How To Magnetize Journalists And Increase Media Coverage For Your Pet Business
Written by Nicola J Rowley, founder of NJRPR
Journalists are inherently busy. They receive up to 500 emails a day and in between tackling their bulging inboxes, they are also tasked with writing and reporting on several different stories a day by their editor.
Being on a deadline to ensure those stories are delivered on time means they must become expert multi-taskers.
Where can they find an expert on a particular topic? How can they make any feature stand out, and how does their story drive traffic, readers, viewers, or listeners to click, buy or consume their publication?
It’s important to know that journalism, in recent years, has become much more about economics. Paywalls, advertorials, the promise of editorial in exchange for coverage – these are now all seen as the norm.
So where does this leave you as the owner of a pet business who’s trying to be seen in the media by harnessing the power of PR?
Increase Media Coverage For Your Pet Business
PR is the third-party endorsement of what you do. That means when you’re quoted in a media publication, you not only instantly become associated with that publication, but it drives trust in both you and your expert status.
Any media outlet has access to a wide audience, and if you're strategic with the titles you approach for coverage, there’s no reason you can’t reap the rewards of that increased reach.
But landing coverage and getting journalists to sit up and take notice of what you have to say is always the tricky part.
As a business owner, you will naturally want to talk about your brand or products. So many small business owners make the mistake of thinking a journalist will be interested in what they have to say.
But if you start to think like a journalist and wrap everything into a story – that’s when you can really start to cut through and secure that all-important coverage.
In this day and age, it’s no longer enough to just hide in the background and let your product or service do the talking for you. Consumers want to know who is behind a business, why you started it, how you have achieved what you have, and whether there have been any difficulties along the way.
This doesn’t mean you have to bare your soul or give a warts-and-all account of everything. Far from it.
But instead of selling, you need to be thinking about storytelling.
What would the publication you would like to be featured in, be looking for? What have the journalists who are working for the outlet reported on previously?
If you also start to think in terms of headlines – this will go a long way to helping you come up with a pithy subject line for any email that you send.
There are never any guarantees of coverage – third-party endorsement of what you do does have to have an element of impartiality, otherwise you may as well be advertising or placing an advertorial instead.
The true power of editorial (that you don’t have to pay to secure) lies in the trust that you then build with the audience. If you have been strategic with your storytelling, it means you will be putting yourself in front of your ideal clients at the same time.
PR is by far the best way to be seen and heard on a much bigger scale. But it has to be done the right way, and if you want to magnetise journalists with your messaging – you need to start thinking how they do.
Short and to-the-point email approaches include responding quickly to any response from a journalist. Also ensuring that you meet their deadlines (always, always, make sure you help them reach any deadline on time.)
If you do this, you can start to build a relationship with them, and that can be the start of a great mutually beneficial way for you and your pet business to be featured, over and above any of your competitors.
Nicola J Rowley is the Founder of NJRPR (www.njrpr.com), a Communications Agency specialising in harnessing the Power of PR through strategic storytelling. A former journalist, Nicola works with business owners and brands to ensure they get their stories told in top-tier national and international publications. Author of The Power of PR, Nicola also hosts The Power of Storytelling Podcast.