For potential clients, we’re always asked about our ‘lists’ and who is on these ‘lists’. While it’s great to have relationships with journalists in a key segment, no one has them with everyone. It’s probably impossible. Similarly, editors and reporters change beats and employment regularly. You simply can’t rely on these lists or the ones you purchase through a third party (which can be helpful though).
What you can rely upon in the PR world is creative and targeted outreach. In the past we’ve scored coverage of robotic innovations on CNN and a professional skateboarder in Field & Stream.
Both times, the contacts we approached were new to us. But that didn’t stop us from approaching them with story ideas that were appropriate for their audiences.
We’re not saying that we don’t have great lists of contacts, because we do. But just because CNN, Field & Stream, Maxim, Women’s Health, CoolHunting or HypeBeast featured one client, that does not guarantee they’ll feature another. Don’t be misguided.
A better way to judge a firm’s media-savvy would be to ask about creative pitches or projects they worked on that had less than tier-A media appeal.
For more of our thoughts on the infamous PR ‘lists’ and ways to conduct media outreach, check out these other blog posts (blatant plug) that we have on the Remedy site:
http://remedycomm.com/2012/04/why-your-press-releases-dont-get-you-coverage/
http://remedycomm.com/2011/04/pr-lessons-from-a-journalist/