Did you know that about 7.5 million blog posts go up on the web each day?
As a business striving for growth, building an online presence is essential. You need to post blogs about your products and services on the website to generate more profit. However, with the high competition for content, it’s easy for your blogs to fall behind other posts.
To guarantee website traffic and profit, create an effective media outreach campaign. By having a press release, you can introduce your business to a large audience. With this, an operative media list is vital to achieving a successful campaign.
Are you wondering how you can create and build your media list? Read on to learn more.
What Is a Media List?
As a business owner, your goal is to make your product generate sales. With this, you market them in different ways, such as press releases. By having a media list, you know to whom you can send your news or announcements.
So, what is a media list? It’s a document or database containing the contact information of writers. They are journalists or influencers with a large audience and can attract customers.
In a media list, you can find the name, email address, name of publication, and designation of the writer. This makes it a powerful PR tool. To connect with writers, you can do an individual outreach or send releases through distribution sites.
Despite its benefits, some businesses find creating media lists a waste of time. Further, they believe it’s a way to spam media outlets to get responses. Spamming media outlets is possible if you don’t know how to use a media list.
To have an effective media list, you must build a positive and long-term bond with your media contacts.
Importance of a Media List for Press Releases
A press release is an effective strategy to get your story, news, and announcements out in public. Further, it’s a usual method used to communicate with content writers. With the hopes of coverage, most businesses send a blank email with their press release to many writers.
However, this isn’t commendable, as writers receive hundreds of press releases. Moreover, if they find what you sent is not in line with their interests, they can reject it. To increase the chances of getting coverage, you must build a targeted media list.
A media list is crucial in a media outreach strategy and campaign. With the list of journalists on hand, you can start building relationships with them. The media list highlights interested press contacts in your industry.
With this, you can pitch article ideas to relevant writers and publications on your list. Further, by having a targeted media list, you can save time and resources to speak to your audience.
How to Create and Build Your Media List?
Did you know you can buy a media list for your business? Although it makes your work easy, creating a list is more convenient than buying. By making a media list, you can target press contacts better.
With this, continue reading to find out how to create and build your media list.
Identify and Finding Your Target Audience
Before creating a media list, you must identify the audience you want to receive your news. It can include potential customers, content creators, and writers. To determine your audience, you must analyze the customer base and their habits.
Apart from defining your target audience, it’s vital to know every aspect of them. Learning the stories they interact with determines the platforms and writers to target. By sending a press release email to the appropriate people and organization, you can guarantee coverage.
Thus, learn more about your audience to create a perfect media list. With an effective list, you can determine the best platform to reach the audience. To keep it neat, you can use a spreadsheet to list your media contacts.
Create the Right Angle
In a media outreach, you know the story you want to give your audience and the writers you need on your list. Thus, think about how to make your content engaging to the audience. Despite having a perfect media list, making your pitch feel personal is necessary.
Targeting writers don’t guarantee your business is on their radar. You must determine if they know your enterprise, like your story, or feel excited about sharing your content. If they don’t, your media list is useless.
To create an effective list, you must connect with media contacts on your list on a personal level. You must ensure they know something about you and your business. With this, you can keep your story relevant before sending them a press release.
Design Your List Format
Keeping your media list organized is vital. With this, you can prevent interchanging the information. To ensure a structure, you can use a spreadsheet or a word document when listing contact details.
In a spreadsheet, you can input and categorize the information right away. However, if you opt to use a word document, you can insert a table before listing. To arrange, you can keep similar details in the same column.
For instance, you input the writer or publication in the first column. Next, in the second column, you encode their corresponding email address. Then, you can add notes about the appropriate press release for each contact in the last column.
The information you need depends on your role. If you operate a small business, there are details you don’t need to specify. However, large companies need detailed information about their clients.
Look For Relevant Journalists
When browsing the web, you come across topics ranging from health to finance. People write articles depending on their specialization. With this, look for journalists and influencers that create content in-line with your business.
To search for content creators, you can begin your search by using keywords related to your brand. Your web browser displays relevant websites and articles first. As you go through the different pages, check if there’s an actual person you can contact.
Note not all outlets include the author’s name in their published articles. If you cannot find any information about the writer, it’s best to avoid publication. However, if the website has potential, explore its other pages to discover authors you can contact.
Make Your List
A perfect media list is clear, concise, and neat. It’s best to have relevant content creators with whom you have good relationships on your list. To keep an effective list, you must consider some factors before listing contacts.
Determine if your contact is knowledgeable about your industry and can influence people. With this, you can write emails that can get their attention. As they receive many messages, ensure yours stand out.
Apart from the name and contact, there are other details you must include in your list. If you can add, put the publication, its address, social media details, and frequency. Doing so allows you to craft the appropriate press releases for each contact.
Keep Your Media List Updated
Time and effort are essential in creating a media list. If you want to keep your list effective, then updating it is necessary. Making and building a media list is a work in progress.
Some media opportunities can come at any time. However, some outlets can move around. With this, you can add or remove contacts from your lists.
To prevent any problems, you must stay alert and updated for changes. Further, note the publications you share good experiences. Doing so ensures your media list is relevant until your next use and the contacts you keep are receptive.
Watch the Market and Competition
Regardless of industry, you cannot avoid having the same products as other businesses. There’s a high probability of the media writing about it, proving their expertise. If your competitors pitched the same story, writers won’t create content about it again.
To prevent pitching the same story, ensure what you offer in the market stands out. You can browse the web for ideas and check what you must avoid applying in your business.
Use Your Media List
After creating your media list, you can start your media outreach campaign. If you keep your content relevant, media outlets can cover your press releases. Further, they can consider covering stories later if it doesn’t spam.
To amplify your perfect media list, always opt for quality over quantity. If you often get in touch with writers with amazing stories, they can notice your pitches in the future. The ideal practice is to pitch and check on them after a week.
Avoid pitching the same content if you want to stay on their list.
Creating and Building Your Effective Media List
If you want to expand your market reach, having a press release is the best way to get the publicity you need. With this, it’s vital to create and build an effective media list. Your media list is crucial in achieving a successful media outreach campaign.
You don’t need to look far to improve your public relations. With eReleases, you can generate authentic traffic on your website using our services. For other PR services information, reach the eReleases team here.