What not to do after you get a story in the news

Avoid creating friction between you and journalists after a story goes live.

Getting a positive story featuring your company in the news is always cause for celebration. Your company will likely want to thank the journalist for the article and see if you can keep pitching your company to that journalist. However, this can actually cause problems with your company’s relationship with that journalist. Here are some problems to avoid so your company can maintain positive relationships with journalists.

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Thanking a journalist the wrong way

Do not thank the journalist for covering your company. Journalists are in the business of reporting, not promoting. Making their article seem like it was promoting your firm won’t sound good to them. You don’t want to harm your relationship with the journalist, especially after they just included your company in one of their articles, so don’t do it.

A better idea is to thank them for including your company in an article. That lets the journalist know you view the article as reporting instead of a promotion for your company and that you appreciate the opportunity for your firm. It’s important to put the journalist first instead of you.

Pitching too many articles featuring your company at once

It can be tempting to want the journalist who included your company in an article to put your company in another one soon, but this isn’t a good idea. Journalists aren’t keen on having the same company appear in their stories so soon. Instead, wait a while before you pitch to that journalist again. 

There’s no sweet spot as to when you should pitch your company to that journalist after earning a story about your firm, so giving a recommended time between pitches is very difficult. However, at Axia Public Relations, one journalist wanted over a month between a company’s pitches. This should give your company a decent idea of what to expect when trying to pitch to the same journalist again.

Not understanding what a journalist wants

Ultimately, don’t put yourself ahead of a journalist and their desires. Journalists have their own goals. If they involve including your company in a story, that’s great! But journalists don’t exist to deliver positive stories featuring your company. Keeping this in mind will help make your company’s post-earned media actions stronger.

Want to learn more about media relations? Download our e-book, Learn Media Relations From The Media!