In today’s digital age, media outreach is a vital component of any successful business strategy. Whether you’re a startup looking to gain exposure or an established company aiming to stay relevant, effective media outreach can make all the difference. But how do you navigate the ever-changing landscape of media relations? That’s where this ultimate guide comes in.
Packed with expert tips, practical advice, and real-world examples, this guide will equip you with everything you need to know to master the art of media outreach. From building strong relationships with journalists to crafting compelling pitches, we’ll walk you through each step of the process. Learn how to leverage social media, optimize press releases, and measure your success to ensure your efforts deliver maximum impact. By following the strategies outlined in this comprehensive guide, you’ll be able to establish your brand as a trusted authority, expand your reach, and ultimately drive business growth.
Businesses use a variety of outreach tactics to improve their public image. Outreach strategy is generally an active form of marketing that helps brands increase traffic or generate leads. This boosts SEO ranking and offers many routes directing visitors to a company’s content.
Common Outreach Strategies
Various outreach tactics can work together in order to boost outreach and SEO. The majority of outreach strategy tactics revolve around one fundamental concept: link building. Backlinks from high-quality websites boost website authority, leading a search engine to recognize a company’s site as an expert in a certain area. The higher the number of high-quality sites linking back to your company’s content, the more search engines will respect you.
The most prevalent outreach tactics are social media and influencer outreach, as well as blogger outreach.
Social media outreach
Sharing content and reaching out to influencers are the two critical components of a social media outreach strategy. Social media has evolved into a powerful tool for connecting with customers and increasing brand exposure. Many consumers are wary of companies that do not have a social media presence. A business can use social media to disseminate bespoke material, such as photos and gifs, with connected links to generate buzz. This might be balanced with curated content to attract visitors to the main website. To maximize reach and audience engagement, you will need a solid social media plan.
In addition to passive outreach such as content sharing, an active strategy via social media can further engage the audience. The following are some examples of social media outreach strategies:
- Cross-promotional efforts with related companies.
- Participating in “like” and “comment” pods.
- Strengthening the connection by actively seeking out, commenting on, and sharing content from followers.
- Participating in discussions.
- Thanking followers for their participation in a private message.
- Inviting followers to visit a company’s website or exchange material in a private message.
The most effective part of a company’s digital marketing is actively engaging on social media. Being active entails more than just blogging regularly. It also involves outreach to build a loyal audience and consumer base.
Influencer outreach
Since influencers’ audiences are frequently more engaged and have a deep emotional connection, more firms turn to social media influencers instead of traditional advertising techniques. It’s true that there has been growing distrust around influencers as this kind of outreach becomes more popular. Nevertheless, it is still significantly more effective than any paid advertising or other marketing efforts.
Blogger outreach
While blogger outreach is similar to influencer outreach, it’s easiest to do link-building with this tactic. As with other modes of outreach strategy, blogger outreach is most effective if time is spent building a relationship with relevant individuals rather than cold pitching. Guest posting, continuous content creation, and link inclusion requests are some of the main benefits of blogger outreach. These approaches are frequently used together to boost SEO and promote both parties, resulting in the best possible results.
In general, guest posting involves offering a blogger high-quality content in exchange for a backlink. Bloggers frequently exchange these services, cross-posting on each other’s blogs to boost traffic. Unfortunately, guest posting is commonly exploited, so when a blogger receives an unsolicited guest posting email, they are skeptical.
The importance of building relationships beforehand
If you’re interested in participating in this outreach technique, you should begin by establishing a relationship with the targeted professional or company. This way, by the time you’re pitching a guest post idea, your target blogger recognizes your company’s name and will be pleased to hear from you. The content you pitch should also be aligned with your overall content marketing strategy.
The value of continuous output
Continuous output is one of the main challenges that bloggers face when creating consistent content that helps them maintain their search engine rankings. As a result, many bloggers will hire freelance writers to guest post to fill in the gaps and ensure that high-quality content is delivered consistently. You can incorporate links into your content by working with a freelance writer or offering content management services, resulting in a win-win situation for all parties involved.
Creating email campaigns
Finally, email campaigns are frequently used to request backlinks. Again, for this method to work, you must do your research and demonstrate that you’ve looked over the site you’re pitching. Many people prefer to write a broad pitch that is only remotely related to a topic that a blogger specializes in. Reaching out to comment on a specific published piece and recommending a link to include, on the other hand, is more direct and actionable.
Steps to an Effective Media Outreach Strategy
1) Outline main outreach goals
The first step to any successful outreach strategy is to outline realistic goals. Unfortunately, many take this part for granted, only jotting down simple goals like getting links or earning more brand mentions. While these are practical and achievable goals, they are far too broad, generic, and lack any form of actionability needed in a good outreach strategy.
Instead, reasonable outreach goals should be broken down into four main factors; goal type, sub-goals, actionable steps, and timelines. While goals can be quite broad, the previously listed goals are great starting points and primary targets.
Sub-goals assist companies in achieving their principal aim. As an example, a company may have just launched a new landing page for a new product/service. In this case, the goal would be to build high-quality links to it to start generating referral traffic and building page/domain authority. However, simply writing “get traffic” can leave even the most experienced person stuck in the process. For this reason, you should outline specific and detailed sub-goals to guide your outreach strategy.
Developing relationships with editors, for example, is a sub-goal of link development. Sub-goals help highlight various paths toward your end goal. Having editor ties is an excellent way to get top-tier links in this scenario. However, without actionable steps, the goals are useless since there is no action plan.
2) Search for niche content to build outreach list
Most people begin developing an outreach plan without understanding what their targeted media professionals, companies, and prospects can do for them. You need to know what type of business or individual you are reaching out to, whether you’re establishing links, attempting to get product evaluations, or trying to form meaningful partnerships. For example, while asking high-level editors and journalists for product reviews isn’t ideal, they are perfect for developing mutually beneficial media relationships.
To launch your outreach strategy, you will need to start by building a list of targeted prospects. The most effective way to do this is to hunt for people who produce quality content in your niche. Once you have located suitable information, you can contact the authors directly to establish a relationship. Since these authors are already writing about topics related to your industry, the chances of getting a backlink or mention are significantly higher than they would be if you reached out to random people.
PR agencies like Pressfarm can help you create newsworthy content to help you gain the media coverage you deserve once you start doing your outreach. If you don’t know how to create media lists or you simply don’t want to do the extra work, Pressfarm can build a personalized media list. With this list, you can connect with the best journalists, bloggers, and influencers in your niche. Additionally, with a professional press release, some engaging guest posts, and an eye-catching media kit, you can capture attention during your outreach.
3) Turn targets into media contacts
You shouldn’t send your outreach emails to just anyone. You will need to do some homework to figure out which company, blogger, or thought leader’s website your content belongs on. There are four distinct groups of people to whom you should reach out:
- Mega-influencers.
- Experts with a sizable audience.
- Influencers are also trying to build their audience.
- People who are just getting started.
Mega-influencers are well-known people or companies who specialize in the same niche and have built a reputation for themselves doing it. If a mega-influencer decides to link to your company’s site or showcase your material, your brand will be introduced to the influencer’s large viewership and extended reach. Unfortunately, though, these individuals rarely respond to communications from companies or individuals with whom they are not familiar. This means that you will need to personalize your email subject line, pitch, and content to increase the chances of your email being opened.
Outreach to experts and thought leaders
Other experts and thought leaders in your industry might have a large following, but they are more inclined to respond to emails from unknown senders. If you’re approaching these individuals, it’s best to ask for help or advice with a problem in your niche.
Flattery can go a long way with this group of people, and if your content is good, these thought leaders will share it widely without you having to ask. As with mega-influencers, you need to send this group personalized pitches.
Influencers who are in the process of building their audience are also ideal for an email outreach strategy campaign. As they share your material, they might ask you to do the same so that you can both sides can grow your audiences simultaneously. These individuals are more likely to let a company guest post on their blog. Just remember that with this group, you need to reciprocate and promote them as much as they promote you.
Finally, influencers who are just getting started may not have much traffic as the other groups. Nevertheless, they are more likely to respond to an email from you. Using an outreach campaign to reach out to this group is fantastic preparation for when you later move on to individuals with more significant followings. Generally, these individuals are within easy reach. All you need is a call to action to get them interested in sharing your content or linking to your website.
4) Demonstrate value
Once you have established some media contacts, you need to create the email and send it out. However, media professionals, influencers, and bloggers are constantly receiving emails from brands. You need to write an email and create content that demonstrates value.
Your email body should demonstrate its worth. Make it clear to the email recipient how valuable your information and expertise are to them, and vice versa. You should demonstrate how linking to your company’s site or posting your content on their site benefits both parties. Avoid long-winded pitches. Get the timing correct and be concise and compelling without begging for a link or a retweet.
You need to make sure that what you are promoting is timely and relevant to your area of expertise and target audience. You should not try to sell them on stuff authored a year ago or commend them on something they did a year ago. By keeping up to date, you can demonstrate how useful you are to media professionals.
Furthermore, it is essential not to forget a call to action. A good call to action will get your company somewhere, but a fantastic call to action will get you everywhere. An effective call to action (CTA) includes:
- A request.
- A link to the content a company wants people to see.
- A clear statement of what they must do (whether it’s a link to your site, a retweet, or a post for its content).
Ideally, you should create two CTAs. The first should include in your company’s pitch, and the second should come at the end. The first CTA will consist of a link to your content, while the second will serve as a reminder/invitation to do what you have asked for.
5) Follow up
Finally, whether or not the recipient has responded, you must follow up. Allow three to four days before sending a follow-up email. The recipient may be extremely busy and may have read the email but will not respond for several days. When you send a follow-up email, refer back to the original pitch while tweaking the message to demonstrate its value.
Once you have sent your follow-up email, wait a few days before sending another. If you still haven’t received an answer after two attempts, it’s time to move on. While you can contact this individual again in the future, you will have to wait a few months. No matter how frustrating it may be to keep reaching out, make sure each follow-up email is professional and kind.
Conclusion
An outreach strategy is an essential part of any business’s overall PR and marketing strategy. It is an effective way to reach an audience that is relevant to your industry. Moreover, it can open you up to a large audience that you may not have been able to reach on your own. A successful outreach strategy may seem like a lengthy and time-consuming task. Even so, with help and patience, you can achieve the level of media outreach you desire.