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Develop Your Media List

Lesson 5 from: Simple PR for Creatives

Brigitte Lyons

Develop Your Media List

Lesson 5 from: Simple PR for Creatives

Brigitte Lyons

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Lesson Info

5. Develop Your Media List

Lesson Info

Develop Your Media List

Develop your media lists were going to take what you just did and lesson three we're going to take those ideas of what you want to be known for and use them to guide our research and of figuring out which media specific so we looked at media types in and lesson to write we looked at you want to do blog's gonna do websites you want to do local media and this is going to get more specific about what are the actual media outlets then that are going to make the most sense for you and you know working with the media what's really important to know is that your objective is always to be working with the media that air facilitating the conversations you want to be part of so now we know generally speaking what kinds of conversations you want to be having what kind of conversations you want to be part of what you want to be saying and so what we want to do is leverage that information and use it to guide a search where we can find the media outlets that are already having those conversations s...

o one thing that people can sometimes do when they start doing their pr program is they'll want to start their media outreach with the outlets that they really like right? You want to start with your favorite magazine um or you want to start with your favorite blogger your favorite website and this doesn't always make the most sense because they might not be having the conversations you want to be having um sometimes those conversations that they're facilitating for instance, our talking to your peers in your industry they're talking to other artists they're talking to other makers there talking to other coaches or designers when you want to be talking to customers and you want to be having the kinds of conversations that are really lighting up your customers and bringing them to you so it's important to broaden our search outside of what we would normally be looking at if we're going to have those kinds of results that we really want to drive our business so what I'll share with you our three techniques and then I'm actually going to demo one of these live for you three techniques that I use when we're building a media list for our clients and they're actually this like fun to me this is the fun stuff right? Because the first one what I'm going to recommend to you to dio is you take a half day pick a day this week or next week when you could take a half day and go to a bookstore it could be an independent bookstore it can be a barnes and noble you know, whatever it is, but if you could go to something that is a brick and mortar bookstore that has a magazine stacks and you could just browse them and when you're browsing ma'am think about from the perspective again the conversations you want to be having in what would catch your customers I you're not looking for the magazines that you want to bring home and read right you wanna bring the magazines that you think your customers want to bring home and read what kinds of headlines air catching their eye what kind of topics are they going to be drawn teo so what could be helpful here is actually bringing to mind a visual ization of who one of your favorite customers this and if you don't meet your customers wanna want that's okay I mean you can think about you know maybe there's somebody corresponded with on social media somebody who's emailed you and just make some assumptions and knowing what you know about them you know use that data that you have and just think about what is it that might catch their eye and make a note of those the other one is internet sleuthing so that's what I'm going to be demonstrating so we'll just get that one for now but thie internet research is really powerful and can get you started and then the last technique is scoping out your competitors so this is my favorite sneaky trick for building up your media list because there are other people we've talked about that you know there are other people already having these kinds of conversations maybe they're seeing something similar to what you are maybe they're saying those things that you really want to go out there and say that's that's leading all straight that's okay too but what we know is that if somebody is covering your competitors and talking about those topics then they're also looking for a new fresh voice is to come in so they're going to be looking for your voice and they're going to be really interested in hearing from you don't make the mistake of saying they've already covered that they've already covered that so there's no place for me because when they've already covered that what they're telling you oh is that that's within their coverage area that's in within the sphere that they're looking for and so we're going to be looking at something techniques of how to make yours a little fresh so if it's a good angle but once you see that is actually a very good sign for you and very positive when you're looking at media outlets some things to look for our that could've been me when you read it when you see a headline or when you see an article and you're like hang on tang like I missed my chance this is the perfect article for me nope you have a miss your chance put that puppy under media list you also like we said wantto look at headlines that grab your customers attention so that's the most important were going to say that again again keep your customer ahead of you you know that's why we're doing this actually write to reach more people to sell more product to sell more services on dh then you also want to have that feeling that you found a really good for it so some of this is just kind of intuitive doesn't feel right you know it's it's not a science it's really an art and so like any art there's just that little bit of ability teo be intuitive about and say I think this might work for me let's try it out and not feel like you have to be super richard about it so what I'd like to do actually is pull up the web now and maybe we have time for two of these where we can do some media research and find some outlets because I think it would be fun to start with you and actually in the last lesson we were looking at what your messages are and so to bring you up and look at some of those terms and see what might make sense for us if you want to sit on this stool here fist are over here that's right? Yeah okay and we're just going to do a little bit of sleuthing and what we're going to do is think about so if if I am somebody who wants to train to become a chef, what kind of information am I coming across what am I finding because those are the kinds of places that you probably want to break into. So can you just remind us, what were some of those questions that people come to you for from lesson three? So, uh, male planning for personal chefs or pricing howto price your services as a personal chef. Okay, let's, try that one. So I'm just searching. Howto price started it's. Oops! And we're going to see what comes up here. So you can see that there's. Some people that actually have their pricing right away. So that's a little bit trickier. Um, what about just something so simple as how to get started as a personal chef or how to become a person? So sometimes you have to. If you have something that's really specific, get back it off a little bit. Okay so then here you see a new association chefs played dot monster so it's actually a job listing this looks like it does training you know sometimes you have to do a little bit of ah ah a little bit of searching which is normal okay but here wow. Usa today personal chefs fill a growing need so this is like a pretty big deal here that we have similar lebron I like it so what I would do next is if I were building your own media list I would just click on this and take a look at it what you can see here is usa today how this article in april twenty fourteen and it actually talks about you know specifically becoming a personal chef and why people are doing it and how they're attainable services so I feel like if I were you I would definitely what I would do next is I would put this down I would market town um you know right out what you say today you know their names put this nina rizzo's name and your media list and put the name of the headline on the link if you can into a spreadsheet and then you can go back to it later after we've looked at the third segment and make sure it's a good fit for you so that's where I would start um and then I would just kind of keep to a mess so some of the other things you were talking about is like how to x extend or what prat what foods last the longest rights right so how people ask that question words they used play ludes last in fridge yeah without well meals or what meals so their storage times still tasty there is the kitchen so um here guided refrigerator safety so we're thinking with that is you know something like this we have the kitchen or here's how long your food will stay safe in the fridge of the huffington post the's might also be talking to people who are looking for personal cooking information so might not be targeted but I think that if I were a personal chef and I was searching these things I would also read these articles so you know sometimes there's a bit of a balance in doing your media outreach is how wide of the net are you gonna be casting right and if you feel like you know the kitchen is a great fit because they talk about a lot of food issues then it could be ok to cast a little bit of a wider net sure same thing was something like the huffington post you know what I would do is I would go to their website and see like we just did before you know who is writing the article and then I click around and see this person like what other kind of articles are they writing? A lot of food articles and see if they make sense for you. So the food editor so really, really great contact for you. I'm gonna you follow around sooner and connect with her so literally. That is how it's, that simple of just taking those things that your customers are asking you and then typing them and doing some searches and thinking about from their perspective, when I click on this, when I open it, and if so, that's probably the kind of media outlet you want to be running out. Okay, thank you so much, him, that we would do another one. And, um, I can't for you to do with your mind. Come on up, come on up here, okay, okay, now we know we have some new people maybe turning for this segment. So your name's tash and you have coaster matt and have coast dramatic and coast dramatic is a instagram to coaster service. And so you go to costa mac dot com, and you can log in with your instagram user name and password and pick up to four different images. And then we print those on a really high quality coaster that super absorbent and doesn't like. Stick to your glass when you pick it up. Um, yeah, okay, awesome. So what air? What were some of those things that you did in less than three? What were some of those things that people are asking are looking for when they're coming across your product. I think lots of people are looking for, like a personalized gifts, something that's really special. Okay, so let's, start there. Personalized gift. Okay so here again you have one of those issues where thes air a lot of competitive websites selling their own products and and this is something that's home une makers come up against it's a problem that people have a lot and I think a lot of people start googling this and get really frustrated and stuck right one thing we might do is think about who is the gift for because when you think about gift guides and you'll start to notice these things from memory said like check out the magazines at bookstores and and check out websites and see what you notice you start picking this up so they usually have like a personal angus for thereby recipient or personal gifts under there by price so let's be a little more specific okay who are they looking for what kind of price range might you work under um so maybe like a gift under fifty dollars or for mother's day oh I love that so let's go to um gifts for mom start there okay so here you have gifts her mom gives dot com of course is a vendor but then you have uncommon goods okay which is another vendor and the new of seventeen perfect sixteen best holiday gifts for mom so it depends I mean it's seventeen is that going to be a buyer for you like a teenager could be would be but maybe so you know you want to think about something like that and say, like it's, not really my ideal customer there, maybe not. I mean, maybe so right, maybe not, but you keep looking there and you see good housekeeping. That would be a good a good place, but it will be a great place to be looking. So country living, right, there's, another one. And then I think gen had that idea of photo gifts, so let's, see what that does. And it doesn't have to be for mom but see see here again you're having that little issue where you're having competitors coming up although if you keep scrolling you do see better homes and gardens and mother's day gifts mothers say photo gets regular pardons so then this sounds totally perfect really perfect so you know, the next thing you do is of course you want to click on that media and see you know what are the kind of coverage that they have here so you see mother's day photo gifts celebrate your mom by turning loving memories and heartfelt mother's day gifts jen this is a great one for you too is this perfect? So now you any any photographer anyone with customized gifts might be able to work with this on and don't worry that other people really pitching it tio s so what I would do is actually, you know, take down better homes and gardens take down the actual name of article that's going to help you later, okay as we're looking at your story ideas and you can kind of click around and look at it here there isn't a name of somebody right? We're going to come back later and figure out who the name of the people are that we're gonna be reaching out to so I don't want to worry too much about that right now. It just gets information down there and actually I don't even think that jake hey or anyone here knows about this because I have a special surprise in here where there's a link tio media list template there's a spreadsheet length so it's in a shared google drive folder that you can just open up and if you have the workbook and you download it you can click on this link and there's a temple it media list spreadsheet you can download or copy and insert your insert this information into there too so don't be so helpful yeah I just said what else reading the workbook together I thought you know people could really use a spreadsheet definitely definitely templates always hope yeah so you can write it down in a notebook but I think it's easier as you're going to track it in a spreadsheet okay great okay awesome thank you very much you're welcome we've got a good start you've got a good start just what I wanted to call you up too and do one do a quick search for you we were talking a little bit before the show when you were saying you weren't quite sure what media outlets to go teo so and we have enough time to do one more okay so tell me a little bit about what your customers were saying they're looking for um you know, they come to me because they want to remodel their home, but they're really confused about the process and they're hoping that I could just sort of helped him with everything because it seems very overwhelming okay so when they're starting the process they're thinking of like something like starting a home remodel right? We want to be really basic like people put things like really think about like what are the kinds of things that people who would usually search here and started kind of basic places oh it should be getting your homework model to a good start fres fresh home missing in h ten things not to do on remodeling your home home guys that sf gate what you should do when you start or what should you start first when renovating a house so your local so this is like so awesome so that's exactly what I do is you know I would have clicked on all of those s o when you're back home you know definitely you can click on all of those and folks at home right now you know you can start doing this search and just do some really simple looking to see if you're finding anything with those terms is we're showing this because it's it's just this amazing opportunity so here you can see that they're running different home gate home guys indifferent content here and so this would be something that I would absolutely be putting on your media list too does that feel like helpful way to get started yeah it does I can't believe it seems so easy yeah thea for great is I merge it definitely giving you the simplest tips to do this but honestly when we're working of clients we can pull it back up this lights I think we're good with the demos thank you so much for joining us up here you know when you're when you're pulling together your media list it really is that simple this is how we start the research when we work with clients when clans have with me on a retainer this is the one of the first things that I do for them you know I spend that time playing those things together so it's a great technique that you can use yet jenny in question would you say that it would be helpful I have a client who's also a friend of mine and sort of instead of assuming what my client reads or once or is interested about asking them maybe what they read what they know those kinds of things would you yeah so what I would do is actually go back and ask some of those questions that we did in less than three like what were you looking for? What attracted you to me because sometimes your clients don't always give us the best information um it's really hard to extrapolate like a big picture off of anecdotal right of the case study of one um the other thing is like one person you know, their habits might not extrapolated everyone's so you can ask that sort of thing but and they tend to say like all I do really reach her there from a lot of people I don't really read I have friends I don't read any blocks you don't read the huffington post are you serious on dh I know that you read what's that guy who makes all the nasty pictures on celebrities whatever that website is prez health I know yuri press hilton because you sent me links all the time you read blog's you just don't know that they're walks so it's sometimes you're not gonna get the best answers from people because they're not thinking about it in the same way that you are but it doesn't hurt those questions you have in the third lesson will be more helpful there so your action now is to uh research and find three to five media outlets you could go up to ten if you want but three to five media outlets that you'd like to pitch who were the people you'd like to get started with try out these research techniques you know go to the bookstore, do some internet sleuthing, check out your competitors and just shot down the people that you think you want to get started with if you put him into a template that's great and put some sample articles because you'll be coming back to that later as we go and this will give you a great head start as your brainstorming exactly what your specific angles are so that's really a rapper for segment we have your ninety minute pr plan we did it we put it together you know what your goals are you have your messages you know what kind of media you want to reach out tio and you have all the tools you need build a really top notch media list so I think we're ready to wrap and go on I'd love to know is there a media outlet that you know right now that you want to put on that list parent magazine parenting magazine working mom both magazines and online especially if they have the local ones as well absolutely absolutely perfect melissa there's there's a as my creativity with my creativity instigator cap on mind body green and with my artist cap on somerset studio magazine create one great one I know that's something that a lot of people are probably interested in tash you had your hand up to a real simple magazine ok fabulous one of my favorites favorites now donna berland has been following along and following your your tip here bridget and she says since she designed and make clothes for women who travel for business she simply googled women traveling for business and she's already got some of the answers I mean simple is that it really is people I share this tip with people who do from my other programs and they come back and say I don't know what to put in there I'm like did you try this did you actually try the goodwill technique because it really does work and it is such a powerful way to get started and when when you start your media outreach you know it just takes that one great so all it takes is finding one really good fit to create that amazing momentum in your business that was worth the cost of this class for sure I mean seriously and it's just in the first ninety minutes so not not bad has some I hope I give you somewhere that everything I'm interested because neha gandhi's joining is the chairman and they're saying they're three they need to contact yusa today the record on the new york times magazine now when I read those names there's a very high profile publications and I really admire that she's got that goal do you feel people are often intimidated by reaching out you know they'd like to start local or something smaller or should people just go for it say I want to be in usa today so I'm going to go and go for usa today yeah there is no I mean there is no harm and going for it and actually I know a lot of people that have had breakout success with big media like that so there's something about the media that sometimes they really like to discover people like that's kind of their business, they like to tell good stories. They like to break something new. And as we go on and we talk about what the pitch ingalls are in the pitch, templates are you are going to be and such a better position than ninety percent of the people sending pitches to those outlets that are just sending things that aren't customized, that are really general and vague. You're going to know exactly how to fill what those kind of outlets are looking for that that's great were also in the next segment, though, going to be looking at specifically how you qualify, that you're a good fit for them. So there is a little bit more work to do of digging on. Is that exactly the right match for you? And I'm gonna show you exactly how to get under the skin under the hood of the media to make sure those of the right outlets.

Class Materials

bonus material

Brigitte Lyons - Blogger Outreach Bootcamp.pdf
Brigitte Lyons - Pitches That Worked.pdf
Brigitte Lyons - Workbook - Simple PR for Creatives.pdf

bonus material

Brigitte Lyons - Brigittes Fave Free Media Resources.pdf
Brigitte Lyons - Magazine Contact Cheat Sheet.pdf
Brigitte Lyons - Simple PR Course Syllabus.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Jess Laine
 

This is one of the best CreativeLive classes I've taken. I knew nothing about PR before this class and after taking it I was able to send my first pitch within a week. If you follow along with the workbook provided you really can come up with a pitch template that can can be tweaked to work for just about anything. I really appreciate how simple and enjoyable Brigitte made this class. No fluff, just great straight-to-the point actionable information. It's obvious she cares very much about helping creative people use PR to grow their business. Thanks Brigitte!

a Creativelive Student
 

I honestly started watching this class thinking that I didn't need PR for my business. I know Brigitte is super smart, and I wanted to check out the live stream to see if I could pick up any tips for my own clients. I was so wrong! I loved this! Within the first 30 minutes I had taken so many notes and gotten so excited about the possibilities- that not only seemed helpful, but relatively easy and FUN- for my business. I ended up purchasing right away and I know I'll be referring back again and again. Thanks for the great class!

a Creativelive Student
 

What a terrific, informational and inspiring course! We now have a solid plan to move forward with our PR, and the know-how to accomplish our goals, only 8 hours after logging in to CreativeLive! Thanks in advance to Brigitte for making the murky world of PR crystal-clear and accessible. Best wishes, Lori Covington, Writer, Jeanette Walker Jewellery, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Student Work

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