The Thrill of the Chase – Four Tips for a Better Journalist Relationship

Today’s a good day. You’ve worked with your client to get an insightful piece of thought leadership written up, and pitched it to an interested journalist. Now you’re just waiting for it to appear.
And waiting. And waiting.
When did the journalist say they were going to publish the piece again? Are they waiting on something else from you? What are you going to tell your client?
Although this isn’t a frequent occurrence, it’s important to know what to do when it crops up. So, if you’re falling at the final hurdle, between securing media coverage and seeing that coverage ‘ink’, here are a few cast-iron tips to save yourself a headache, or avoid it happening altogether. 

Manage expectations

This is number one really. There’s clearly a world of difference between a media rapid response opportunity that needs comment in a few hours, and a phone briefing that has been slated by the journalist to appear ‘in the next few months’. So while you don’t want to undersell an opportunity, make sure that all parties know at least a rough timeframe for the opp in question.

Understand the news cycle.