The steps in planning and creating an effective media campaign are:
Step 1. Decide what you want to achieve. Some examples are:
- Gaining positive coverage or exposure of your product or service
- Enhancing your company's image and reputation
- Attracting and communicating with prospective clients
- Creating a closer community or professional ties
Step 2: Clearly define a hook that will increase the interest of the media.
- Tie your story in with a news event of the day or week
- Develop a community program around your story
- Conduct a poll or survey
- Issue a special report
- Celebrate an anniversary
- Present an award or scholarship
- Gain an endorsement from a celebrity
- Sponsor a committee program or athletic team
- Tie your story in with a holiday
- Announce an appointment or promotion
- Conduct or attend workshops and conferences
- Adapt a national news report to a local level
- React to decisions by other companies
Step 3: Compile a media list database
Utilize media source directories such as:
- Bacon's Newspaper Directory
- Bacon's Publicity Checker
- Broadcast/Cablecasting Yearbook
- Editor and Publisher Yearbook
- Hudson's News Media Contacts Directory
- United Way Media Factbook
- Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media
Analyze and target media outlets by considering such things as:
- customer demographics - Does it reach your target market?
- the types of stories the media outlet covers - Does your story fit?
- distribution levels - How large is their market?
Create databases or charts of:
- contact names, numbers and addresses
- deadlines and frequency of publications and program schedules
Step 4. Develop a Press Kit or media packet
Step 5: Prepare a pitch letter
- A pitch letter is a short, one-page piece of correspondence that accompanies a press release or a press kit.
- The letter should immediately explain why the media's audience would be interested in your company's news story.
- You may want to include a few catchy details and suggest possible approaches to the story as well.
Step 6. Mail the materials, then follow-up.
Contact the reporter, media representative or public service director and make sure they have received the materials. Maintain contact with them by sending updated information, such as additional individual press releases, recent articles or new charts, on a regular basis. Some helpful hints to placing follow up calls are:
- Be organized before you place the call.
- Try to call during the morning or early evening hours. This is usually "down time" for reporters.
- Open the call by asking if they are on deadline. If they are, ask for a good time to call back. If they aren't, be ready to pitch your story in 1-2 minutes.
- Assume that the contact is overloaded with written materials advising them of upcoming events and reports.
- Be prepared to resend your news by fax or email. Ask for their fax number or email address.
