Within the industry in which the organization I work for operates, there are a lot of associations serving various segments. There are several trade press outlets serving all those segments. Our particular association has become notable within that very small sphere as having “a PR machine.”
Getting coverage in your trade press is not difficult. Trade press editors and writers are not just reporters, they are frequently champions of the industry they cover and eager to work with organizations in the same industry (usually — though there are definitely some exceptions in some industries).
There are six simple steps to follow:
1. Get busy.
2. Look busy.
3. Send out lots of stuff about points 1 and 2. (I mean LOTS.)
4. Respond when asked something.
5. Recognize that reporters are busy and under lots of pressure and try to make their jobs easier.
6. Never assume that you are entitled to coverage. If you’re sending out the right amount of the right kind of stuff, some will get reprinted, some will turn into front page articles, and some will never get covered at all, but you won’t notice.
In reference to points 1 and 2, what you’re doing should be of primary interest to the industry, not the association. (If you send out lots of press releases and they are all about who’s serving on what committee, what you do will be relegated to a small sidebar, if that, and the really important and interesting stuff you do may wind up getting lost altogether.)
I wish I had more to say on the topic but it’s really just that easy.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Follow-up to this apt post:
Offer What the Media Needs to Cover Your Story
http://sayitbetter.typepad.com/say_it_better/2008/02/offer-what-the.ht ml
+
Dont Let That Reporter Catch You Off-Guard
http://sayitbetter.typepad.com/say_it_better/2008/03/dont-let-that-r.h tml
Great post, Kevin! At my old association, I often worked with our trade press contacts, and they were a great group of people. I think your #5 above is really key to building that relationship–if the trade folks know they can rely on you for timely and helpful information, they’ll come to you for that information when they need it.
Another thing that worked well for us: We introduced a special lunch at our annual meeting just for the trade press and members of our board. We brought the trade press up to speed on what our association was planning, and the board (who often served as interview sources for reporters) got to build relationships with the reporters in person. After three years, it was a real draw for the trade press, and also a way for us to show that we appreciated our relationship with them.
(Always, of course, keeping your #6 in mind–our relationships with them did not and should not guarantee coverage.)