Nothing New(s), Something New(s): Directly speaking

I had a wonderful conversation with a TV sports anchor.  Thought I might have a funky angle on a sports story and figured he’d be interested in it.  Funny, when he picked up the phone, he said, “I haven’t seen or heard from you in ages!” (which is true).  But the bottom line is our paths never cross because my work is not sports-centric.  However, it started an interesting conversation, from yet another traditional media person:  Direct relationships, now more than ever before, are important.

Direct relationships have always been important when it comes to working with Traditional Media, but with all the information overload these poor people experience every day, whipping a press release over a wire and expecting big results (especially if you don’t have a pre-existing relationship with the Media) is wasted, money, effort and brain cells.   Press releases still matter, when it’s really NEWS.  Media are not only seeking content, they are seeking CONTEXT.  He said so himself, “I’d rather deal with someone I know, with a dependable story (content) with a cool angle (context) than trying to rifle through press releases, which almost always amount to nothing new or interesting.”  I was pleased to hear from the horse’s mouth, the same thing I’ve been saying for a long time… if you have a good story, pick up the phone.   But issuing a random press release with no background, no lead up, no nothing, is tantamount to hopping on a busy highway, and depending at what point you get on,  either you get  into an accident or you avoid one.  It’s serendipitous, especially with smaller unknown companies.

Is he going to do the story?  Yes he is!

His point was classic.  It’s all about the direct relationship.  It’s not about spamming these people.  You don’t like to be spammed with useless information.  You want what you want when you want it.  And so does the media.

I once met with a company that had a natural desire to “put out a press release” upon the completion of a new product.  I asked them if they had let the media know ahead of time that they were even embarking on such efforts.  The answer was “no”…

There was a story to be told; it just wasn’t ‘breaking news’.  So we talked it through and decided the best plan was to target the media they really cared about, and who “MIGHT” care about the story.  And bing! bang! boom! – 24 hours later – we secured an article contribution in a magazine that fit their target audience perfectly.

But this is nothing new.  It’s something old, tried and true.  Give the media what they want, and they will respond accordingly – just like any customer.  The media, too, are customers of your story.  So give them something they want directly, something new(s).