Spotlight on Marketing

How to Write a Media Release and Influence a Journalist – Part 24

Posted on 14 June 2017

This is Part 24 in an ongoing series of blog posts I’ve compiled, with resources about how to write effective media releases and pitches, and how to influence journalists and bloggers (with integrity, of course) so you get the publicity you want.

Each part in the series lists 10 (or sometimes more) articles, videos, podcasts, infographics etc. by various people. For a list of links to Parts 1-23, see the Media Relations category on this blog. This series used to be titled “So You Want to Write a Media Release and Influence a Journalist?”

Here’s my latest list:

1. “Pitching Your Business to a Journalist? Here’s What Works.” by Jason Feifer (@heyfeifer on Twitter)
2. “4 tips for writing compelling press releases” by Melissa Baratta (@mlbaratta)
   I commented:
   Great tips, thanks Melissa. And I’d add:
   Avoid self-congratulatory or subjective words/phrases about your company, product or service, such as world-leading, the leader in…, amazing, exciting, innovative, state-of-the-art, out of the box…
   And please don’t say that your company is “delighted to announce” something. (Honestly, sorry, journalists don’t care.)
3. “If you want to pitch me an article, PLEASE do not do these things…” by Mandy Edwards (@memktgservices)
4. “4 Things Editors Are Looking When They Read Your Pitch” by Kimanzi Constable (@KimanziC), about pitching a story to a website editor
5. “Why I rejected 95 percent of the pitches I received last week” by Nicole Fallon, Managing Editor of Business News Daily (@NicoleMFallon)
6. “Do’s & Don’ts of Media Pitching” by Nicole Denholder of Next Chapter, a Hong Kong-based crowdfunding platform for female entrepreneurs (@NextChaptercf)
7. “Here’s Why Your Pitches Aren’t Getting Responses” by Krystal Covington (@KrystalGoLead)
8. “You’ve Heard That Earning Media Coverage Is All About Relationships – But How Do You Build Them?” by Benjamin Doda (@BenjaminDoda)
9. “The dos and don’ts of social media pitching” by Jim Dougherty (@jimdougherty)
10. “This 1 Trick Can Get People to Finally Notice Your Company” by Cheryl Snapp Conner (@CherylSnapp)

Would you like to recommend any other good resources on this topic? Please post a comment (but beware: I’ll delete spam ruthlessly) or send me an email. I won’t list EVERY article I see; I’ll only recommend the ones that I think are well written and that add something useful to the debate.

Kay Ross
Marketing Consultant / Editor / Copywriter
Hong Kong
Twitter: @kayross