{"id":6293,"date":"2016-01-16T15:34:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T15:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/tips\/?p=6293"},"modified":"2024-05-01T23:28:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T23:28:49","slug":"publicity-tips-take-a-reporter-to-lunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/tips-of-the-week\/publicity-tips-take-a-reporter-to-lunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a Reporter to Lunch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\">Issue #986 Jan. 16, 2016<br \/> Publisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">&#8220;Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity&#8221;<\/h2>\n<h3><strong>In This Issue<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Take a Reporter to Lunch<\/li>\n<li>Meet &#8217;em at Conferences Too<\/li>\n<li>Add a LinkedIn Header<\/li>\n<li>Hound Video of the Week<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>This Weekend in the Hound House:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know one Green Bay Packers fan who&#8217;s predicting a win over the Arizona Cardinals tonight for the NFL Divisional Round title. The Pack scored just eight points in a 38-8 blowout loss to Arizona in Week 16. With my Cheesehead hat planted firmly on my head, I&#8217;ll be cheering on the green and gold anyway.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>1. Invite a Reporter to Lunch<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6295 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/01\/restaurant-cafe-vector300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"190\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you aren&#8217;t inviting local media and bloggers to lunch every six months or so, you&#8217;re missing a chance to stay on their radar. Here are tips for breaking bread with reporters.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The restaurant doesn&#8217;t have to be fancy, and it shouldn&#8217;t be noisy. A coffee shop is fine.<\/li>\n<li>Research the reporter before you meet. Read recent articles. Find clues about their personal life in their Twitter and Facebook feeds, and at the media outlet&#8217;s website.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t assume you will pay for lunch. Some reporters are prohibited from accepting anything of value, including meals. Before the wait staff comes to the table, ask, &#8220;I&#8217;d be happy to pay for lunch. But it&#8217;s your call. How would you like to handle this?&#8221; If they want to pay, let them.<\/li>\n<li>Be helpful. Offer background, story ideas, industry news and commentary. Start by asking, &#8220;How can I help you?&#8221; Listen!<\/li>\n<li>Keep a list of things you promise to send the reporter afterward, and send it.<\/li>\n<li>Ask, &#8220;Is it OK if we meet again in six months?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To do: Invite a media person to lunch. Rinse. Repeat.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Meet &#8217;em at Conferences Too<\/h3>\n<p>More places to meet the media and invite them for coffee: Industry conferences, conventions and trade shows they&#8217;re covering or where they&#8217;re speaking.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger event, the more likely the sponsor has set aside a Media Room for journalists. Hang out outside the room. Introduce yourself as they come and go.<\/p>\n<p>You can ask the event sponsor for a list of media who will be attending. If you get it, you can schedule coffee or lunch a few weeks before the event. <\/p>\n<p>To do: Jot this idea on your calendar if you&#8217;re planning to attend or speak at a big gig this year.<\/p>\n<h3>3.\u00a0 Add a LinkedIn Header<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6297\" src=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/01\/Neil-Schaffers-LinkedIn-header.jpg\" alt=\"Neil Schaffer's LinkedIn header\" width=\"300\" height=\"101\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Adding a large photo as a header on your LinkedIn profile can help you command attend.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s tricky because your headshot and headline take up a significant chunk of that large background photo. <\/p>\n<p>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160421063716\/http:\/\/tatudigital.com:80\/site\/9-examples-of-the-new-linkedin-headers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">9 Examples of the New LinkedIn Headers<\/a> at the Digital Media blog.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lori Ruff&#8217;s<\/strong> screams &#8220;credibility&#8221; and expert.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>No doubt what <strong>Neal Schaffer<\/strong> does for a living.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Viveka von Rosen<\/strong> includes her phone number in her photo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lee Odden&#8217;s<\/strong> book is front and center. <\/p>\n<p>You can also find a more detailed explanation from <strong>Kathy Bernard<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/how-add-banner-image-free-linkedin-account-kathy-bernard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;How to Add a Banner Image to a Free LinkedIn Account.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>To do: Decide on what you want your background to emphasize, and hire a graphic artist.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Hound Video of the Week<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6299 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/01\/bernese.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><\/p>\n<p>80 Seconds of Pure <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Rrc89H1Wi1E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adorable Bernese Mountain Puppies<\/a>.<\/p>\n[Tweet &#8220;#PublicityTips from @PublicityHound&#8211; Take a Reporter to Lunch&#8221; #Pitchingthemedia&#8221;]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h2>The Publicity Hound&#8217;s Tips of the Week<\/h2>\n<h3>&#8211; Issue #986 Jan. 16, 2016<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Take a Reporter to Lunch<\/li>\n<li>Meet &#8217;em at Conferences Too<\/li>\n<li>Add a LinkedIn Header<\/li>\n<li>Hound Video of the Week<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"readmore\"><a href=\"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/tips\/?p=6293\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/tips-of-the-week\/publicity-tips-take-a-reporter-to-lunch\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"rmlink\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":3,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[43,3,580,36,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-6293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tips-of-the-week","8":"tag-book-marketing","9":"tag-book-promotion","10":"tag-canonical-url","11":"tag-pitching-the-media","12":"tag-press-releases","13":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}