10 Yetis Insight Blog- Broadcast PR for Beginners: Where to Start and How to Achieve Success

When you start working in a PR agency such as 10 Yetis Digital, a typical day (if there is such a thing in a consumer PR agency!) will tend to focus on selling in your client stories to relevant contacts at national newspapers, magazines and online websites. However, every now and then you might just find yourself working on a story that has just enough newsworthiness and insight that it has the ability to generate coverage on the likes of broadcast media outlets, such as television and radio.

So how do we go about attempting to secure one of the brands we represent on tomorrow morning’s Sky News or next week’s episode of The One Show? Here are a few tips to bear in mind as a broadcast beginner:

Speaking to journalists

The way in which we approach the broadcast journalists differs somewhat to how we handle speaking to contacts at print and online publications, for a large number of reasons. First, the chances are that the person you initially sell in a client story to at a broadcast outlet will be a forward planner, and such will not be working on the story themselves, but rather scheduling it in to a full day’s worth of programming.

This is why it is so important to get the vital points about the story you are selling in across in one go. A phone call might not seem like the best route to take with a broadcast sell-in, but I would say that I have secured many more pieces of broadcast coverage off the back of a phone call than through an email. Not only will this help you hone your telephone skills, you can also target the story and it’s key points based around the programme, station or person you are speaking to. What’s more, after two or three phone calls to different sectors and listening to reactions, you will probably have a good idea of whether the story you are pitching is a winner or a stinker.

React react react!

One of the elements I pride the team here at 10 Yetis on most is our combined ability to keep up to date on the news agenda and any breaking stories. As a result of this, some of the best and most effective examples of broadcast coverage secured for our clients has been generated as a result of reactive statements circulated to news outlets within minutes of a story breaking.

For example, a few years back we sent out a reactive on behalf of our client, who worked with tamper evident security bags, after a story about doping within sport dominated the early morning headlines. By midday, sky news had travelled to the company headquarters and the CEO of the company was featured live on the lunchtime news broadcast with both verbal and text mentions of the company name on screen. This just goes to show how instant great coverage can be when it comes to broadcast PR.

Timing is everything

As already discussed above, it is crucial if you have a story related to breaking news or being discussed within the media to circulate it amongst relevant outlets as soon as you have an angle to push on behalf of your client in order to piggyback on the coverage.

Having said that, if you are working on trying to sell in a story that doesn’t necessarily have a seasonal or time relevant angle, then you might want to try and push it to the planning desks during a ‘quieter’ time of the calendar. For example, we have previously learnt the hard way that trying to sell in a story during a royal wedding, an impending royal birth or a big sporting occasion means you’re pretty much setting yourself up to fail. Have a look at upcoming events that will undoubtedly be covered, and try to avoid selling in around these peak occasions.

Keep contacts on file

If you manage to successfully generate broadcast coverage for one of your clients through a particular reporter, producer or forward planner, be sure to keep their details on file as they are much more likely to want to work with reliable PR’s who have helped them with genuine, newsworthy stories in the past.

Keep their email address, phone number and mobile details on file, and be sure to follow them on twitter in order to keep up with any future stories they may be sourcing or looking for help with. One of our clients has been featured on a whole host of television and radio shows each A-Level results day for the past four years as a result of this implemented method.