How can you improve your relationships with journalists? Greg Simpson, founder of Press For Attention PR, shares his advice – and an example of what not to do.
Roses are red,
Backlinks are blue,
If you persist with this tactic,
The joke is on you.
Journalists don’t care
For your SEO plight,
They’re busy with deadlines—
Not your digital fight.
Keep hounding for credit,
You’ll win this reward:
A swift email block
And your calls, soon ignored.
So play the smart game,
Be sharp, think long-term
Don’t demand things of journos
Then their love you will earn.
“Greg, it’s Valentine’s Day, how do I get a journalist to LOVE me?
“Why won’t they talk to me? Why won’t they listen?
“They never return my calls!”
Spoiler alert, they will NEVER return your calls or VERY rarely.
They much prefer emails. Unless they are on a deadline, and you are already working on a story together.
I thought, given a Valentine’s theme, that instead of writing about what it is you SHOULD do to woo, I should instead point out their biggest turn-offs.
That’s because at the tail end of 2024, I was privy to an online chat about the most short-sighted approach to media relations (the chatting to the press bit of PR) I’ve ever seen. Along with 1,743 other LinkedIn users making over 700 comments and having reposted it 80+ times.
That’s because this was a post by Jane Hamilton, who runs The Sun’s employment section (and works on The Times too), who shared the following: “This week I wrote a piece on a relatively unknown company, it’s in print and online on The Sun, so decent exposure for them. However their agency has sent me this today.
“As journos we don’t decide who gets backlinks – that’s down to the online production team. If they don’t link, that’s their prerogative and it’s often because of the impact on our own site’s SEO.
“The upshot? I’ve now asked to be removed from the agency’s entire mailing list as I can’t guarantee a link and certainly don’t have time to be diving into Ts and Cs buried on a link at the bottom of their press releases. Result? No more coverage for any of their clients in any form from me.
“I absolutely understand that there is pressure from clients for links, but wider exposure and brand building matter too.
“Relationships between PRs and Journos matter also – and this is not how you build them.
“PR friends, is demanding links with legal undertones a thing now?”
WOW!
Here’s what the agency sent Jane.
“Just an FYI. All our emails, including press releases and comments, are covered under a Creative Commons license. As per the terms of the license, appropriate credit requires not only the mention of a name but also a direct link to the source. You can find further details on the requirement here.
“The below features are great but the online article doesn’t link to our client. We require that the comment in question be amended to include an appropriate credit or that the article be removed.”
I read this open-mouthed!!
The sheer short-sightedness of this!
ASK for a link by all means but don’t EXPECT it, don’t require it or don’t expect it NOT to ruin your entire campaign and media relations if you persist.
3 other things to stop by way of a bonus, for which I asked two tame journo buddies of mine for a new year’s resolution for PRs:
- Large file attachments of images – clogs up emails, see phones below.
- PDFs – a faff when on the phone as journalists more often than not are.
- Stock images that offer zero value to the reader – lazy.
A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press For Attention PR in 2008.
He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective.
See this column in the February issue of East Midlands Business Link Magazine here.
