Is your brand struggling to get press coverage and media attention? The problem could be your media list. An outdated or poorly targeted media list makes it nearly impossible for your pitches to land with the right journalists and publications.
No doubt, getting good media coverage is crucial for building brand awareness, trust, and credibility these days. But it all starts with having the right list of media contacts to pitch.
An ineffective list means your pitches go unnoticed or end up in the wrong inboxes. A tight, targeted media list ensures your stories land on the desks of writers actually interested in covering your brand.
In this comprehensive guide, I will show you exactly how to build an amazing media list from scratch. No fluff or complicated tactics. It will be just a step-by-step walkthrough to identify and connect with the media contacts who can give your brand major visibility. I’ll also walk you through identifying the specific journalists, outlets, and influencers that fit your PR goals.
You’ll learn tactics to continually grow and maintain an accurate, up-to-date media list over time. Well, let’s get started already.
Key Points
- Before creating the media list, you must identify your target audiences
- Consider your media list a living, breathing document. You should routinely add and delete content to keep it current.
- You must also find your target media connections. This stage is essential to maximizing your pitch-to-press conversion rate
What is a Media List?
A media list is a collection of media connections, including journalists, podcasters, newsletter writers, influencers, etc. PR professionals use media lists to present story ideas, press releases, and media alerts for their organizations or clients.
A solid media list is well-organized and updated regularly to reflect today’s fast-paced, ever-changing media scene.
Read Also: Brand Advertising: Elevating Your Brand Awareness
What is Contained in a Media List?
A top-notch media list can need much time and work to create. Basically, media lists should include the person’s name, job title, affiliation, and areas of expertise. Their phone number and email address should be included as well. Remember to include a notes area to keep track of any changes in publications, jobs, or contact details. This will help ensure your list is constantly current and correct and provide context when sending releases or pitches. Once you’ve decided who to contact, you can pitch your tale to the people on your list.
Best Practices for Creating a Media List that Gets Press
#1. Monitor Competitor Media Coverage
This one is essential; there are numerous benefits to regularly monitoring competitor public relations and marketing initiatives. While seeing your competition secure a favorable media placement may be upsetting, the silver lining is discovering a new media contact or outlet that could be valuable for future efforts.
#2. Add Useful Notes to Editor Contacts
Your media list should also serve as a treasure chest of editor knowledge.
The moment you establish relationships with the editors, start updating your media list with notes and tips on everything from an editor’s birthday to her Instagram account, how he or she prefers to be pitched (phone, email, in person), and any little quirks or preferences you’ve discovered (e.g., dislikes roses, loves rosé).
Following these steps to create a fantastic media list helped me achieve better media outcomes while ensuring you have the necessary information to build good relationships with the media.
#3. Keep a Master List
While you should tailor your media list spreadsheet to each campaign, it is also a good idea to retain a master media list of all your contacts. Depending on the tool you use to manage your media collection, you can categorize different sorts of media. In Excel, for example, you may add columns for different types of information, such as short vs. long leads, regional vs. national, digital vs. print, or categorized by geography.
While it may appear time-consuming to accumulate all of this information for each contact you add to your media list, it will substantially aid you in the future because you’ll be able to sort and filter your swiftly.
#4. Consult A Traditional Media Database
If you have access, start building your list with a typical subscription-based provider such as Cision or Meltwater. These databases are comprehensive, regularly updated, and accessible, allowing you to rapidly export a list of target journalists covering a specific geography or beat.
#5. Update Your Media List Frequently
The media scene continuously changes, so keeping up with the most recent editor changes is critical. Every Friday, Daily Front Row publishes the Daily Media, which reports on employment changes in the industry, with a concentration on fashion editorial transfers. Cision also has an excellent blog that covers the latest media developments. Another approach to keep up with employment changes is to connect with your editorial contacts on LinkedIn.
Checklist on Media List.pdf
How to Create The Ultimate Guide To Building a Media List Like a Pro
A focused media list is the first step toward effective media outreach. In this article, I’ll review the essential procedures and recommended methods for developing a strong network of pertinent connections.
#1. Identify Your Target Market
Before creating the media list, you must identify your target audiences. To whom would you like to narrate your story? More importantly, how would they locate your news if it weren’t there? These are all important questions you need to ask: Which websites, blogs, news sites, newspapers, and so on are often accessed by your target audience?
The goal of sending out a press release or a pitch is to attract media attention and, ideally, change people’s behaviour. There should be a profile for your target audience. You must know what media they watch and who they are. Once you’ve figured this out, you’ll know which media to include in your media list.
#2. Put Your Media List in Order
Now that you have a list of contacts, you must divide and organize them. The research found that about 70% of PR pros organize their media lists using spreadsheets. Your contacts are segmented according to shared criteria like publication type or specialization. This makes it easier for you to send more individualized pitches and more accurately target stories. You can classify your relationships using audience size, frequency, region, niche, and format. Additionally, you can have a category for blogs, regional and national media, etc.
Additionally, you can rank your contacts according to A-list, B-list, and C-list influence over your audience and the likelihood of them covering your news. To further arrange your list within a media database, think about adding categories (such as region/location coverage) and unique attributes (like noting “has previously covered our company” or “has attended a recent industry event”). This makes outreach significantly more individualized.
#3. Make Changes to Your Media List
Consider your media list a living, breathing document. You should routinely add and delete content to keep it current. The information on your media contact list must be accurate and up-to-date to reflect changes in the media landscape.
In light of this, distribution platforms regularly disseminate the most recent information on media changes. Media relations is the primary priority for 85% of PR professionals, who say it takes up at least 25% of their workday. Thus, developing sincere relationships with connections is another smart move to keep abreast of developments in the employment landscape.
Monitoring bounced emails is one method of staying on top of developments. Look out for employees who have changed magazines or stopped writing. Auto-response emails can provide important information, such as who is on vacation, who has left the company, and who has taken their position.
#4. Concentrate on Your Media List
After identifying your target audience, you must find your target media connections. This stage is essential to maximizing your pitch-to-press conversion rate. There are thousands upon thousands of journalists; thus, sift through them and select the most suitable one for your article and your client. Rather than doing it by hand, databases can be used to find journalists.
While establishing your media list, you should quickly search using a media contacts database to create the most feasible list.
#5. Specializing in One Area
“Niching down” your media lists will result in more press hits from your contacts than creating lists using a generic template.
Finding a contact with an extremely specific reporting beat is not the only step in niching down. It all comes down to conducting thorough research and ensuring that you only add a contact to your list if you are positive they have already addressed that particular specialty.
When creating master lists for your team, focus on sites with brands and themes comparable to yours. Then, establish new connections with contacts at those media sources through more specialized industry blogs. If you look for relevant journalists covering a certain specialty, you should be able to discover someone who can convey your tale in much more detail and color.
What should be included in a media list?
- Social media Contact details via email
- Name of contact
- Name Notes Title Any other pertinent information
- Social media account links
What are media lists in PR?
A media list in PR is a document that contains a list of media contacts, including bloggers, journalists, reporters, media influencers, and more. It is also occasionally called a press or media contact list. They serve as a list of pertinent individuals to whom you might distribute a press release or feature.
What is the Importance of a Media List?
Public relations specialists rely heavily on media contact lists for press releases to distribute their news to the appropriate audience and secure the greatest media coverage. Media lists and the contact’s name provide information on the media outlet they are a part of, their themes of interest, location, and other contact details.
How do you manage media?
- Choose the Correct Channels
- Offer Value
- Engage Your Audience.
- Make Use of Your Team’s Skills
- Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things.
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