The relationship between marketing professionals and journalists has long been one of symbiosis – from the marketing point of view, getting your product or service mentioned in the media is a major score, but by the same token, editors are always looking to fill space with mention of the latest big thing.
If you’re a marketer, finding an avenue in to the high-value mentions can seem tricky, especially if you don’t want to feel like you’re shouting into an empty room by sending out hundreds of generic press releases, so using a service which allows you to target the right people can save you both time and money in the long run. Here’s a few of our favourites:
Gorkana
Price upon request
Gorkana is probably the oldest of this type of service, with the company’s roots stretching back to the 1800’s, and now works with over 4000 companies, including 65 of the FTSE100. It offers a comprehensive service including social media software, rich analytics, content distribution, and influencer outreach, giving both marketers the opportunity to access the media AND offering a free service which allows journalists to make PR requests.
ResponseSource
Price Varies by Subject
ResponseSource is probably one of the most comprehensive databases for connecting PR people and journalists and the price you’ll pay for access varies depending on your area of expertise, beginning at £430 for something like Motoring, zooming all the way up to £915 for subjects like Beauty or Consumer Tech. If it’s a service you’re planning to use regularly then the yearly price may well be worth it, although it’s worth bearing in mind that the prices don’t include VAT and you’ll be limited to journalists in a specific topic unless you shell out for more than one subscription.
Muckrack
Starts at $99/month
Muckrack is more than just a connection service, giving you not only a database of journos in your area to target, but also offering tools to measure the reach of your campaign. Their database boasts contacts within the BBC, New York Times and Wall Street Journal and although they’re pretty tight-lipped about their pricing, they do offer a free month to try before you buy.
Vuelio
Price upon request
Vuelio claims to offer an “unrivalled portfolio of products and services to serve the modern public relations and public affairs professional throughout the UK and Europe” and offers a range of price plans for varying levels of access. Opt for the cheaper package and you’ll get tools for enquiry management, among other things, while the full “Communincations Management” package includes features such as real-time and ad-hoc analytics and an integrated media and political database.
Social Media
Free
The ‘service’ which will likely give you the best bang for your buck is social media, based purely on the virtue of it being free. As long as you’re savvy about where and how you search, you could put yourself directly on the radar of journos without needing to pay anything at all. Twitter is probably your prime target area and using hashtags such as #journorequest or #PRrequest will increase the chance of your tweets getting noticed.
Blue Cactus Digital can help get your message to the journalists that matter with our guest blog pitching service. We’ll come up with a list of journalists to target in your niche, develop perfect tailored ideas, pitch them and write the content in the publication’s house style on your behalf.
