We stopped over in Denver recently as part of our OnePitch Summer Tour, and got to hear from 9 local PR experts on their top (and most creative) tips for managing their many media lists.
As PR folks, we are no strangers to the work that goes in to effective media list management, which is a task that can sometimes feel daunting.
Rest assured, our goal is to equip you with the latest and greatest in PR tips and tricks, and media list management is no exception.
Meet 10 Denver PR experts and get their top tips for managing a strong media list below!
Kaitlyn Harvie is an associate PR manager at rygr, is all about tracking for her tip.
Kaitlyn recommends that for "anyone you talk to or anyone that you email" to note these interactions "into an excel sheet outside of whatever platform you use and start tracking what [the journalist] has been sent, what conversations you're having, [and] what things they like."
Kaitlyn added that she tends "to ask journalists what they're looking for [and] what their main stories for the year are," and from here, she goes "back through and makes those lists more specific with what the journalists are looking for." Way to keep that open line of conversation!
Similar to Kaitlyn, Hallie Kim is a senior PR associate at Barefoot PR who recommends "really keeping up with pitch dependent reporters."
Her philosophy is not about copying over media lists, rather "really maintaining and taking out who isn't relevant and adding people" who are good fits.
Carlie McGuire, senior PR associate at Barefoot PR, shared that her strategy is all about "making individual [media lists] for every pitch."
Carlie recognizes that "sometimes that means duplicating" some contacts who are relevant, but this way she "can reference "Was that an event?" An announcement pitch?"" so she can go back in the history and see who she pitched and for what. Per Carlie, this "is most important."
Amy Geldean of Turner PR is all about building that relationship.
She tries to always "stay on top with what journalists are writing about" and if she finds an article they wrote that she loves she'll "reach out to them and connect with them to see what else they're interested in."
Amy also always mentions she "loved the article first off" and from here gets "going in to what clients we might have in common."
Delaney Trail, assistant PR coordinator at Next PR, is an Excel fan and wants fellow PRos to "make sure that you're using all of the filters possible and conditional formatting."
Hanna Bautz, senior lead at Next PR, is a fellow Excel whiz, sharing that her "tip is to use data validation in Excel so you can create a drop down list of all the different beats for the reporters on your list and then filter based on a specific pitch topic you're sharing with them.
Natalie Younger, account manager at LaunchSquad, shared that at her agency, there's a "shared Slack channel where we're constantly monitoring [reporter] updates on Twitter."
From here, she's able to centralize the reporter moves and "share [them] with the agency so its kind of like a joint effort." To quote Natalie, "we like to share knowledge."
Gail Bransteitter, director of PR at Barefoot PR shared that she manages her lists "with a combination of using media database tools and individual research." Her why behind this method? In Gail's words, to ensure she is "staying relevant on who's moving around and where people are going so we can continue any relationship we built."
Shannon Tucker, vice president at Next PR, recommends that you "not just rely on tools but do some Googling and read the news because you never know when your'e gonna find a reporter who doesn't show up in a tool search."
Kayla Cash, global PR manager at SoftServe, shared that "a creative way of handling media lists is setting Google alerts for certain keywords and then building your list from there because it can help with future stories."
The Mile High City not only offers excellent weather and minor humidity, it's also a wealth of fun restaurants, work spots, and coffee shops. Here's what we recommend you check out!
Liked this blog and want to be a part of the next one? Join us on our Summer Tour! All you need re: dates, locations, and more can be found HERE.
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