If not, it will come down to the quality of the thought leadership and the communications campaign.?

‘Gift wrapped’??

On the flip side, the press are also always on the lookout for stories that will interest their readership, even if they’re not the lead story.?

One approach is to think of the communications campaign as delivering a package - a story all neatly gift wrapped and ready to go.?

The press release must have a catchy headline (but not spammy), a good summary of the research (written in a journalistic style so it leads with the ‘big idea’), some quotes from spokespeople and a concise description of your organisation.?

It should also be explained that interviews with spokespeople are available upon request.?

That information makes it easier for journalists to A: Decide whether or not your story is of interest. B: Makes it a more straightforward choice to write about than the less well presented alternatives.?

That’s the basics covered.??

Going the extra mile?

Journalists are up against all kinds of deadlines and having to dispatch the latest breaking news to their readers.?

This is especially the case if they have to keep a website up to date. Online media is a beast that requires constant feeding with new content.?

Those pressures divert time away from researching and sourcing interviews - this is where you can help.

Often thought leadership involves numerous organisations possibly via collaboration, say with academia, a trade body or an industry peer(s).?

In other cases, clients or suppliers might be very happy to get some ‘free’ coverage and have something to add to the conversation around your thought leadership.

However, this is not about giving them a free ride.

Building credibility ???

All journalists are trained, where possible, to have multiple sources quoted in their stories. It gives the article more credibility and is more interesting for the reader and this helps build gravitas around your thought leadership.?

If you can offer a journalist a range of spokespeople from different organisations, and your pitch is relevant, then you’re in with a higher probability of winning that coverage and getting more column inches.?

Maybe, what was once a news story stretches to a feature because you provided the journalist with multiple canned quotes they can drop into their articles plus you offered multiple interview opportunities.?

You've saved them time researching and sourcing contacts.

Each to their own

Some websites and smaller media organisations will often republish the press release with little or no editing if it is already written like a journalistic article.?

A quality outlet is more likely to rewrite the article and will probably want interviews so they can produce something more original for their readership.?

Providing a media package with multiple interview sources is more work for media relations and involves coordination with outside parties. But it could be well worth the effort if more of your target market discovers your thought leadership.?

When I was editing a newsletter I would always welcome these kinds of ‘package’ opportunities and providing they were relevant I would usually cover them.?

Also, many years back I used to advise clients on their media communications strategies and found this approach produced the best results in terms of generating press coverage.?