Articles

How to Improve Follow-Up on Your Media Story with Right Approach?

by Kristen White Blogger
With more people using mobile phones, telephones are perceived by many to be an extinct medium. Well, it’s not. While many people do consider it a waste of time, phone conversations can boost your PR campaigns in many cases. More benefits can be leveraged by proper follow-ups of these calls. As a PR professional, you can instantly gauge the interest of a reporter in your story. It can be used for enhancing your outreach and establishing stronger media relations as well. Here are few tips that will help in following up on your story effectively:

1. Follow a Polished Format of Communications:

Mostly, experts in public relations in India are extremely efficient in sending polished emails to the media houses. This can be expected even in the challenging conditions. Sometimes, this skill is not entirely applied to the pitches made in a telephonic conversation. You should set the right stage and find a perfect place for communicating. Review the list of media and find reporters who are obviously suitable for your story. You should connect with them through follow-up calls to pitch the story further. The email process should also be open and clarified. It must be aligned with your telephonic communications.

2. Know Your Audience:

Over the years, irrelevant phone pitches have created a negative impression about PR specialists. You should try to break that mould and tailor your pitch into relevant points. It should highlight key information. Even before starting, you should know about the person you are talking to. Check the profile and recent coverage of journalist to make the right approach.

3. Assess the Available Data:

In the current age of information overload, media professionals have become extra cautious of people who contact them. Their contact information is not as easily accessible as it used to be. With proper practices of public relations in India, you can set the bar for your telephone outreach. It is extremely important to make the most of time that you spend on reaching a reporter. Set realistic expectations.

4. Leverage the Feedback:

With every efficient call, you can increase your ROI and growth prospects. It offers a deeper outreach to media houses and professionals who are hard to access. It also gives you valuable feedback to gain edge over competition. You can ask the journalist for reasons of accepting or rejecting your pitch. This information will help in planning your conversations with more precision next time. In instances when you receive zero response for your email blast, you should think over your approach and re-plan it accordingly.

5. Stay Calm and Polite:

It is advisable to understand that media persons are working on many stories at a time. Allow them a few days to review your email and help you improve the follow-up content. Firstly, contact them for a conversation over phone for personalised interaction and then, send emails. If you don’t hear back from them for some days, never get annoyed. Maintain a polite tone and understand the fact that journalists are often pressed with many deadlines. This helps in retaining good media relations.

6. Fulfil Your Commitments:

If, in case, a journalist wants to follow up your story, make sure that you are prepared with well-documented details of the story or interview. It is important to be efficient if you want media professionals to take your story seriously. Whatever are your commitments, fulfil them.

Whatever be your idea of communicating with media professionals, you should leverage phone outreach to make the most of it. This factor can equip you with proper knowledge and real-time feedback that you need to improve your pitch and make it more effective.


Sponsor Ads


About Kristen White Committed   Blogger

285 connections, 0 recommendations, 1,021 honor points.
Joined APSense since, August 19th, 2016, From Chicago, United States.

Created on Sep 19th 2018 02:59. Viewed 270 times.

Comments

No comment, be the first to comment.
Please sign in before you comment.