Here’s a way to solve that problem.
The next time somebody interviews you, and the reporter asks for the name of your company, use your website URL, not the actual company name.
Instead of me being the owner of “The Publicity Hound,” my company is simply PublicityHound.com.
That little trick won’t work every time, but it should work with telephone interviews, and especially when the reporter is rushed.
OK, but what happens if you can’t even persuade reporters to call? You pitch a story and it goes nowhere. Then what?
Have you followed up your pitch at least seven times?
If you haven’t, no wonder they’re not calling you. Jill Lublin, author of “Guerilla Publicity,” says you shouldn’t believe journalists who say they hate follow-ups. They hate lousy follow-ups. When I interviewed her during a teleseminar on “Failproof Ways to Follow Up with Reporters,” Jill said reporters often appreciate it when sources call a few days after they’ve pitched a story idea to offer something special like a graphic, or a photo, or an interview with a somebody who lives in the newspaper’s circultion area.
I agree. I worked in a newsroom for 22 years as a reporter and editor and was grateful for sources who saved my hide.
[…] as well and doesn’t simply take that information as the gospel truth. Joan Stewart from The Publicity Hound says pretty the same thing — that as a reporter / editor there certainly were occasions where […]