3 New York Times placements in 3 wks

I had an inside viewpoint on three significant New York Times placements over the past three weeks.

They were landed by members of my Inner Circle program. Here are some details and thoughts for you:

These three PR pros represent a medium-sized internet company, a large trade association, and a large privately held company.  These are standalone stories – not quotes or mentions. They were all feature-ish, not breaking news. And in these cases, all three began with cold outreach – no previous relationships.

Here’s the kicker: the average time these three PR pros spent cultivating these specific placements was one year.

As one of them wrote me in exultation last week: “It’s indeed all about consistency – and never giving up along the way!”

Unless you have some crazy-hot breaking news, or unless you work for a large company or major political figure, it will likely take you a long time to break into the nation’s paper of record.

So when your bosses tell you they want to be in the NYT, you should tell them that unless they are willing to do something crazy-rebellious to garner attention, it will take a long time.

I’m not trying to dissuade you from setting your sights ambitiously high like this. I mean, the success of these members shows that it can happen, right?

Everything good that’s ever happened in my media relations career came from letting people stretch my vision. I’m just uniquely fortunate to work with so many savvy PR pros, so I can give you a realistic understanding of what it takes to pursue this type of success.

Landing this type of pinnacle placement certainly brings euphoria and supercharges your career. But even better, it means you have established the beginnings of a mutually beneficial relationship that makes the next NYT placement much, much easier to land.

Case in point – shortly after one of our members, Heather, landed her coveted hit, the same NYT staffer mentioned to her the type of source he was seeking for a different story, knowing it has nothing to do with her company. Heather then posted those details on our private Inner Circle forum. A fellow member across the country had the perfect person, and Heather then connected him with the NYT staffer.

So now Heather has not only shared a useful story idea with this staffer that resulted in a successful story for him, but she’s also uncovered a hard-to-find source for him. That’s the snowball effect that happens when you play at this level.

Heather and the other two members were once merely reading these weekly posts just like you. If you’d like to learn more about what it takes to win this type of coverage and build these kinds of relationships, apply for the Inner Circle yourself.