What media influencers love and hate from PR outreach

A freelance PR friend of mine recently asked for some PR tips to help him improve on his media influencer pitching process, and the subsequent relationship-building that follows from a successful pitch (e.g. event arrangements, provision of images and samples, interview arrangements, and many more possibilities). This is essentially the PR outreach process.

I immediately pointed him in the direction of our recent blog posts on finding the right influencers and finding PR opportunities in real-time for free, and our awesome PR Playbook.

These extensive guides will certainly help get the process right from the outset. The next stages are then making contact with the media influencers and working with them to achieve your PR goals. Unfortunately, many PR can be terrible to deal with as far as influencers are concerned. They might struggle through their first piece of work with the PR agent and decide…never again!

If their experience was a bad one, they won’t have the time or desire to go through another rough ride with that PR agent. They’ll simply ignore them in future.

If a PR agent, or in-house PR representative (this could even be the brand/business owner) gets a bad reputation then their PR campaigns will crumble around them as nobody of influence wants to deal with them. PR, for them, becomes unsustainable damaging for their business growth and profitability.

It’s been my intention for a while to provide some useful tips in the Polkadot PR blog about the pitching process and how to successfully work with the media. Spurred on by my friend’s request, I’m going to start with this post.

Firstly, there are some great pointers in the following articles:

• How To Pitch To The Press: The 8 No-Fail Strategies
• PR Cheat Sheet: 10 Elements of a Savvy Pitch Email
• 6 Simple Rules for Email Pitches
• Why Pitching Journalists Is Like Dating

I really liked how Curtis Sparrer, principal at Bospar, used actual feedback from journalists in the Why Pitching Journalists Is Like Dating article listed above. So I thought I would start in a similar vein, and keep adding to this post as and when I get more feedback from our media influencer contacts.

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If you have collected any tips straight from the influencers’ mouths and would like to contribute them to this article, that would be amazing. Let’s build up a massive list that we can share to help the PR community around the globe!

Also, if you are a journalist, blogger or another type of influencer and would like to share your love and hate tips for PR agents, please email me at [email protected] or leave a comment below. Your support will ultimately make your job easier and more effective too!

Media influencer tips

Let’s kick-off with one of my favourite young Australian female entrepreneurs and influencers, Taryn Williams, Founder & CEO, theright.fit

Taryn has a unique perspective that can really help us here as she is an influencer, she also utilises PR outreach to grow her brand and she supplies the media and PRs with the people they need to achieve their goals.

#01: Taryn Williams, Founder & CEO, theright.fit

About Taryn Williams

Taryn Williams is one of Australia’s top young female entrepreneurs, named as a Finalist in the 2015 Female Entrepreneur Awards, 2015 B&T Hot 30 under 30 and SmartCompany 30 under 30.A former model, she founded WINK Models in 2007, a leading commercial modelling agency with over 650 talent. Anthill Online named the company in its 2015 Australia’s Top 100 coolest companies.

Taryn recently launched, theright.fit, a digital marketplace disrupting the status quo among talent agencies and the clients that use them. theright.fit aims to revolutionise the modelling and talent industry by removing hidden commissions and bias and empowering users of the platform with the information and facts they need to make informed decisions about their next job or casting.

Taryn is a keynote speaker and regularly involved in the startup scene in Australia.

Speaking topics include; women in tech, disrupting a global industry, small business, startups, the changing face of the modeling industry.

Q: What’s the best way to work with PRs to get results?

Taryn says:

• Make sure you are clear on the outset of what your brief is, what you want to achieve, and what success looks like.
• Make sure you’re all on the same page and provide the PR team with all the resources they need to make their role a success (headshots, bios, etc).

Q: Why does your business and your business partners want to, and need to, work with PRs?

Taryn says:

• PR agents are an integral part of our business both as a client of theright.fit, and personally in the development and promotion of our brand.
• PRs are the connection point to so many brands and are savvy, agile and great and pulling together quick and effective campaigns.

Q: What’s the most annoying habit you have come across when working with PRs?

Taryn says:

• A vague brief is my pet peeve! Something like “we’re looking for influencers for a launch event” it makes it really difficult for us to help!
• Being really clear on the brand, what they want to achieve, who would be relevant & authentic for that audience, and budgets up front makes the whole process more seamless for everyone involved.

Q: Do you have any advice for PRs on how to be the right fit, and get the most out of the relationship?

Taryn says:

• If you’re not sure ask!
• We’re here to help make your life easier and connect you to the perfect people for your brief.
• We’ve over 4,500 talent on theright.fit and growing every day, so with a great brief, we can definitely find your perfect fit (pardon the pun).

If you need help with public relations in your own business, I’d be only too happy to help. Call me on 0411230301 or email [email protected].