the(new)mediaslut

In conversations with the tech journalists community, their biggest complain is how often their PR counterparts email press releases or pitch to them stories not related to their publication profile.

A consumer tech magazine might end up getting a pitch or press release about products for the business, whereas a business tech magazine might regularly get pitches about a consumer story.

Though lately, consumer stories have started to appear in business tech publications as these publications look to chase the consumer advertising dollars.

It could be expected that the PR pp read up on the tech publications before they even recommend to clients who and what they are pitching too, but shouldn’t the publishers or editors play a pro-active role in trying to prevent unneccessary pitches for their editorial team.

Tamar Wilner, for Real Business Magazine in UK, took a pro-active step to look at reduce the number of uncessary pitches and press releases that get send their way.  Wilner suggestions could help PR craft strategies and activities for their clients to get that sort after media placing.

From Real Business, UK,

Hi everyone,

I think I ought to put my two pence-worth in here… I don’t think I can tell you what the local papers look for in business stories, but I can certainly tell you what Real Business looks for! I don’t know if this is what you were after, Dan, but I think it will be useful to lots of people on the forum.

Look through Real Business and you’ll see what while we write about a lot of companies, most of our articles aren’t straight "profiles". We do run some profiles, of course: the cover stories ("I’ll Have What X is Having") being a notable example. These tend to be reserved for the hyper-successful companies: founder-run firms which have grown to £100m turnover or more.

But most of our stories talk about how a company solved a particular problem. So that’s rule number one: don’t be afraid to admit you’ve run into difficulties. Conflict is interesting.

Rule number two: Tell us what makes your company UNIQUE. Is it your product, your business model? Have you found a new way of getting finance or advertising your product/service? Make it crystal clear why we should write about you and not your competitors.

Rule number three: Write your email as if you’re talking to a six-year-old, or your gran. Don’t talk about "value-added systems integration management solutions specialists". Say: "we sell software".

Rule number four: Do give us numbers. Turnover, profit, number of employees, years in operation. They’re the only way to prove that you’re as successful as you say you are.

Rule number five: Tell us what bit of the mag you think your story would work for.

Rule number six: Don’t send us press releases every day or every week. We get too many to deal with as it is! Instead, send a really well-crafted proposal for an article, listing everything you think we ought to know about your company. Send it to editors@realbusiness.co.uk .

Rule number seven: anniversaries, milestones, charity donation, new products, sponsored events? No thanks!! Maybe it works for local papers, but it doesn’t do it for us. Lots of companies have anniversaries, lots give money to charity.Again, it’s about saying what makes you UNIQUE.

Hope that helps… and that we’ll now be flooded with info about your fascinating companies!

All the best
Tamar