The Secrets of How to Get Through to Senior Business Journalists

This is an article written by the business editor of a national newspaper.

It is part of a series of articles exclusively for clients of PressChoice and subscribers to JournalistSearch.com

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How should PRs approach journalists?

This is going to sound like a whinge but most journalists are really, really busy (aren't we all? I hear you cry). But the fact of the matter is newsrooms have been getting smaller year on year, while demands have been going up (do more multimedia! do your own socials! sub your own copy! learn a new content management system!). Meanwhile the ranks of PRs - particularly in the corporate world - seem to swell every year. Many national newspaper desks are smaller than the press offices of a midsize FTSE company. Let that sink in. This leads to the feeling of being under siege: outnumbered and outgunned, with everyone demanding your attention. It is helpful to remember this if you get a curt response (though it is not intended to excuse rude or snide behaviour from journalists).  

What's the best method of contact?

The form of approach (email or phone call) probably matters less than what you're trying to sell. Do you know the journalist? Have you looked them up and do you understand what they typically write about? Even more than that, do you know the publication? Is it likely to be interested in the type of story you think you have? It's an obvious point worth repeating: if they have just written about a specific topic, they're not likely to be writing about it again immediately, unless it's a big rolling news story and they want a day 2 or a day 3. 

That said...

A well-written, targeted email might be best for a first gambit. Journos might not necessarily pick up the phone if they are on deadline, don't know the caller, in a meeting etc. Of course most reporters should answer the phone; there's always a chance it might be a great tip coming in. I understand cold calling a journo may give younger PRs palpitations so a snappy and clever WhatsApp may work just as well and may get a quicker response. 

Do round-robin emails/rent-a-quotes ever really work?

No.

Really?

I mean, almost never. We know the better PR agencies don't do this. Also - fun fact! Some news organisations have advanced spam filters now that are designed to screen for phishing but also end up swallowing a lot of these circulars. So, many of these emails aren't getting delivered at all. 

Should we send follow-up emails?

If you know the journalist or have made a personalised, sensible, good pitch, then yes, it is perfectly reasonable to send a nudge. Sometimes we don't reply because we're on deadline, not because the idea is necessarily terrible. On the other hand, if you have sent a broad, round-robin pitch, our deafening radio silence is probably because we just aren't interested and are deluged by emails. We can't respond to them all. Nor are we paid to respond to them. 

I've got a client that has written an article and really wants it published by you. Should I send it to you?

This is my biggest bugbear. If they want an article published, they can pay for an advertorial. No publication worth its salt ever accepts full articles written on spec from corporates. 

My client has an op ed they want to pitch to you, is that OK?

It depends on the publication, but most ep eds will need to be a) written by a big name, b) really punchy, c) topical - and preferably all three - to be considered. Too many op eds are snoozefests and readers see through them. Topicality is really important. In the wake of a big breaking story, chances are editors are scrambling around wondering how to cover it and starting from scratch. If one of your clients were to pop up and proactively suggest a comment piece that is relevant and from someone who knows the topic in hand, the chances of getting it placed are much higher. You'll probably also earn the journalist's gratitude. The problem is most clients are (understandably) too slow and too cautious to produce something useful quickly enough.

I've offered an exclusive but I can't get a straight answer out of the journalist about whether they will use it. What do I do?

Yes, this one is annoying, I'll grant you. If the journalist has indicated some interest, it means it may work. But they don't know if their editor will run it; if there is space; if it's too similar to other stories that week; if it will get bumped at the last minute. News lists change all the time and stuff can fall out at any moment. Sometimes stuff can fall back in again at the last moment. So the journalist is keeping their options open and stringing you along. There's not a lot you can do about this. Getting stroppy might damage your relationship with the journalist; after all, you've got a foot in the door here. If your "exclusive" doesn't run, politely follow up with the journo at another time to see if you can get feedback on why. Most reasonable journalists should tell you. 

When should I pitch to a journalist?

Good question, annoying answer: it depends. The start of the week is probably better. If you can find out when journalists have their news meetings try to catch them before then. End of the week is never great, unless it's a Sunday paper and you have a really good story that has to go that weekend (if it's not for that weekend, never bother them on a Friday). Most of the time you will get little response from a journalist towards the end of the week because if it's not urgent, they are probably racing to get everything done before the weekend. If it's a weekly publication, find out when their press day is and avoid that. If it's a daily paper or a website, they're always going to be busy (the deadline is always: now, now, now). But by the same token they will have fewer peaks and troughs in their week so may have more capacity to answer on different days.

What sort of pitch succeeds?

Though it may seem like hard work getting a journo's attention, believe it or not, sometimes PRs do come to us with ideas that are so clear and smart that they will become stories. The best of these are when PRs think like journalists or news editors. Having a good eye on the news agenda - what is coming up - and making pitches with news hooks is really helpful. Proper exclusives or surprising stories will always get our interest. 

Author: Business Editor, National Newspaper