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How To Win Your Way with Journalists

Author: Jaime

 

Journalists are very busy people and often have a lot of things going on. They can be very particular people and need to know things right away. So, when a journalist has a query about something and they ask for a story, information, or a mere quote, it important to know how and when they want the information. See, if you are a franchise public relations professional, it important to know that you are in control of how people see your company or clients and how the media views your company or clients. While the phrase that any press is good press, you want to make sure that your good press shines through so that all, or at least majority, of your press is good!

There are some things that you can do to gain popularity, or at least favor, with journalists as a PRP.

The first thing you can do is to be very quick with your responses with a journalist. Journalists do not like wasting time and for good reason; the vast majority of the time, they know they have deadlines and so they need to get information right away. If a journalist sends a franchise public relations professional a query about a story, information, or at least a quote, they want the response to be done right away. While it may seem that sometimes a journalist can be rude for demanding something right away and ignore your own schedule, they often only have hours to finish the story for their editor; minutes are precious. Also, if they have a query, there might be hundreds or thousands of responses and you want yours to be looked at; do not delay when it comes to responding or you may get passed up.

The second thing you can do is submit your stories and information in the format that the journalist desires. In general, there are formats that franchise PR professionals have to submit things but some journalists require things to be very specific or in a different format altogether. For example, if you send something to a journalist in a PDF format when they wanted it in a doc. format, then you might be in trouble.

A third thing you can do is be precise and accurate. If a journalist asks you for information and you do not know so you submit information that is only partially correct (either because you do not know all the information they need or you submit something that is good but only answers part of what they asked for because it is slightly off-topic) then they will be pretty upset with you for wasting their time. When a journalist asks a franchise public relations person for the information necessary to make a story happen, do not give them something unless you know it is exactly what they want. Make sure your information is correct too; nothing will frustrate them more than facts that turn out to be wrong or worse, fabricated.

A fourth thing is to be honest and not a fake. A journalist is able to know if you are being honest or not when it comes to stories; do not waste their time by making things up. Also, do not promise one thing, then take it back. This will only guarantee that you will never hear from that journalist again and they will never accept your stories or pitches. Ever.

 

All Points PR is an all-service Chicago Franchise PR firm. All Points PR can do social media, crisis communications, public relations, etc. We would love to help your company with any PR need and gain exposure.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/public-relations-articles/how-to-win-your-way-with-journalists-6783457.html

About the Author

All Points PR is an all-service Chicago Franchise PR firm. All Points PR can do social media, crisis communications, public relations, etc. We would love to help your company with any PR need and gain exposure.

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