Like clockwork, there comes a time when journalists find themselves looking at an empty barrel of story ideas hoping to find a glimmer of gold at the bottom. Sometimes these instances happen out of the blue, and sometimes it’s a bit more predictable. Throughout any given year, a journalist can find themselves struggling to come up with story ideas simply based on the time of year. This could be during the months of May and June, when children are out of school and on their summer breaks, or during the months of November and December when the holiday season is at its peak. The longer you’re in the business, the easier it gets to prepare ahead of time. But still, there always seems to be a looming dark cloud of a story needing to be filed by deadline, and that’s where media relations professionals can help.
Understanding when a journalist’s “slow season” can be an advantage for media relations practitioners in a variety ways and can lead to both parties benefiting. From knowing what stories to pitch, to understanding how to use the time of year to get noticed, here are five ways media relations professionals can take advantage of the slow season.
1. Understand when the slow season is.
There are a few months in any given year that are tailored to being slower than others — May and June when school is out of session, and November and December when the holidays are ramping up. Now, you may be wondering how finding story ideas during these months can be difficult. Let’s start with education reporters. Finding school-related topics while school is in session is a lot easier to do as opposed to when school is not in session. There are fewer people to interview and fewer events taking place. For reporters who primarily cover local legislative bodies, the holidays can be slower because there’s fewer meetings to cover and more people are unavailable to interview. Knowing that these scenarios happen year-round can help media relations practitioners be prepared with story ideas ready to pitch to journalists in need.
2. Pitch story ideas that are timely, but not time-sensitive.
Journalists often call these “evergreen” stories, and they are always needed. When approaching a slow season, journalists are looking for stories they can work on in advance and publish at any time. For media relations practitioners, this can be an opportunity to not only help your client, but also the journalist in need of a story that isn’t tied to a specific deadline. Evergreen stories are often most needed in December, so media relations practitioners should start pitching ideas toward the end of November. But remember, the pitch should still make sense to run a few weeks later and not be outdated.
3. Get noticed for the right reasons.
If a media relations professional wants their story pitch to be noticed by a journalist, there are a few key details that can prove to be beneficial. First and foremost, journalists are always searching for the human element in a story, which is often found by interviewing someone connected to the topic. If a media relations professional wants their pitch to be noticed, the best piece of advice is to offer an interview that is relevant to the target audience. If the story is being pitched to the local newspaper staff, make sure the person being offered to be interviewed is also a local to that area. Another way to get noticed is by offering a variety of visuals to use. Photos and videos can help bring a story to life, and are often a requirement for media platforms.
4. Do your homework.
To understand what kind of stories journalists are looking for during a slow season, media relations professionals should do their homework by analyzing what topics were covered during the same time period in years past. Questions that should be answered are: “What tone did the stories published during this time period have? Was this story covered because an event was happening or did some planning happen on the back end? What topics were covered more during these months and what topics were covered less?” Understanding the previous coverage from an organization can better position a media relations practitioner to pitch a story that is more likely to get picked up.
5. Use slow periods to build relationships.
If a pitch sent to a journalist doesn’t receive a response back, then there’s a possibility it was because they were caught at a bad time. Just like there are slow seasons, there are also busy seasons for journalists, such as back-to-school or election years. When the busy seasons begin to settle, media relations professionals should consider reaching out to journalists to arrange a 15-minute meeting to introduce themselves. With meetings canceled and officials out of the office, journalists often have more availability, which can open the door to building a relationship. Be sure to always establish the intention of the meeting and provide flexibility to meet the journalist’s schedule.
Jessica Wetzler is an executive producer at WRIC 8News in Richmond, Virginia. In addition, she is seeking a Master’s in Integrated Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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