So last month I participated in a great session at Fishburners discussing the media landscape & tracking influencers.

Here are some of the notes I took on each of the slides.

Influencers

  • Who are they
  • Stretching your story
  • Their priorities
  • Off-beat sections
    • Fun publicity, list 5 things, quirky, get buzz; daily paper.
    • Opinion pieces. Australian Financial Review;
  • Find Target marget media

Your Pitch

Engagement

  • Metro publications
  • Tech publications
  • National
  • Consumer Lifestyle: Imagery is very important for this pitch! Often Pay to Play!
  • Broadcast Radio: GQ, Womens Health, Home and Garden, Parenting Today, OK! MX.
  • Trade Publications
    • Business: BRW, Business Spectator, Smart Money: Best to discuss business milestones.
    • Trades: publicationsMarketing mag, auto aftermarket mag, edutechnology solutions, FSI.

Story Types:

Offer:

  • What do you sell?
  • Who do you want to sell
  • What are the interests of your audience?
  • What’s an angle that appeals or fits in to a current theme / trend?

Profiling:

  • Do you have a business update (new funding, milestone reached)?
  • Is you company disrupting an industry?
  • What was the inspiration behind why you strarted your company?
  • Lessons learned along the way

Thought leadership

  • What topics do you have authority to speak about ( eg, startup community in AUS, years of experience in a particular sector?)
  • What topics are trending or upcoming that you have an opinion on? What are you relevant / worth listening to?
  • Pitch future ideas to journalists based on existing pieces they have written.

Engage

  • Standard practice
  • Human connection
  • Online connection
  • The importance of respect and feedback

Summary

  • Identify VIPs and track their content
  • Stretch your story, explore all avenues
  • Develop targetted pitches to each VIP category
  • Find a reason to connect outside of your pitch
  • Take your best shot

Find 10 journalists in your space!

  • MediaNet
  • Use oDesk to compile a list surrounding keywords; $3 per hour.

Developing your pitch exercies

  • What is your product/service
  • What does your business do?
  • Who do you want to sell to?
  • What are the interests of your audience
  • What’s an angle that appeals?