Build relationships with reporters

Get to know reporters who you want to cover you, and start building relationships.

But how do you start building relationships with someone you don’t know, particularly a reporter who is pitched dozens of times a day?

Take a tip from Jeffrey O’Brien, senior editor at Wired magazine.

“We love to talk about our work,” he said. “On a very rare occasion, I get an email that says, ‘I read that cover story you did and it really touched me.’ If you have the time, email me and tell me what you think about something I wrote. I’ll come back and say do you, ‘What do you do?’ ”

He offered the advice at the Media Relations 2005 conference in San Francisco last month when he was part of a media panel that discussed ways to build relationships with reporters.

Panelist Raul Ramirez, news director of KQED radio, a National Public Radio station in Northern California, said that when you offer feedback to journalists, it doesn’t always have to be positive.

“Sometimes it can be thoughtful criticism, something in hindsight that demonstrates something we’re trying to do and where we’ve fallen short of our goals,” Ramirez said.

You can read more of their tips on how to build relationships in the May/June 2005 issue of The Publicity Hound subscription newsletter. Click here to order.