Let's Talk About: 6 Surefire Ways to Build a Genuine Connection With a Journalist
PR is a long-game, and establishing authentic relationships will pay off for your entire career
Happy Tuesday, everyone.
As many of you know, I’m still recovering from double pneumonia … but I do have some good news finally (this is day 32 of my illness!): I was scheduled for an in-hospital surgical procedure tomorrow to remove the fluid from my lungs, and yesterday’s chest Xray looked so promising (thanks to round 3 of antibiotics and 4x a day albuterol nebulizer treatments) that we’ve cancelled it. Hopefully, I’ll make a 100% recovery in the coming weeks on my own!
I really appreciate all the well wishes I’ve received over the last month, the GrubHub and UberEats gift cards you’ve sent, and the advice some of you who have dealt with pneumonia/respiratory issues have bestowed upon me. I’ve been soaking up all the love!
I’m hoping to get back to my regular assignment pace in the next week or so and have a few exciting announcements of new outlets I’ll be contributing to, so stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, thanks for your patience as I find my way back to health.
This whole situation has gotten me thinking about the topic of building genuine connections with media. As we all know, there’s a transactional way to conduct business (generic, mass pitches with a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am approach) and there’s a relationship-based approach (where you take the time to personalize and humanize your outreach efforts). Of course the transactional approach is easier and faster, but will it pay off in the long run? Probably not.
By going the extra mile to connect with journalists in a personal way, you’re forming a relationship and a bond that could last decades and span many clients/outlets. Becoming a journalist’s go-to PR person or a name they recognize in their inbox and are excited to read a pitch from doesn’t just happen overnight … you need to carefully cultivate that relationship and build an authentic connection. And the way to do that is to take the time to get a little personal.
So how do you do that? Here are six surefire ways for building a long-lasting relationship with media that will serve you throughout your entire career: