Maximizing Your Media Coverage

• Know what issues and events different publications, TV, and radio stations typically cover, and which staff, editors, and reporters work your beat. Pitching your story to the right outlets and the right gatekeepers, and showing that you understand and appreciate their work, will improve the likelihood of coverage. Keep your local media inventory and contact list up to date. (Click here for Identifying Media Opportunities.)

Example: If you are promoting the services of your one-stop center, you may want to communicate directly with writers and editors who cover health, business, and/or lifestyle issues.

• Understand your media market. Some media outlets maintain more of a national or regional perspective than a local one. Some are more policy and issue oriented. Some serve specific ethnic groups. When deciding where to pitch your story or issue, begin by considering whom you want to reach, what you want them to hear, and what you would like them to do when they have received your message.
  
• Respond quickly to requests for information. This is extremely important because reporters have deadlines to meet. When you call a reporter, begin by asking what her deadline is so you know the time constraints for providing your information.
  
• Provide information the media can use. If you are promoting a particular issue, problem, or campaign, develop high-impact sound bites that frame the issue the way you want it covered. Do not use language that is so technical or academic that it might be misunderstood or boring.
  
• Be honest and straightforward about your issue, your organization, what you know, what you can do for the media, and what you would like from them. If you don’t know the answer to a question you are asked, say so and offer to get the answer quickly, or refer the reporter to a person who can provide the information they seek.
  
• Work personally with reporters to help them understand your issue; simply sending out news releases or PSAs is much less effective. As in any other business, reporters like to work with people they know and trust. Provide background information and interesting vignettes that can make bare facts come alive. If you are promoting a news conference, call the media outlets after the Media Advisory has gone out and try to speak personally with reporters to remind them about your event and its impact on their audience.
  
• If you do not know the audiences that media outlets reach, do the research to find out. This will help you choose the best channels and frame the story for its highest impact. Whenever you pitch a national story to a local media outlet, give it a local spin.