How to Earn Free Media Without a PR Firm

Public relations firms are useful. They are also expensive, and for most experts and small business owners they are not the first step. The first step is understanding what a journalist needs — because a reporter will take a good story from anyone, including you.

Earned media is not advertising

Advertising is space you buy. Earned media is coverage a journalist chooses to give you because you helped them do their job. That distinction explains almost everything about how to pitch: your announcement is not a story, but your announcement plus a trend, a conflict, a number, or a human being often is.

Find the news peg

A news peg is the reason your story has to run this week instead of any other week. Without one, even a great idea sits in an inbox. The most reliable pegs are:

• A story already in the news that you can explain better than anyone else
• New data — even a small survey of your own customers counts
• A local angle on a national story
• A deadline, a first, a milestone, or an anniversary
• A person whose experience makes an abstract issue concrete

Build your own reporter list

You do not need a media database. You need fifteen to twenty-five journalists who have written about your subject in the past ninety days. Search recent coverage of your topic, write down the bylines, and find each reporter's beat, outlet, and contact information. Follow them. Read what they publish. This list is the single most valuable asset in your communications program, and it takes an afternoon to build.

Write a pitch a reporter can use

1. Subject line: eight words that could be the headline.
2. First sentence: the story, not your background.
3. Second paragraph: why now, and why their readers care.
4. Third: the proof — a number, a document, a named person who will talk.
5. Close: what you are offering (an interview, exclusive data, access) and your phone number.
6. Keep it under 200 words. Send it as plain text in the body of the email.

Timing and follow-up

Send early in the day, early in the week. Follow up once, three or four days later, with one new fact — not with 'just checking in.' Then move on. A no today is often a yes in three months, provided you were useful and easy to work with.

Be the source they call next time

The real win is not one hit. It is becoming the person a reporter calls when your topic is in the news. That means answering the phone quickly, being honest about what you don't know, offering context even when you are not quoted, and never spinning. Sources who make journalists look smart get called again.

Practice with real journalists

Our programs are led by working and award-winning journalists who show you exactly how coverage decisions get made — and then put you in the interview chair. Book a strategy call to see which format fits.