Follow up

Lesson #86: Follow up

If you’ve written a press release correctly and posted it online, journalists, bloggers and consumers should be able to find it.

But if you’re also sending it either by itself or along with a customized pitch to a targeted list of media contacts and others, and if it includes important or major news, you should follow up.

Don’t simply ask “Did you get my release and do you know if you’re going to use it?” Those kinds of questions are annoying, particularly for journalists who hear that dozens of times each week.

Instead, have a reason for following up. Reasons might include:

• You’re following up to offer a reporter a “local angle” to your press release. You might have someone within your organization who lives in the community the media outlet covers, and that person would make a great interview.
  
• You’re offering a “sidebar” to the press release. That is, additional information a newspaper or magazine can use if they decide to cover it. A sidebar can be statistics, or little-known facts about a topic, or frequently asked questions.
  
• You have information that ties into the release and you’d like to offer it  exclusively to a blogger.

Don’t follow up on routine press releases about topics like new employees and promotions, however. The media get so many of those releases that they don’t have time to field those calls or respond to the emails.

You can learn more about how to follow up from the interview I conducted with publicist Jill Lublin. It’s called “Failproof Ways to Follow Up After Sending a Press Release or a Pitch Letter.” 

Opportunity #86:  White Paper you’ve written

After you’ve written a White Paper, it’s best to first write a press release about it, list the major findings, then provide a link where people can download it. Don’t just sent the White Paper to journalists and others who you think would be interested.

A White Paper is your organization’s statement about how a problem should be solved. If you sell or provide any kind of complex or technical product or service, a well-written White Paper can be a valuable tool in your sales and marketing strategy.

White Papers can be simple 1- or 2-page documents that you can write quickly. Learn more about how to get them into the hands of potential buyers, and in front of the media, by signing up for Perry Marshall’s free 5-day email course called “Attract More Customers with White Papers.”

Tomorrow:  Now, search for your releases