We know journalists love an exclusive. And we love coverage, so it’s a win-win situation, surely?
A lot of the time yes, but it’s not right for every situation, and it takes some careful planning to get right.
What does an exclusive mean?
Despite the name, an exclusive usually means giving a journalist/publication sole access to your story before anyone else. You can normally still contact other outlets afterwards but they get first dibs. However, it’s really important to make sure everyone is on the same page (more on this later).
Pros and cons of offering an exclusive
The best thing about offering an exclusive, is that it makes your news much more appealing to a journalist, making them more likely to use your story. You may be able to secure coverage in a publication you might otherwise struggle to get in.
It also helps build a really valuable relationship with that journalist, who may then publish you again in the future.
When planning a PR campaign, knowing you’ve got that first piece of coverage secured in a high profile publication is always welcome.
However, the flip side to this is that other publications, especially rival publications, may be less inclined to publish your story if they know they’re getting it second. It’s a gamble. You might have sacrificed three pieces in national papers for one that you agreed an exclusive with.
It can also get complicated. If you’ve offered someone an exclusive, they haven’t replied, and you offer it to someone else, only for the first one to confirm that they are in fact interested, things can get messy. And because you need to leave a bit of space between each pitch, and because you can’t guarantee who will be interested, it makes planning your launch strategy tricky.
For that reason, sometimes I’d rather pick the day I feel is strongest to issue the news, let everyone have it at the same time, and do all I can to make it a successful launch.
However, there are ways to avoid such issues.
How to do exclusives right
- Choose the right publication – naturally you’ll want to aim high, but remember it should be the right publication not just for your brand but for this particular story too.
- And the right journalist – it’s a balancing act between choosing somewhere you wouldn’t necessarily normally get published in, and maintaining important relationships. When doing your research, remember that exclusives mean more to some journalists than others.
- At the right time – consider their usual working patterns, as well as when they would usually publish a story like this, then work backwards and think about when a good time to pitch to them would be.
- Communicate clearly – telling a journalist that you’ll give them until a certain date before taking your story elsewhere might sound a bit like an ultimatum, but it actually just helps everyone know where they stand. If they are interested, you should discuss exactly what the terms of your ‘exclusive’ are, to avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings.
- Put the word exclusive in your subject line – the point of an exclusive is to make a journalist more interested in your story, so if you don’t use the word exclusive in your heading, you’ll be wasting it.
- Make sure it’s as newsworthy as you think it is – simply offering an exclusive doesn’t automatically make a non-story more interesting. If you’ve offered your exclusive to a few different journalists and had no replies, it might be an indication it’s not quite the scoop you thought it was.
It’s definitely a judgement call, and one that changes on a case-by-case basis, but offering an exclusive can have great benefits if done right.
