Print This Article

Would you like to be more successful in your media relations this year? Resolve to follow our suggestions and you are likely to see more favorable media results.

For 2004, resolve that you will:

1. Aim to do at least one briefing each quarter with a reporter or editor from a media outlet that reaches your target audience.
   
   These should be low-key meetings over lunch or coffee that allow reporters to get a sense of you, your firm, your work, and the legal insight you can bring to future stories.
    
2. Get in the weekly habit of reviewing your work and thinking about whether something that you did for a client--a fire you put out, a novel legal issue you handled--could be the focus of a media pitch.
   
   Brainstorm regularly. Don't worry whether your ideas are "good." Resolve to think proactively about media relations, and then run your ideas by your publicist to select those that would benefit the most from media attention.
   
3. Make spokespeople available to speak to the media on the major issues of the day.
   
   Frame company bios to reflect expertise in issues that are important to the press and the public. Constantly assess the big issues you read about in the news and determine whether your group has someone with special insight that can be shared with journalists.
   
4. Develop "three-dimensional" relationships with reporters.
   
   Don't confine your approach to sending press releases, or to waiting for journalists to call you. Let reporters know when you have something newsworthy to say. Help their careers by offering exclusives or "scoops," and educate them with the legal and business nuances that can enhance their stories.
   
5. Make sure your organization's leaders are "media-ready."
   
   Don't wait for a big issue or crisis to hit. Media training should be a well-established part of your professional development program. Be prepared.

For 2004, resolve that you will not:

1. Think about publicity as an isolated activity that you carry out only when you have "news" such as a case victory or new hire.
   
   Publicity is an ongoing, strategic part of your overall marketing plan that must be maintained in order to be effective. Keep your firm in contact with key members of the media so that when news does break, you have been in front of them so often--and with such reliably solid story ideas--that they recognize you as a good source.
   
2. Pitch reporters without thoroughly researching their beats.
   
   Look up their past articles and see which topics they regularly cover. By calling a reporter with a story that is not relevant, you are not only wasting time but are possibly burning a bridge for a future pitch that may be more on point.
   
3. Send out no-news press releases.
   
   Make sure you are sending relevant information to the appropriate contact people and publications. The headline should clearly illustrate why the reporter should care about the issue at hand.
   
4. Distribute media advisories when you have no spokesperson available for follow-up press interviews.
   
   Most reporters cannot write a story based solely on a release, so know the schedule of your spokespeople prior to sending an advisory.
   
5. Say anything to a reporter that you would like to be "off the record."
   
   While it is appropriate to give reporters some industry information or background, “off the record” is not the protective phrase you may believe it to be, and reporters may not honor your request. If you aren't sure about saying something, don't say it.