How To Get Your Brand Mentioned By Journalists And Drive Sales

It is extremely difficult to have a journalist mention your brand, as a large part of their job is to research. However, we make sure that we are offering them something that can be of huge benefit to them. For us having the largest development database of property in Australia is our niche. Therefore we are able to offer them statistics that they can not find anywhere else this adds depth to their article and helps us in return with brand awareness.

Contributors: Chris Tomlinson from Urban

When it comes to landing press mentions for your brand, there are some key things to keep in mind that will really elevate your outreach strategy. First and foremost, journalists are real people. Before you send your email, learn more about the journalist's interests and personality by combing through their author archives or digital footprint (i.e. Instagram, Twitter). Become familiar with the topics they frequently cover. Your focus should be on establishing a relationship first, then pitching your idea. While building authentic relationships is important, if the content your pitching is sub-par or irrelevant to their audience you won't get very far. After you've researched the journalist's background, ask yourself: Is the content I'm pitching timely, engaging, or otherwise appealing to their niche audience? One tip to ensure your pitch will stand out from the rest is by offering the journalist unique research or data to supplement their story. 

Contributors: Domenica D'Ottavio from Fractl 

One of the easiest ways to get brand mentions from journalists is to use HARO (Help a reporter out). This tool helps experts give writers from a wide range of media outlets insights on specific topics that are being written about. Brand mentions can be included in these HARO requests and provide beneficial traffic to specific links. This is great because it provides organic traffic and boosts SEO.

Contributors: Alan Santillan from G2 Crowd

Offer product reviews for journalists. Whether it is a physical product or a service, offer it to a journalist for a review. This is a great way to generate leads for a new product. This will be tougher, because relevant websites that deal with a specific topic or product need to accommodate the product being mentioned in order for a successful review to be conducted. 

Contributors: Alan Santillan from G2 Crowd

I guess this method works less and less but still has a potential. If you have any journalist's emails, you can talk to write them in a personal way where you talk about your brand or whatever you are doing with it or you can send a press release where you let these journalist know about what you are doing and you mention the brand. The press release is always related to something is happening now, perhaps an event, a new product, a new exclusive addition, etc. The press release has to be related to something bigger, something that journalist and media can be attracted to mention the brand

Contributors: Rosa Camero from Rossscammm Films & Marketing

When pitching journalists, it's important first and foremost to make sure that you understand the audience you are trying to reach and which journalists are best to reach that audience. For example, a journalist focused on blockchain technology would likely ignore a pitch that promotes news for a fashion brand or restaurant. There needs to be a clear connection between the pitch and the benefits to the journalist's audience.

Contributors: Cassie Gonzalez from OnePitch

In order for a journalist to mention a brand it must make sense within the context of their story. So, if you provide some very valuable information on a topic they are working on and describe a solution that helps resolve the problem using the experiences of your client as an example, you give yourself a better chance of getting the mention. 

Contributors: Greg Rankin from Rankin PR