People will trip over themselves to tell you how important a solid press list is, but mention that it needs to be put together manually and you’ll see the enthusiasm fade from their eyes.
Yes, putting together a press list takes time (and usually more time than you think), but there are benefits to doing it yourself rather than downloading a pre-prepared list from a PR database. Sometimes when searching for the right person I’ll find someone with a different relevant job title that I wouldn’t have thought of. Or along the way I’ll see an article on the site I could mention in my pitch that I wouldn’t have otherwise stumbled across.
If you’re wondering how to create a press list without PR tools – either by choice or because your budget doesn’t have an extra £10K hidden down the back of its proverbial sofa – then here are some tips to consider.
Check the website (in the right places)
We’ll start with the obvious – getting the contact details of the people you need from the site itself. But be aware that these may not always be on the Contact Us page. If there’s an editorial page, head there first, but you may also find this info in the About Us page instead. Avoid making a beeline for the Press page as this is where you’ll find their contact details for their own PR opportunities, not receiving pitches.
A lot of magazines will seemingly make it as difficult as possible to find the right details in order to bring down the volume of pitches they get. Others (unfortunately) won’t include it at all.
Be aware that not everyone keeps this information up-to-date either.
Look for recent articles and work backwards
I find that a useful way to find relevant journalists – and most importantly, journalists writing about your topic recently – is to find articles on the subject area to identify the right authors, then use free email finding tools to get their contact details.
Not only do you then have a list of people most likely to be interested at this given time, but you also have an article of theirs that you can reference when getting in touch.
Sign up to free alerts
Free email round ups like HARO (Help A Reporter Out) are full of requests from journalists looking for help with articles. Even if the particular request isn’t something you can help with, it’s worth jotting down the contact details if they regularly write about your sector.
Similarly, Twitter (still can’t bring myself to call it X) has hashtags like #JournoRequest where you can find journalists making these requests, and many will include their email address in their post.
Check competitors’ coverage
The easiest way to do this is have Google Alerts set up for your competitors. Then as you see interesting pieces of coverage come in, find out what publication they’re in or which journalist wrote them and make sure they’re on your list. Again, this is where email finding tools like Hunter come in handy if the contact details aren’t immediately obvious.
If you happen to have SEO tools, you could also do a competitor link analysis. This will provide you with the coverage they have that you don’t, and you can just make your way down the list adding new people as appropriate.
The good news is you absolutely can build a high-quality, targeted press list manually – it just takes a bit of research and organisation and a LOT of time.
If you don’t have that time of course, feel free to reach out 🙂