A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about pitching best practices for rookies and got some awesome feedback from it. It even got picked up on PRDaily; woo hoo! This time around I want to write about what it should look like when you put those best practices to use to get some really great coverage for your clients.
We work with an array of clients here at Overit Media, be it the alternative energy space, outdoor power equipment market or project management for the enterprise. It is our job to constantly stay in-tune with each client’s industry and come up with creative ways to keep them in the headlines. Sometimes, it’s very easy. For example, we call VentureBeat and tell them our client just received $10 million in funding and boom – coverage, or we have another client who launches an innovative new app that changes the market and there we have it – more coverage!
Other times, it’s not so easy, especially when a client has no product launches, funding announcements, hell, even a new C-level employee to introduce. That is when we put on our thinking hats and find new ways to insert our clients into stories to establish them as thought leaders and visionaries in their respective industries. Sometimes it might just be an expert opinion on a particular topic or it could mean using a futuristic angle of “what if” or what could” happen to products or technologies in a certain space.
As I said before, make sure you are reading and staying on top of what is happening in the news, as that will be the make-it-or-break-it factor for getting clients coverage. For example, when one of our clients in the hydrogen fuel cell space had a lag in hard news announcements, we used news about the military and private sector partnering to create new alternative energies to secure coverage for them. Other times, we use the background of the spokesperson to establish them as an industry expert to talk about the future of their space.
One of my favorite ways to pitch (and most successful) is to follow up from timely news announcements or conversations that offer up our client as a resource to a reporter who is covering a specific “hot topic.” One example might be the rampage of coverage on IPS and consumer privacy concerns, which resulted in this story and this one. Another sure-fire way to get coverage is to go back to using your client’s knowledge base of his or her industry to draft contributed content for outlets. These pieces can be anything from tips to tricks and can be placed everywhere from top-tier media outlets to your typical tech blog.
Here at Overit, we are lucky to work with clients that we feel passionately about and genuinely enjoy working with. I think that is what helps make our jobs so easy. If you feel strongly about the clients’ story, you will be sure to get them the coverage they want.
Oh, and don’t forget, a little creativity, vodka and some wild ass team collaboration can go a long way!
image via Free Digital Photos
