The week of Christmas is upon us, and everyone’s holiday spirit is officially in full swing. I hope your gifts have been purchased, decorations hung, and cards sent. The warm feelings of love and giving associated with this time of year tend to spark our desire to reconnect with those with whom we’ve lost touch (well, warm feelings or familial obligation.)
While this may work for old friends and family, if you want to stand out and build meaningful professional relationships, you need to be cultivating connections all year long. This is great advice for any profession; it’s vital in your personal public relations. This means you have to put in a bit more effort than the once-a-year 99-cent Hallmark card to great Aunt Hilda to remind her you’re alive – and that she might want to send a present (hint hint).
As a public relations practitioner, I don’t want to reach out to journalists only “when I need something from them.” If the only time I am contacting the reporters who I’ve worked with before and/or built relationships with is to try and get them to write a story about one of my clients, I might as well be any other person in the world (or some PR horror version of a bad telemarketer).
To maintain authentic relationships with journalists throughout the year, I use several tactics. I want to stay in touch with journalists I’ve managed to develop relationships with, even when we aren’t working on a story together, to demonstrate my value to them as a source of good stories – not just when I want something.
The first thing to remember is that journalists are busy people — and everyone wants a piece of them. So, to the extent that you can, if media relations is your responsibility, you should work with their schedule. Check in and ask, “What are you working on right now?” or “How can I help with the stories you’re working on?” This demonstrates your value to reporters and also shows your willingness to help with the projects they’re currently focused on — which is going to be much more important to them in the moment than an entirely new article idea you’re pitching.
Second, know that continually cultivating a media relationship doesn’t have to mean writing a two-page e-mail every week or asking reporters to meet you for coffee once a month. As I said, journalists are busy people and while most will appreciate the sentiment, they don’t have time for this type of bombardment either. This is where a small dose of social media engagement can be helpful. The majority of journalists today are either on social networks or they’re joining. Sending a reporter a tweet or direct message to ask how things are going, or commenting on one of their recent Facebook posts, is a quick, easy and non-invasive way to continue establishing your relationship.
Last, but not least, one of the most important things to keep in mind when working to cultivate a media relationship is that they’re people, too. Yes, they are insanely busy people who usually want PR people to leave them alone; but nonetheless, people. Get to know reporters personally; learn about their backgrounds, their interests, and their families. You might just have something in common that could serve as a wonderful foundation for a lasting professional relationship.
Oh, and sending a holiday card probably wouldn’t hurt, either.
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Samantha Wannemacher is an assistant account executive for WordWrite Communications
