Noise Makers Blog

What I have found over the years of pitching stories and speaking with journalists is that the one thing that really makes a difference to the chance of your story being covered or not, be it on radio, TV or print, is providing them with everything they need up front...

However, there are a few considerations before you do. Firstly, as a publicist it is my job to make sure that I am not pitching the same story to competing outlets; for example, here in Australia, I wouldn’t pitch to two TV stations at the same time. I would wait until I either had a no from one or had exhausted my follow-up attempts before pitching to another.

This is a very common question although many business owners already have the belief that TV must be best. This misconception is what I will discuss as although TV may sound like the most exciting option and the one that will reach the biggest audience, it is not always the best option or indeed an option for some businesses at all.

I wanted to address an issue that arises frequently when business owners consider PR for their business. Quite often they have a very clear vision of what they want PR to do for them; sometimes this is driven by observing someone else’s success using PR, other times they simply have a big dream and PR is the strategy that is going to make the dream reality.

When I mention local print or radio media to clients, I receive one of a few reactions in no particular order;

1. Does anyone read the paper anymore?
2. (face of disappointment) But what about national publications as I sell nationwide?
3. Oh, I’ve tried advertising with them before and got nothing.
4. Ooo exciting, I would love that!

I found this fantastic explanation by Medianet of something that I have found myself explaining many, many times to those keen to use media.  And so I shared my thoughts on this last year, however this is still very relevant now and if anything a...

Technology has provided us with new ways to use the media as a means of getting our message out to the world, beyond the traditional forms of media such as print and radio – although I do love the traditional forms, there is most definitely still a place for them at the right time and with the right story. 

I know a lot of business owners shy away from pitching to a journalist, often because they simply don’t know how to approach the whole, ‘telling my story’ to appear in the newspaper or on the radio or TV, game.