Five Ways You Could Be Stopping Journalists to Publish Your Stories

Whether planning an outreach campaign or already in the midst of a PR distribution strategy, here are five more mistakes to avoid when reaching out to journalists:


1. Thinking You Have Creative Control

The moment your press release lands in the journo’s mailbox, it technically becomes their property. Not in the sense that they can alter the facts or general subject of the PR, but they’ve full creative control with regard to how the information is subsequently presented. This is where outreach campaigns often go wrong – those behind them attempting to take full creative control. Avoid the temptation to tell journalists how to do their job – trust them instead to do their thing.

2. Bugging Them with Reminders

Do journalists and publishers lose and/or forget about PRs on a regular basis? Of course they do. Does this mean bugging them with reminders is a good idea? No way. If it’s a time-critical story/announcement and the deadline is fast approaching, there’s justification for giving them a gentle ‘nudge’ at the right time. If there’s no real hurry and it’s only been a day or two, hold off a little longer. It could simply be that your PR is at the bottom of their list of priorities – reminding them it exists won’t suddenly inspire them to prioritise it.

3. Creating a False Sense of Urgency

Most experienced journalists know every trick in the book and aren’t in the habit of falling for them. In this instance, we’re talking the classic “I’ve also pitched this suggestion to X and Y outlets who are very interested, but I wanted to give you first refusal” or something along similar lines. You’re basically saying “take my fantastic story before somebody else beats you to the punch.” And it’s a tactic that doesn’t work – it simply screams of desperation and won’t work in your favour.

4. Failing to Refuse Rejection

Where a media outlet refuses to publish your story or content, it’s for a valid and obvious reason in their minds. In which case, attempting to persuade them otherwise is a waste of time. It’s also likely to cast aspersions on your credibility, while at the same time making it unlikely they’ll consider your future requests. Where faced with a rejection, it’s best to thank them for their time, walk away and approach them at a later date with something more relevant.

5. Going for the Hard Sell

Last but not least, any press release or piece of outreach content that smacks of pure promotion for your products, your services or your business isn’t going to work. Press releases are supposed to be informative in nature and in some way relevant/valuable to the recipient. They don’t exist simply as a means by which to sell your products and services without paying for conventional advertising space. If you want all future requests to find their way straight in to the trash, try pitching a post that’s all about the hard sell.

Summer 2019 - Online Marketing Statistics

The 2019 summer is already proving to be a fascinating period in the world of web marketing statistics. Or at least, fascinating if you are keeping up with the major topics like artificial intelligence, influencer marketing and the power of online video.

So here is a short summary of just a few revealing statistics from the past weeks that attracted our attention.

AI marketing is set to explode by 2022

A recent study by Forbes Insights and Quantcast suggests that online markets worldwide are planning significant investments in AI over the next few years. More specifically, around 535 of web marketers have the intention to spend more on AI in the next 4 years, while 17% intend to invest heavily in AI. More than half of those studied declared they had personally observed improvements to customer retention since introducing AI. Particularly when it comes to customer service, AI is dramatically transforming the way businesses improve their online user experience.

More children than ever before want to be influencers
The social media influencer as an idea didn’t even exist a few years ago. Nowadays, a study by Awin suggests that nearly 70% of children between 11 and 16 have aspirations to become social media influencers. Additionally, 155 of children have the intention to build careers on YouTube. Both of these numbers are higher than the number of children who want to become vets or teachers. But while children are dreaming of becoming the next huge social media success, nearly half of the parents involved in the survey had no idea what a social media influencer is all about or how it works.

Blue Monday appears to drive strong online retail sales

Online retailers seem to have taken full advantage of the most depressing day of the year – January 21. Turning to online shopping as a distraction from the gloom elsewhere, EmpathyBroker reported a noticeable increase in shopping-based online searched compared to a typical Monday. This amounted to around 30% heavier shopping traffic than the typical for a less-depressing Monday at any other time.

YouTube’s revenues from ads are still on the up

As every year, YouTube has once again achieved some impressive revenue growth – an 11% increase in 2018 compared to the previous year. Media and entertainment brands contributed in excess of 30% to YouTube’s advertising revenues.

Video reviews are preferred to textual write-ups

Lastly, a recent study by Small Business Trends confirmed the potential influence and value of quality video marketing. In this case, the study revealed that nearly four times more people prefer watching a video review of a product that simply reading about it. Along with the simplicity to deal with compared to block after block of text, a video review can help build a deeper connection with the viewer and can deliver much more detailed visual product information.