By Karen Korr and Lyle Moran
Nowadays, social media gives you myriad ways to connect to the press and find reporters who may be interested in your story, your client, or even your law firm partner who has a story that should be in the spotlight. However, public relations professionals and reporters alike will tell you that there are right and wrong ways to get your story seen. At a recent lunch and learn session at the Bar Center, legal reporter Lyle Moran (formerly with the Los Angeles Daily Journal) and SDCBA Director of Communications and Outreach Strategy Karen Korr shared their top tips for successfully pitching your stories to the press.
Tips From a Reporter (Lyle Moran):
- Be concise. The reporter can always request more information, but you don’t want to overload them in the initial pitch email.
- Be available. The contact person on a press release should be easy to reach if a reporter follows-up, as should any key players the release highlights.
- Be timely. Pitching a story after an event has already happened is not helpful, nor is pitching one with too little lead time to attend.
- Be relevant. If you are pitching something that is not remotely close to a reporter’s beat, that won’t help you gain traction. Even worse is a pitch about a topic that the publication as a whole would not cover.
- Be patient. Your pitch may come in when a reporter is on deadline, so even if it is one they are going to pursue, it may take them a day or two to respond.
- Be creative. Reporters don’t want to write about new developments or trends that have been widely covered before. But if you have a unique new angle, that may be appealing.
- Be honest. Nothing will dim a reporter’s view of you faster than misleading them.
- Be transparent. It’s better to admit if you don’t have a document or don’t know the answer to a key question rather than guessing.
- Be flexible. If a reporter takes a different approach to a story than the one you pitched, they’ll appreciate if you shift gears to assist.
- Be direct. If you are concerned about the angle a reporter is taking or have any issues with their conduct, go to them before going above their head to supervisors.
From a PR Pro (Karen Korr):
- Know the right time to pitch. Reporters aren’t likely to talk to you when you are on a deadline. A pitch that comes in at 3:00 p.m. when the reporter has a 4:00 p.m. deadline is likely to get ignored.
- Know the reporter you are pitching and what they cover/have covered recently. Reporters generally only want to hear interesting angles for the beats they cover.
- Tailor your pitch to the reporter and/or outlet you are pitching. Mass blind copying reporters generally isn’t a successful strategy.
- Send media alerts instead of press releases for day-of coverage or event announcements. They are shorter and give reporters just enough information to decide if it is something they would like to cover.
- Understand what reporters in each medium is looking for – For example, for television, share ideas for visuals or offer B-roll.
- Serve as a source (or help reporters find sources) to help build relationships with reporters.
- Post your press releases to your website (in an easy to find spot) and to Twitter. Journalists are some of Twitter’s most prominent and active users.
- Follow up with reporters without being generic – “did you get my press release?” Or annoying… “I called you yesterday and didn’t hear from you so I thought I would call again today…”
- Keep press releases and pitches brief. Journalists receive many, many pitches. You want to get to the heart of your story as quickly as possible.
- Keep up with current events/trending stories and pitch related angles or experts
Karen Korr (@fullkorrpress) is the immediate past Director of Communications and Outreach Strategy for the San Diego County Bar Association.
Lyle Moran (@lylemoran) is a freelance legal reporter.
This article was originally published in the Sep/Oct 2018 issue of San Diego Lawyer.