How to ensure you’re on the journalist “nice” list
December is here, and it’s full steam ahead – the IBA Christmas tree is up, the festive tunes are playing, and the holiday-related PR activity is in full swing! December may feel to many like the time to wind down but in the PR and marketing world, it’s an opportunity to gain coverage, capitalize on holiday-related topics, and chase down those opportunities before the year is out.
So we’ve opened up the Cision holiday pitching playbook to check out their pitching tips based on feedback from over 3,000 members of the media. They highlight five standout ways to get on that journalist “nice” list this December – and of course, we’ve added some IBA PR magic in there too!
- If you want your pitch to stand out, it must be relevant to their audience
This really should come as no surprise to any PR pro! The notion of relevancy isn’t reserved for Christmas!
Put yourselves in the shoes of the journalist for a hot minute. Inundated with even more media pitches and press releases during the holiday season, a few reindeer and sleighbells isn’t going to cut the turkey. One in two journalists receive 50 pitches per week and most of them hit the trash bin, often after just reading the heading.
Confirmed by Muck Rack, 37% of PR pros say marrying the pitch topic to the coverage area of the journalist is the most important factor in securing coverage. Cision research uncovered that in North America alone, 76% of journalists state that understanding target audiences and what they find relevant will be a top driver in making journalist lives easier.
So, it’s onwards to the pitch…
- Never underestimate the power of the pitch – stay away from AI and clickbait!
Now we’ve established you won’t be alone in the journalist inbox, it’s time for your pitch to shine and keep the attention of the reader. In short, the pitch has to stand out.
The majority of today’s journalists prefer to receive media pitches via email, so make sure your subject line is compelling and to the point. In Cision’s words “focus on the ‘hook’ that makes your story special (but avoid ‘clickbait’ – journalists see that coming a mile away).” Journalists are seasoned pros when it comes to clickbait!
There’s something else they are seasoned to – the AI heading – you know that general generalization of generic idea. So if you’re struggling to craft the perfect pitch, then turning to AI isn’t the answer (contacting the IBA Team is😊).
AI generated copy just won’t wash with today’s journos. They are able to spot an AI-generated pitch from the first sentence – and that’s usually the heading! AI never talks in the first person because it has no opinions of its own – only regurgitation of information already on the internet – and you can’t even trust what its saying is true!
Content must be kept creative, innovative, empathetic, and human. Journalists want honest, factual, and relevant content, and they want it delivered to their inbox in a well thought-through pitch!
If you need a refresher, then IBA covered this back in July when we delved deep into the Cision 2024 State of the Media report. We laid out how to craft the perfect pitch – including the importance of keeping pitches relevant, connecting personally with journalists, and remaining professional while to the point.
- The holiday period doesn’t start on Thanksgiving Day or Dec 25th– it’s already begun!
It’s important to remember, the holidays don’t start on Thanksgiving or December 25th – they’ve already begun! Holiday-related PR activity should already be well underway. Even if you’re not in the festive spirit, top-tier publications are!
Timing is everything. Whether it’s for trendjacking important holidays, or managing global time differences – in the PR world, timing is key. December is no different, and if you fear you are lost in the depths of the inbox, don’t be shy about following up – time is of the essence.
Take our data movement client. With the holiday season being the busiest period for retailers and financial services around the globe – both industries need the correct architecture in place to manage unprecedented demand and ensure the seamless exchange of data, down to the very second. We’ve tapped into this topic in November so we were ready with some timely holiday-focused comment pieces from our industry expert and as I write, the placements in our target media roll in.
- Journalist relationships are as important as ever – don’t sour it at Christmas!
The Holiday period can be a real opportunity! Remember journalists too will be on holiday for some of the period and looking for good copy to help them fill their upcoming issues at a time when quite a lot of their writers will be eating turkey, skiing, or on a beach just reading that book. In the Cision tip sheet, they recommend PR pros “Make your pitch even more enticing by offering an exclusive, such as a coveted expert interview, product sample, free service, sneak preview, or behind-the-scenes access. Most journalists won’t consider covering a product or service they can’t test out first, so providing that access is key.”
Offering exclusive content this holiday season won’t guarantee coverage, but it’s unlikely that it will go unnoticed. Herein lies the power of Signal Theory. Even if a journalist isn’t using a press release or responding to article pitches, they are taking note. PR pros must carefully plan a pattern of activity as we move through and beyond the festive season.
- Getting creative includes multimedia!
Multimedia comes in many formats. A picture always was worth 1,000 words so an image to support a press release is good particularly if it is action packed – a helicopter for example (we did this one to huge effect recently with the team outside the chopper) rather than a screen shot of the software – sigh! But moving beyond that, there’s video, which isn’t reserved for B2C! Cision found that 87% report having used multimedia elements supplied by PR teams in the past year.
Multimedia content in the B2B world can be engaging and encourages interaction from your audience. It’s become more and more a key component for PR and Marketing strategies – for some keywords, multimedia may even be a requirement for ranking on search pages. Multimedia could also help you rank in image and video searches, which will further increase organic visibility and website traffic.
Carpe Diem!
These PR tactics always win particularly if you seize the moment! It’s how to remain on the “nice” list with journos this festive season – and more importantly, on the nice list with your key stakeholders too!
Georgia Harris is PR Lead Themes at IBA International.
