Journalism is a unique form of communication, and one that despite it’s relatively small presence online compared to other forms of media (spam alone accounts for 70% of online communication), still holds a huge amount of influence over audiences.

Journalism is unique in the online sphere because of its purpose. Journalism aims to provide verified, fact-based information drawn from reliable sources, which is then supported with insight about what that information means – what its implications are.

In essence, journalism is designed to inform people about the truth behind the facts, and help people make sense of an overwhelming world.

The digital realm has put pressure on journalism. It’s now more important to be first than to get your facts right, and verification is under pressure. Precisely because of this, journalists who do commit to a higher standard of editorial practice become all the more influential. They stand out and shine brighter. In this way, digital journalism has become more influential, not less, and that creates opportunities to harness that influence.

Why is journalism important to you?

Journalists can be of huge benefit to your business. The mindset they employ can be invaluable to shaping how you can work more successfully in the PR arena, and their influence can be a powerful tool.

So, how do you make it easy for journalists to feature you?

Know What You’re Asking For

Before you contact a journalist you need to know what you want to see said about your business in print. If you don’t know, why should they? Journalists will instantly dump any communication that doesn’t have a strong, clear pitch that they can understand from the title alone. They don’t have time to forensically analyse your email to deduce, Sherlock Holmes style, what it is you want.

Make Sure You Can Back It Up

When you decide to ask for coverage in the press, you need to remember that the thing that differentiates journalists from bloggers or twitter personalities is their rigour. They want verifiable facts to base things on. As such, if you’re asking to be called “The Most Exciting New Company In [INDUSTRY]”, make sure you can point to evidence in multiple forms – a unique innovation, testimonials, test results, user ratings, sales figures… hype can’t come from nowhere.

Get Your Targets Right

Approaching a finance writer about your new industrial engineering machines isn’t going to get you very far. Do your research, target the right people and get them behind you.

Journalists talk to each other – they work very closely together in their own offices and often know the people doing their job over at a competing news outlet. If you spam everyone in a hundred-mile radius, the chance they laugh about you over coffee goes up, and your chance a feature goes down.

Choose carefully and personalize. You don’t have to jump immediately into contacting the top influencers worldwide – it is always a good move to start small and let things snowball from there.

Journalists work hard to develop their reputation as an authority in their field on social media, so follow them on Twitter and get a feel for what they publish, so you can pitch your stories more in line with what you know they like to talk about.

Use A Press Release

A press release is a standard piece of communication used to inform journalists, in as concise a manner as possible, what it is you want, why it matters, what it changes, and why they should care. It’s a one-page document that includes all the essential information, with just enough flavour to tantalize a journalist into asking more questions and looking deeper.

A great press release should perform like a billboard with a photo of a delicious burger on it, right when you’re hungry. It should present an immediate and exciting solution to a hole they have to fill in their coverage. You can find out more about effective press release writing in our next article.

Get Distributed

By using a service like PRWire Asia, you are giving your press release the best chance at distribution, and the best possible way for journalists to discover your story.

Unlike contacting journalists directly and risking wasting their time, you can put your Press Release on hundreds of sites, where journalists go to actively search for relevant content.

PRWire Asia can also help you target your release to PR Wires and networks that will put your release in front of the most relevant audiences, all while boosting your SEO and online marketing efforts.

Simple, affordable and easy to use, the site even offers professional writing services to draft releases on your behalf.

Watch Your Presence Build

By spending time courting and recruiting journalists, you can now reap the rewards of their influence and audience. Journalists may simply retweet your Press Release with a quick comment, or they may create a featured article on your product or service on their personal blog. At best, they’ll report your news through their news outlet.

Any of these outcomes will yield significant positives for your business. Journalists are now just one type of online influencer, but they are the most influential, and their word carries the most weight thanks to their expertise, integrity and position. An article from them can be thought of as a form of celebrity endorsement.

Journalists Are The Gatekeepers Of Public Relations

Guerilla PR is great and there is a place for it in the modern world, but the importance of journalism can’t be underestimated. Journalists benefit from a heritage brand tied into their industry, and you can benefit from it too. Contacting people individually can be exhausting and can actually work against you – pestering them instead of letting them discover you organically. Using a PR distribution service can help you get the results you need.

PRWire Asia can see your press release listed on Google News, Yahoo! News to ABC, FOX, CBS and many more in no time at all. All you have to do is submit your PR, select your options, and watch it fly.