You should be. Not in the smarmy put your business cards in kids’ trick-or-treat bags way, but nonetheless at any chance you get. And especially with the media.
I recently wrote a profile of a punk rock band and it must’ve been written pretty well because I had way more comments than usual. One of them stood out.
Hi my name is ____. I read your article and was wondering how I can get you to write an article on me.
To the point. This guy knows exactly what he wants. My bipolar reaction was “This guy must a giant set of/Wow he’s good. I think I like this guy.”
Because it is a little shocking to come across someone in with the nerve to ask you to write a feature on them but at the same time you’ve got to admire someone with the self-confidence, drive and courage to ask directly for what they want.
His email went on to talk about how his CD is like nothing anyone has ever done in the area (doubt it) and that the CD release party will make a giant impact on the community (yeah right). Still I’ll probably write a feature on him. Here’s why:
1. He’s making it easy for me. That’s right on a regular basis journalists are lazy. When we find that juicy story that gets us fired up we are all over it, but the day to day filling the pages work gets tedious. So having an idea come right to you is awesome and welcomed.
2. He’s asked me what he needs to do to make writing a story on him, easy for me. Specifically he said “how can I get you to write an article on me?” So I told him my process. I need website info, CDs to listen to, press releases. He responded my providing me the info I needed so I didn’t have to hunt for or research him as extensively.
3. He was quick. The next morning he was in my office with a CD, press release, flier, and his contact info.
4. He left me alone. After I told him what my process was for determining whether I write a story and he provided the info for me, he simply pointed out his contact info and said he hoped to hear from me soon.
Now how does this all apply to your business?
1. Don’t be afraid to contact media and ask them for a story.
2. Have an angle in mind. What would the story be about? Why would readers care? Is it timely?
3. Have high quality pictures ready. Reporters may want to schedule their own photographers to come out, but having high quality, preferably digital, photos at the ready will up your chances of getting published.
4. Be timely with the information. If you are emailing or dropping off information, do it immediately. If you get a reporter the info two weeks after you talked to them they may forget, get too busy, or even change their mind about the story.
5. Finally, don’t harass. Continually asking a reporter when the story will publish, especially if they haven’t decided there will be a story is just plain annoying. It also shows that you dont’ read the publication, which infers you are just using them. Afterall if you actually read the publication you would see the story. But bigger than that, sometimes we just don’t know. It’s best to just check in occasionally and see what the status is.
And remember, if your story isn’t published, the key to being a self-promoter is to stay top of mind. Stay in touch with your journalism contact, whether it’s to comment on another story they’ve wrtiten, to pass along a story of national interest that may relate in some way to your business and pitch another story that way. Or simply re-suggest your story somewhere down the road.