6 ways to populate your media list without expensive PR tools
Navigating the world of public relations doesn't need to include the use of pricey tools like Cision or Muckrack. There are so many free resources & methods you can use – being a little scrappy can yield unexpected results when it comes to populating your media list of contacts.
Check out our six tips for populating your media list organically:
6 ways to populate your media list without expensive PR tools:
Set up Google Alerts. Set up alerts for your company, your industry & your competitors. Track who is writing stories filtered under these alerts & make note of the angle they are taking on these stories to better tailor your future pitch.
Search for relevant industry news in Google News. Type in relevant keywords from your industry & keep tabs on the prominent journalists & reporters within your industry, as they will be the ones to contact when you have a story to share.
Subscribe to e-newsletters. Want to be featured in The New York Times? Subscribe to & absorb their regular content to see if your story will be a fit based on what they're covering now. See an article that relates to what you do? Reference a target media contact's recent story in your outreach email to them to show you've done your homework & understand their area of focus.
Sign up for reporter query services like HARO (aka Help A Reporter Out). These subscription resources are where media contacts share a specific article topic or title they are working on and what type of expert resource they are looking to add to the piece. We have secured lots of national press (HuffPost, POPSUGAR, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine & more) for our clients this way!
Follow target reporters on social media. Many reporters use their social channels to share articles they are working on, ask for thought leadership sources, provide pitching do's & don'ts and more.
BE SCRAPPY! If you feel strongly that a specific media contact is a fit for the story you’re trying to tell, do some detective work (maybe you’ve heard the story of our founder Julia finding a media contact's email on her wedding website…?). Be creative & use non-email channels like website contact forms, Instagram & LinkedIn to send them your information.
Want to stay up-to-date with media contact trends?
Subscribe to our Che Consulting newsletter below & follow us on Instagram, where we share tips on anything we’re seeing as we conduct outreach for our clients.
