

This step is about approaching the media. It's the fun bit!
We’ll take you through the etiquette of contacting the media to give you the best chance of success and we’ll show you how to find the right journalists to review your product.
We’ll also teach you about the different types of media, how they operate and we’ll prepare you for any interviews you might have.
Once you’ve worked through this step, you will be ready to go out to the media.
TYPES OF MEDIA
There are various types of media and each type works slightly differently.

Print and online media tend to have a writer that looks after a particular section or topic eg health, technology, entertainment, food & drink, beauty – the list goes on, so that’s the person to contact about reviews.

Radio stations are broken up into programs and each program will have one or two producers that look after the entire show. You have two types of radio program.
The first is talkback where the presenters discuss topics at length and bring experts on to the show and invite listeners to call in with their opinions.
The second is music based with light chat in between songs. These chat topics are often based on pop culture like discussing the latest episode of The Bachelor or celebrity gossip, so unless your product taps into this kind of subject, then you’re better off looking at talkback.
Radio presenters as a whole don’t tend to review products but the specialists they bring in do. You will find there are segments within programs that cover certain topics eg food & drink, technology, health & wellness. These are your best bets for getting your product talked about on radio.

TV is similar to radio in that it has news bulletins and magazine style programs and the same rules apply.
MEDIA DEADLINES

You also need to be aware of the timelines that media work to. All media work to lead times but not all their lead times are the same.
Monthly magazines are known as long lead publications because their lead times are three months – this means that they write their stories and send the issue to print three months before it hits the shelves. It follows that you will need to send your product to these publications over three months ahead of when you ideally want it to appear.
Weekly magazines and newspaper supplements are known as medium lead as their lead times are approximately six weeks.
Newspapers are short lead as they turn stories around in a matter of days, however the sections that cover product reviews tend to be planned and written at least a week in advance.
Radio, TV and online are considered immediate lead because they broadcast stories in a matter of hours however you need to send your product to the experts at least a week in advance of when they will be appearing on the show.
There are a number of handy tools that PRs use that you might want to consider using too.

Another free of charge service. You can set up alerts via your gmail that will monitor the web so you know when your brand has been mentioned online.
Click here to set up

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a popular sourcing service for the English-speaking world. It connects journalists and bloggers with relevant expert sources. It sends out alerts every day from reporters looking for content for their stories.
Click here to set up

It’s a call out service that media use when they are looking for story content. There are often call outs for small business owners and entrepreneurs to share their stories.
You can sign up to get their alerts for free. You can also put yourself forward as an expert so that when a journalist searches for a person to speak on your topic, your name comes up.
Click here to set up
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