As I embark on my second week in a new job, I am adjusting to different responsibilities and working to establish myself in my community. I have more media-related tasks to handle, something I didn't get much of in my last position. In a meeting with my boss this morning, we were discussing who my major contacts are and talking about which ones I need to meet in person vs. the ones who I can just call. While we both agreed that it would be fantastic to be able to meet the assignment editors at my local news stations, neither of us had a preferred way to do so. He mentioned a person he knew years ago who would stop by the stations with a few pizzas or a bag of sandwiches, offering these along with his introduction. Perhaps it's my journalism school background at work, but I thought that sounded kind of sleazy, and my boss agreed with me.
So I am shamelessly putting my request out for anyone reading this: how have you successfully bought yourself some time with television news reporters in the interest of cultivating a new relationship? I would love to hear some feedback on this--the success stories and the horror stories. I know there has to be some good information out there on this.
1 comment:
The best advice I've seen is to study the editors you want to develop a relationship with, figure out what parts of your industry they would be most interested in, and feed them with occasional tips about research, industry trends, sources of information, etc.
They key is to find information that is useful to them even if it's unrelated to your organization, to send it as a favor to them, and to not expect anything in return. Did I mention to be very brief and direct?
This will establish you as a knowledgeable, helpful source. So when the time comes that you have something truly newsworthy about your organization, the editor will recognize your name, and is more likely to give you the time of day.
The bottom line: never contact them unless you have something to offer them they would find useful and/or time-saving. If that expands into a get-to-know-you phone call or e-mail, that's gravy.
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