Approaching the Media for your Urban Botanic Business

I had the opportunity to attend a great workshop on Monday that featured three Seattle-based journalists. Let me tell you they had a lot to say about what to do (and what NOT to do) when approaching the media (aka pitching a story) for publicity for your business.

First, let me explain a big concept in marketing - earned media. Earned media is basically anything that appears in the media that you didn't pay for. An advertisement is media space you buy (i.e. paid media). Earned media is when a journalist for a newspaper (or magazine, website, etc.) writes about your business, product, or cause in an article or story. You didn't pay for it, hence the term "earned."

Many people consider earned media to be more credible because it came from an unbiased source (vs. an ad where the company can tell you anything they want). The product or company does not get to approve what is written so the journalist is trusted with giving a fair assessment (good or bad).

Honestly, being a graphic designer I was only aware of paid media for the first 7+ years of my career. It wasn't until a few years ago when I was simultaneously finishing up my degree in business and working in a corporate communications department that I understood the concept. The PR Director was all about generating earned media whereas I was primarily concerned with paying for media (designing and placing ads).

Okay, now, I will share with you about how to pitch to journalists (aka "the media") to generate press (aka earned media) for your business.

Email is the preferred mode of contact. Phone calls can be intrusive. Snail mail still works but depending on the person, may or may not be timely. Most publications will have links to email addresses on their websites. If you aren't sure who to contact, it is totally fine to call the main phone line and ask the receptionist who you should contact.

Brevity is your friend when contacting a journalist. Don't wax poetic on all of the virtues of the product. Briefly tell them who you are, why they should be interested, how to contact you, and give them a link to your URL. These people receive A LOT of pitches and simply don't have the time to wade through all of your descriptive adjectives. As one writer on the panel said, "Don't bury the lead."

Be authentic. There is no need to act more formal or "business-y" when talking to a journalist. Be articulate. Use spell check. Be friendly. And act "normal" as one writer said.

Be persistant. If you don't hear back after one pitch, it is acceptable to ping someone again. Make sure to reference who you are, even just resend the exact same email. If you don't hear back after that, there may just not be any interest.

Do your homework. Be prepared to explain why your business is ideal for their readership. Read back issues and know what other products and companies have been featured over the last year or so (at a minimum). It is also smart to understand the demographic of their target audience. You can usually find this info on a publication's website where their advertising information is (i.e. "Advertise With Us").

Understand their timelines. Magazine articles are generally 3+ months out. Blogs and online media are one-two weeks out. Newspapers generally are one-two+ weeks out for features (longer if it's a weekly or monthly paper), unless of course, there is major breaking news.

If someone else has covered it, another publication likely won't. Journalists (whether online or in print) like to be the ones to break a story or be the first to report it. No one likes to play second fiddle or run secondhand news. Trust that the writer you pitch KNOWS what other publications have already featured. Unless there is a unique angle or new development, once you've been featured in one genre of media (i.e. wedding-related, or kid-related), that literally could be "all she wrote" for the time-being.

Do not send a "mass" pitch (with the exception of a press release, which is entirely different). Along with knowing what their colleagues have already featured, these people network with each other and have close relationships behind the scenes, across publications and websites. They share with each other (especially in the blogosphere) and can sniff out a "canned" email a mile away. Tailor your approach by following the steps I've outlined here and you should be just fine.

Being a paid advertiser does not guarantee or even help in getting written about in a publication. The ad salespeople and the writers are usually completely separate and don't know what the other is doing. However, there are some publications that offer their advertisers "advertorials." I won't go into detail about it but here is a wiki that explains what an advertorial is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertorial. But, still, an advertorial is paid media and still has less "cred" than pure editorial.

Samples: sometimes yes, sometimes no. Be aware that some publications have very strict rules about whether or not they can accept samples. A good rule of thumb is that the larger the publication, the less likely they can accept freebies. The best idea is to wait until you've conversed with an interested journalist and ask them the policy rather than just blindly sending someone a sample.

The bottom line: It's about relationships. That is the key point that the panel on Monday stressed over and over again. The media is approachable (even though the idea of pitching a story does seem really overwhelming). They are people just like you and me.