When to follow up a press release with a phone call
By Paul Green
One of the most common questions I get from new clients taking us on as a PR agency is “will you phone journalists after sending them a press release?”
It’s an interesting question, and as an ex-journalist, an easy one for me to answer.
The short answer is “normally, no”.
If a journalist wants something they will call you. Harassing them on the phone is not going to get media coverage.
The long answer requires putting yourself in the shoes of the journalist and working out whether your phone call will make their life easier (getting you media coverage along the way), or just be more phone spam.
There are only two reasons why you would ring a journalist after sending a release.
The first is that you have a useful resource for the media outlet that you’d like to supply them, such as a photo or piece of audio.
And the second is that you think that for whatever reason the media outlet has missed your story, but you know it’s something they will actually be very interested in (this does happen in busy newsrooms).
When you do ring, never ever ask “did you get my press release.” This is the most annoying question asked of journalists.
Busy newsdesks get hundreds of emails a day. Do you really expect them to remember your story?
The correct thing to say is “I sent you a release about xyz (five second summary of your story) and have a photo to send you”, or “do you need more information about it”. This forces the journalist or news editor to think about whether or not your story could be of interest to their audience.
Be prepared to email your release through again… do this straight away while it is fresh in their mind. And remember to paste the content of your release into the body of your email; never send attachments unless they have been requested.
Expect the phone call to be swift and short. Sometimes the journalist will go away and have a think about it and call you back.
Sometimes journalists will be rude to you on the phone, especially if your call is unwanted. Imagine you had a job with regular unmoveable deadlines, and three out of four phone calls and emails you received were irrelevant to you (but had to be sifted through to get to the good stuff). You’d be a bit grumpy too sometimes.
