Journalist Relationship Deal-Breakers

By Emily Fellows, Intern at Kai Communications. 

PR and journalism have common goals to provide newsworthy, interesting information and be heard by their audiences on the same platforms, but from a PR perspective, building relationships with journalists can be difficult.

Here are some of the things journalists tell us they would like PR’s to avoid: 

1. Inaccurate information  

Information provided to journalists must be accurate. Ensuring that research is correctly sourced as a hyperlink as part of the article and quotes are fully approved are of upmost importance. 

2. Irrelevant pitches 

Make sure the content that you are sending to journalists is relevant to their target audiences otherwise journalists won’t hesitate to block PR companies that send them irrelevant pitches. 

3. Following up too much 

When following up with journalists do not pester or repeatedly spam over the phone or on email. Having a clear and engaging introduction and captivating heading to grab attention, will mean you don’t have to check that your article is of interest, as opposed to missed or deleted.

4. Being unreliable

If journalists need specific answers to difficult questions or information you don’t have to hand, don’t ignore or dodge their questions or make up an answer on the spot.  Say you will find out and get back to them as quickly as possible. 

5. Robot responses  

Don’t answer journalist enquiries or speak to them on the phone in a monotonal, script like way. If you want them to be interested, you need to sound engaged and have just the right amount of energy but without an obvious salesy or false tone. 

6. Cancelling last minute 

Creating a successful bond with journalists needs good communication and reliability. Cancelling communications such as interviews at the last minute can ruin reputations and this bond.

7. Providing slow responses 

Journalists often work to very tight deadlines so need to be provided quickly with relevant information.  Never offer your clients up for an interview if they are not going to be available.