| In your mind, the term ‘media inquiry’ might go hand in hand with ‘crisis communication'. Perhaps you’re expecting the bulk of your interactions with journalists to happen when you’re trying to smooth over a PR emergency. |
However, your media relations strategy should always focus on two equally important, mutually-beneficial goals. In the event of a PR crisis, your team should be responding to media inquiries with the goal of minimising the damage to your company’s reputation. During an average work week, on the other hand, focusing on securing media coverage is key.
Though a media inquiry can often come across like a transactional question & answer game, it can be so much more if you approach it with the right intent. Every request from a journalist – whether it’s just a lighthearted question or a negative dig at your company – can be the first step toward a long-term working relationship with a media outlet. And this can play an important role in convincing a media outlet to pick up your story. In this article, we’ll show you exactly how to ace this process.
Here are 3 must-have tips on how to respond to media inquiries during business-as-usual to win media coverage.
Cold pitching is a media relations strategy that many PR pros swear by. However, research has shown that out of 500,000 pitches, only 3.15% received a response, while the average cost of a single successful media placement in digital PR is over $1,000.
This makes it probable that, if you’re trying to get your story featured by relevant media outlets, you’ll likely not stick out in a journalist’s inbox unless you’ve done your homework, fine-tuned your pitch and have a little bit of luck on your side.
It only makes sense: If a journalist hasn’t worked with you before, they’re far less likely to hear you out and consider writing a story based on your pitch.
So, if you’re wondering how to build relationships with journalists, don’t just take a shot in the dark without knowing that it will pay off, but send over thought-through, well-written responses to your media inquiries. This tells those journalists who are already interested in your company that you’re worth collaborating with. It also paints your organisation as media-friendly, which will come in handy in the future when trying to get exposure for your press releases.
But, how do you do that? The following section will clear up any confusion.
We get that building relationships with the press can seem like a daunting part of your media relations strategy. In most cases, you’ll have to be in contact with a journalist several times before you establish a connection based on mutual trust.
However, by taking the tried and tested media inquiries route, you can significantly increase the chance of securing media coverage. Here are 3 tips to get you started.
While a pre-prepared template and holding statement can be your life line during a PR crisis, the situation looks a little different during business-as-usual. Rather than having a set number of answers written in advance to send out to journalists time and time again, you should aim to send over original responses that all follow the same tone of voice to build credibility, trust and a coherent brand image in the eyes of your audience.
Think of it this way: Let’s say you and your colleagues respond to multiple inquiries from the same journalist, using different tones of voice each time. Not only will this lead to questions over inconsistencies, but the journalist may doubt your credibility if they receive overcomplicated sentences that beat around the bush. This may make them wary of working with you and less likely to approach you for comments in the future.
This highlights the importance of aligning internally on a tone of voice. Consider your company’s values and how best to convey those in your responses to media inquiries. It may even be worth tailoring your tone of voice depending on the media outlet that is reaching out. For example, a local journalist interested in your fundraising campaign will be interested in its impact on the community, while a business journalist will care for hard facts and numbers.
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Resource Alert If you’re interested in how to handle media inquiries and protect your reputation during a crisis situation, check out our other blog post in this series here. |
We’ve already alluded to this above, but let us really drive the point home: PR teams that want to build lasting relationships with journalists and secure coverage in the process need to take their time considering how to respond to media inquiries.
If you’re interested in how to handle media inquiries and protect your reputation during a crisis situation, check out our other blog post in this series.
Even if it’s easier to copy and paste the same responses to recurring questions, it’s worth ditching your prep and providing a curious journalist with original, relevant information that will actually benefit the story that they’re working on. In other words: Give them something that hasn’t already been featured in other media outlets. By going the extra mile, this will set your PR team apart from other PR pros who are doing the bare minimum – and lead to more media coverage in the long run.
If you’re going for extra credit when it comes to your media relations strategy, and want a sure way to get on the good side of any journalist, back your claims up with data or offer up an exclusive interview with an expert from your company.
E-commerce companies build entire user journeys, which tell them exactly where their customers are from and how they are interacting with their products. You should approach your interactions with journalists the same way.
Picture this: You took your time responding to a journalist’s inquiry and were successfully quoted within their latest article. While other PR professionals may be trying to connect with that same journalist via cold outreach tactics, you’re miles ahead. You’ve secured a verified email address, an open inquiries thread you can easily pick back up, a reputation that you’re easy to work with and perhaps a phone number that you can call. Use this leg up to your advantage and make a plan of how and when you’ll reach out again.
Keeping tabs on every interaction with journalists and strategizing follow-ups to maximize your chance of winning coverage is too time-consuming to do manually. That’s why we’ve built a free PR tool, specifically developed for PR & corp comms, which allows you to easily track previous contact moments with journalists or media outlets.
Presspage's media relations software automates time-consuming tasks in the background, giving you more energy to focus on planning how you’ll get your next big media coverage win and do so in as many media outlets as possible. You can also collaborate efficiently by keeping an overview of all inquiries in a shared dashboard and building a comprehensive PR knowledge base to keep your tone of voice aligned and avoid sharing mixed messages.
Whether you’re fielding a handful of media inquiries during business-as-usual or an overload when a crisis hits, Presspage Connect can seamlessly grow with you and offer feature add-ons as your needs evolve.
Make your free account now and use it forever – no credit card required, no strings attached.
During an average work week, it can be tempting to respond to your media inquiries with pre-written statements. However, since winning coverage is the bread and butter of any good PR strategy, it’s worth considering how to respond to media inquiries by going the extra mile – and build lasting relationships with the journalists who can get your story out there.