When growing your business, or attempting to acquire more backlinks, doing PR outreach can be a great way to get more exposure. However, PR is everchanging and there is a lot of etiquette involved.
So if you are going to do PR outreach for your business, be sure you don’t do these moves.
The Worst Things You Can Do During PR Outreach
According to a study by HubSpot, here are the worst offenses ranked by over 500 PR professionals:
Not Doing Your Research
The most annoying thing PR pros said was receiving pitches that weren’t relevant to their beat. So make sure that you look into the reporters background and experience before you send them your pitch.
On top of this, not researching the publication before reaching out, is equally as bad. So while you might be targeting big name publications, take into account that your business might just not be relevant to them.
Annoying Antics
Do you have a schedule you plan to abide by when following up to emails that get no responses? If not, it might be worthwhile to add to your to-do list. One of the top things PR pros reported on was getting too many follow-up emails. And if you are unsure of the proper protocol around this, check out this guide from Prowly.
To add to that, nowadays in the industry, be sure you never call a reporter until you have an established relationship with then and have scheduled a call with them. Cold calling is not a successful way to get your story heard.
No Personalization
From using a blanket template with no personal tokens, to copying and pasting your press release, and doing blatant self-promotion, reporters are turned off by emails that are cold.
Bland Story
While you might think your product or business is something innovative and interesting, this could be rather different to journalists who read hundreds of pitches every week.
So before you think of doing outreach, search on your own to see if this is something that has been written about time and time again, or not at all, to gauge how interested reporters might be in your business’ story.
Unprofessionalism
As obvious as it may sound, be sure you approach your outreach professionally and honestly. In the report, lack of cooperation or transparency was ranked #8. And if you come off as hard to work with in the beginning stages of reporting, these journalists will write you off.
PR Not a Good Fit for You? Try Link Building
Check out our helpful articles on link building to help build momentum for your brand:
- SEO Basics: What Is Link Building?
- SEO: Where to Get Backlinks
- How to Build Quality Links in 2021 and Beyond
- 2019 Roundup: Our Best Link Building Tactics
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