How to land PR (even if you have no connections)

Also: 5 Tweet-sized marketing lessons

Author

Marketing Qualified
July 07, 2023

Another week in the books. Another Marketing Qualified newsletter in your inbox. Here are today’s topics:

  • How to land PR (even if you have no connections). Why PR is an important part of any marketing strategy. Plus, where and how to pitch to journalists.

  • 5 Tweet-sized marketing lessons. Some great marketing lessons in the form of easy-to-digest Tweets.

📰 How to land PR (even if you have no connections).

PR is an important building block of any growth marketing strategy. It’s accessible to everyone and relatively cheap compared to many other marketing channels. Plus, there’s a lot of upside if you can secure media coverage for your company.

The benefits of PR.

  • Increased brand awareness - your company's name gets pushed out to new audiences.

  • Increased credibility - people will associate your brand with whatever outlet writes about you. You get to borrow some of the outlet's reputation for free.

  • More traffic for you - Writers usually link to your company's website if they write about or quote you. This sends visitors to your site.

  • Valuable backlinks - when reputable outlets link to your website, search engines like that, and it helps your SEO.

Now that you understand the benefits of PR let’s talk about how you can start to capture them. But before we cover what you should do, let’s briefly discuss what not to do.

The most common PR mistake.

If you’re an SMB, the biggest PR mistake you can make is relying solely on press releases. We see this all the time - a company launches a new feature, makes a strategic hire, partners with another company, or does something else they think is big news.

So they draft a generic press release and pay to distribute it through a service like PR Newswire. There are a few problems with this strategy.

1) Stories like these very rarely get picked up by news outlets. Why? Because journalists want to write about topics with wide appeal or highly relevant to their audience.

Unless you’re a huge company with existing name recognition, journalists don’t care about these types of announcements from SMBs and won’t take the time to write articles about them.

2) You end up doing most of the promotion yourself. Since journalists don’t pick up these types of stories, the only way to get eyes on these press releases is to promote them yourself via social media, website, and email.

When this is the case, you might as well save some time and money and skip the step of sending the release out on the newswire.

3) Backlinks from press release distribution sites aren’t worth very much. They’re better than nothing. But a direct backlink from a reputable website or media outlet is much better.

We’re not saying you should never send out press releases on the newswire. Rather, only do so when you have a story that will actually appeal to journalists and therefore be likely to get picked up.

Ok, that’s what not to do; here’s what you should do if you want to start or expand your PR efforts.

You need to pitch

Pitching is when you reach out to journalists and propose an article idea. If you have an existing network of writers you can reach out to with story ideas, great. But 99% of marketers don’t have that.

Instead, these marketers should go where the journalists already are. AKA platforms like:

This is a website that lets you respond to quote requests from writers. Create a PR account and then add thought leaders from your company as people you represent. Then provide quotes to pitch requests in the platform.

HARO is an email that sends out three times per day with pitch requests from journalists. Requests cover many topics like business/finance, high tech, biotech/healthcare, etc.

You can respond to requests and get in touch with journalists. This platform is very popular and used by many large and well-known publications.

Longer shots but still good options.

Search LinkedIn for SME requests

Go on LinkedIn and search for posts from reporters looking for subject matter experts (SMEs). You won’t find these types of posts every time you look. But when you find them, getting picked for the interview can be very easy.

The bonus benefit of this method is that many writers are freelance. Meaning they often specialize in a certain topic and write about that for many different outlets. If you’re a good resource for them on one article, they’ll probably contact you about future articles.

Cold outreach

Build a list of journalists and then email them or direct message them on LinkedIn or Twitter. This method is the most difficult, but it can work if you have a compelling story angle for them.

How to pitch.

The key to getting your stories picked up is having a great pitch. Here are some tips:

Stand out

Writers get pitched all the time. You have to go to them with a unique angle to stand out from the crowd. Spend time developing an interesting idea before you start drafting the pitch.

Share a unique perspective

The #1 thing journalists want is a perspective that they can't get anywhere else. Ensure your pitch shares something personal and unique to you or your team.

Be human

Approach writers in a human way. Before you reach out, do some research on their background. Read their previous work. Understand their style and what they care about. Then get a conversation going with them.

Again, spending the time to build a real relationship can pay dividends later. If you become one of their go-to subject matter experts, you have your meal ticket for future articles or collaboration opportunities.

📰 In the news this week.

🤖 The ad industry is going all-in on AI.

🤏 5 Tweet-sized marketing lessons.

Here are five tweet-sized marketing lessons that we should all think about today:

#1

Your job as a marketer is to make the journey easy. Ruthlessly hunt down friction points and eliminate them. Guide your leads down the path you want them to take.

#2

Don’t just create new things. First, make sure you’re leveraging what you’ve already made as much as humanly possible.

#3

If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one. Define your ideal reader. Then only write for them.

#4

In marketing, small wins add up. Work hard to get them. Then be patient enough to wait until the BIG win comes.

#5

Analysis paralysis is a killer. In the beginning, momentum is more important than direction.

😂 Marketing meme of the week.

How'd we do with this week's newsletter?

A READER’S REVIEW

Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to a friend to spread the love.

Want us to write about something specific? Submit a topic or idea.