Get Media Coverage for your Westchester County business:
Insider Tips from a PR Pro
Last night, Ruby Media Group had the pleasure of attending the Meet the Media event hosted by The Professional Women of Westchester at Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains.
Panelists included Kate Walsh of Westchester Magazine, Faith Ann Butcher of Hudson Valley Reporter, Kacey Morabito Grean of 100.7 WHUD, and Janet Hasson of LoHud. The panel was moderated by Lisa Kaslyn of Prosper Communications.
For those who missed the event, here are some PR nuggets of wisdom for how to land great ink for your local business in Westchester County New York press outlets and publications.
LOCAL MEDIA PR TIPS:
How do you pitch to local media?
Event Submission.
Be sure to post your local event on all relevant event calendars (Patch, Daily Voice, Lohud, Westchester Magazine, Westfair, etc.)
Pitching Background Research.
Find out who covers what you are pitching and pitch accordingly. For example, are you pitching a hard news story, a business feature, metro crime, or lifestyle?
If you want to break into the media as a local subject matter expert or source, read the bi lines of regional articles and see who is covering what you want to be quoted on.
Add value to a reporter.
Every reporter is always looking for leads and new story ideas. If you have a relevant story that would be of value to a publication’s readers; pitch it.
Always pitch the actual news or a human-interest story. Do not pitch puff pieces. When in doubt; keep it out!
E-mail pitching tips 101:
- Do not send emails with attachments and no body text.
- Put the date in the subject line.
- Come up with a witty subject line.
- Always answer: who, what, where, when, and why.
Be mindful of the reporter’s deadline and plan ahead.
Keep track of editorial calendars. For example, if it is a monthly publication, don’t pitch a story for October when they are already planning their January issue.
How to get PR:
Successfully pitching your business to the media starts with understanding what reporters care about. If you want a reporter to cover your new restaurant opening or Scarsdale fitness class, invite them in to try it out. They can’t and won’t write about what they don’t know. This is where a Westchester County PR firm can help you. We pitch the media on your behalf to make sure your business stays in the spotlight!
How can Westchester County PR consultants sustain resilience when pitching the media?
Publicists get rejected a lot.
The best way to remain resilient is to review your win vs. loss ratio. Always keep track of every pitch sent to the media. If a client isn’t quoted, study why. Look at the expert sources that were quoted. Did they provide more substantial quotes? What is different about their quote vs. the subject matter expert you submitted?
Learn from every pitch you lost.
PR is a numbers game. Rejection comes with the territory. How you react to the rejection defines you as a practitioner. Learning emotional regulation tips is critical to dealing with the constant rejection that is part of the process.
Resilience is in spite of adversity. In public relations, one big win can offset many small losses. Stay focused on that. But also, become better at the craft.
Additionally, if the media does not reply to you, you may want to re-think what you are pitching. Perhaps it isn’t newsworthy, or you are just missing the mark entirely and need to go back to the drawing board.
Earning valuable media coverage for your brand can pay dividends.
ABOUT
Ruby Media Group is a full-service Public Relations Agency in Westchester, Fairfield, and Manhattan. For more information on how Ruby Media Group can generate national media exposure for your business, contact us today!
KRIS RUBY is the CEO of Ruby Media Group, an award-winning public relations and media relations agency in Westchester County, New York. Kris Ruby has more than 15 years of experience in the Media industry. She is a sought-after media relations strategist, content creator and public relations consultant. Kris Ruby is also a national television commentator and political pundit and she has appeared on national TV programs over 200 times covering big tech bias, politics and social media. She is a trusted media source and frequent on-air commentator on social media, tech trends and crisis communications and frequently speaks on FOX News and other TV networks. She has been featured as a published author in OBSERVER, ADWEEK, and countless other industry publications. Her research on brand activism and cancel culture is widely distributed and referenced. She graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a major in public relations and is a founding member of The Young Entrepreneurs Council. She is also the host of The Kris Ruby Podcast Show, a show focusing on the politics of big tech and the social media industry. Kris is focused on PR for SEO and leveraging content marketing strategies to help clients get the most out of their media coverage.