Most media relations professionals have had the uncomfortable experience of reaching out to a journalist only to be hung up on, berated or simply asked to be taken off the list. While the occasional Grumpy Gus can never really be avoided, you can make this experience much more pleasant by taking time to prepare, doing your homework and avoiding that “blanket pitch” that most journalists can smell from a time zone away.
The golden rule of media relations is to be a resource to journalists, and simply doing some editorial calendar research is a great way to prepare yourself for this. Editorial calendars, as the name might suggest, are schedules put out in advance by a publication, highlighting the specific editorial focuses of each issue.
Magazines publish editorial calendars as an opportunity for advertisers to place their ads in magazine issues targeted toward specific topics, but they can be an invaluable resource for media relations professionals as well. You will have better luck convincing a reporter to cover your piece of news if your pitch complements the overall focus of the issue. You just need to do a little research.
We typically research editorial calendars for our clients around November to identify notable opportunities in the year ahead to secure placements in target publications. This can be done in two ways. An online database, like Vocus or Cision, will allow you to search for specific topics, access a wide range of media outlet types, and see who will cover it and when. For more targeted news, identify key publications you would like to pursue and look closely at each editorial calendar to determine when you will reach out to them. These can often be found on a publication’s Web site, and sometimes in print media kits.
Now is the time to complete your homework, by researching the publication and the contact and getting your resources in order. Once that’s done, then it’s time to approach the journalists. Ideally, this should be done just as they begin to think about the target issue, so touch base a month or more in advance, depending on the magazine’s publishing timeframes. Monthly magazines sometimes require 3 to 5 months lead time, while weeklies require less.
It’s a win-win situation. Journalists get timely information related to the focus of the upcoming issue, and you get your client’s news in the publication.