Using email and analytics to track actions and score coverage

Take the guesswork out of your media pitches. Use analytics to target the media in the same manner you might a consumer. Here are 5 tips on how to get started.

When you hear statements such as “Reporters like …” and “Editors prefer …” you may assume that “I suspect that” should have been added to the beginning of the sentence.

For all the relationship development, phone calls, and research, PR professionals could create more value by paying attention to the actions of the people on their target list. Actions, as they say, speak louder than words, and I’d put more faith in a click than I would in an anecdote from a colleague.

You can use the same systems deployed elsewhere in the marketing department for customer intelligence to learn from the actions of your top media outlets. Use information from email marketing platforms, Web analytics, and other tools to refine your press releases, pitch smarter, and generate measurable results.

Here are five questions that will help take the guesswork out of pitching—and learn the truth about what your top targets most prefer.

1. What gets their attention?

How often do you struggle over the right subject line for a pitch or headline for a press release? This is the first thing your target audience sees, and you have only a few words to persuade that reporter to open an email message from you.

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