How to Score Traditional Earned Media in a New Media Era

Estimated reading time: 5.5 minutes

Earned media can’t be bought, and it gets harder and harder to come by. An essential part of the formula for building and maintaining a good reputation, traditional earned media is what journalists say about a company or a product in media outlets such as newspapers, TV and radio, both online and in print and traditional broadcast.

Despite the importance of social media and the primacy of the internet in today’s world, traditional earned media coverage is still highly coveted. Its power rests in the independent nature of media and in the freedom journalists have to express themselves and report news the way they see it. In a democracy, nobody dictates what journalists say, so whether media coverage of a company or a product is positive or negative depends on the impression the company makes on individual journalists telling the company’s story as they see it.

The problem is, it’s harder than ever before to earn media coverage. The competition for advertising from online media has driven thousands of media outlets out of business. Consider the following facts from Pew Research Center:

• Weekday newspaper print circulation in the United States in 1980 was about 62.2 million. In 2017, it was down by 50 percent to about 31 million (an 11 percent decrease from 2016). When digital circulation is included, the picture isn’t as bad; the decline from 2016 to 2017 was only four percent.
• Advertising and circulation revenue combined for the newspaper industry fell from a high of about $60 billion in 2005 to $27.7 billion in 2017. Even though most newspapers have online versions, the revenue from online ads is small compared to print. And many newspapers are giving away all or part of their content, so online circulation revenue is small or non-existent for many newspapers.
• With this tremendous drop in revenues, as one would expect, the labor force in the newspaper industry has shrunk as well. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States, about 39,000 people in the U.S. newspaper industry worked as reporters, editors, photographers, and film and video editors in 2017. That number is down by 45 percent from 2004 when the figure was about 71,600.
• TV news has also seen a decline. Online news viewership is now almost as high as TV news viewership.

Local news outlets have been the hardest hit. Many American towns and cities no longer have a newspaper. A recent example of this trend: according to a Mediapost article in June, Gatehouse Media, which owns 156 daily papers and 350 community papers across the U.S., will consolidate 50 Massachusetts local papers down to 18.

Public relations professionals now outnumber journalists in the United States by six to one, according to a Muck Rack blog last year. That means a tremendous amount of PR competition in getting the attention of journalists.

This makes PR pitching – approaching journalists about the possibility of doing a story that will include an organization the PR person represents – much more difficult than it was even five years ago. PR people have a hard time even reaching journalists to talk to them. Many don’t answer their phones most of the time and ignore emails from people they don’t know.

Journalists’ opinions about the PR profession are at best ambivalent. Criticisms of the PR industry by journalists are abundant, ranging from a lack of knowledge by PR people of their clients’ industries; to poor understanding about how journalism works, what is newsworthy, and what does and does not make a good story.

Pitching journalists successfully to score positive media coverage of an organization depends on many factors.  Here are a few important do’s and don’ts for successful outreach to journalists:

1. First and foremost, don’t contact journalists with announcements and story ideas that aren’t viable. PR people must tell their clients (whether internal in a corporation or external clients of PR agencies) when proposed announcements and story ideas won’t fly with the media. Agencies and corporate PR departments need to train their staffs to think like journalists and to have the confidence and courage to advise clients about what will and won’t work with the media
2. Don’t pitch products (unless you’re approaching a journalist who reviews products) and don’t pitch companies. Journalists write stories, so tell the story behind a product or a story about the company.
3. Don’t waste journalists’ time. The most egregious imposition on journalists’ time is sending out news releases and emails indiscriminately to journalists who don’t cover the topic being pitched. A PR pitch should be relevant to every journalist who receives it.
4. A PR pitch to a journalist must stand out but also has to be short and punchy. When emailing a journalist to propose a story idea, the email should not be longer than the length of a computer screen. The subject line is extremely important. Don’t play games by using a “click bait” subject line to get attention; just be straightforward and to the point.
5. Because journalists get so many emails, simply emailing is seldom enough to get a journalist’s attention. It’s important to follow up by phone. However, don’t start a conversation by asking a journalist if (s)he got an email. That practice is especially irritating to journalists. And make sure the person on the other end of the phone has time to talk – remember that journalists have deadlines to meet. Start a conversation by asking, “Is this a good time for you to talk? I have a story suggestion, but I can call back if this isn’t a good time for you.”
6. Work on a telephone pitch that will introduce a story idea within 30 seconds. If the journalist is interested, (s)he’ll ask for more information. Don’t leave long voicemails, but do mention briefly the reason for the call.
7. It’s not necessary to have a press release to pitch a story to the media. A press release should stand on its own as a news story. A pitch is the outline of an idea for a story. It may be a news story, but it could also be a feature story. A good pitch can also offer other relevant information and/or independent interview sources. The drop in news revenues and number of employees in the news industry greatly affects the amount of content produced by journalists and the pressure on them to produce more. By providing suggestions for other sources outside a client’s company, a PR professional can help a busy journalist flesh out the story and will stand a better chance of succeeding with a pitch. Examples of sources that might be helpful are industry analysts and users/customers who are familiar with the company or the product.

While obtaining earned media coverage is harder than ever, the keys to success are knowing what makes a good story, managing the expectations of corporate executives and approaching journalists intelligently and, respectfully.