Some say BI, some say WSJ

One of my favorite things about doing PR in this day and age is learning about and keeping up with all the new and developing media outlets.

During my pitching workshops I show a slide of the Top 35 digital-only news sites and everyone counts up the number they are familiar with. The average is about 20 – and I bet your boss has heard of even fewer than that.

At the same time, venerable outlets are still plugging away, some even experiencing paid subscription growth.

The key is in recognizing that there is no longer any such thing as a “national” media outlet. Every site reaches only a segment of the amorphous blob of differing ages, ideologies, and interests. It’s thrilling!

Your bosses still swear by the WSJ (because they secretly hope their b-school buddies who read it will see their names :). But sometimes they forget that the new recruits they’re trying to reach are actually surfing Business Insider instead.

Neither outlet is “right” or “wrong” – that’s where your knowledge and expertise come in.

Take Ashley Davidson of Fish Consulting, who runs a team of pitching pros focused on propelling franchise businesses to new heights. A couple weeks ago she shared this with me:

“I was already an account director at an agency and a busy freelance writer when I took your media relations workshop, but the strategies and actionable advice you shared had a huge impact. One of your core principles about strategizing our media targets immediately changed the way my team pitched, and we follow it religiously to this day. Applying what I learned from you allowed us to land placements in The Wall Street Journal, Cheddar, Nation's Restaurant News, Business Insider, and CNN Business when we recently helped Jamba announce its rebrand.”

You don’t land the same announcement in outlets that diverse without first understanding the nuances and preferences that distinguish them from each other.

I’d love to help you get results like Ashley and her team are getting.

Join me at my next Secrets of Media Relations Masters workshop in New York in September. This is a popular destination (squeeze in some newsroom visits while you’re there – I’ll show you how) at an optimal time of year. The last several have sold out, so we added more capacity this time, but still… I wouldn’t wait.