When pitching a story, reaching the right influencers can be challenging. Add a crowded marketplace to the mix, and you create a headache for most marketing professionals. How do you make your message stand out when trying to launch a new product just in time for the holiday season? AKA Media faced a similar challenge when looking to promote its client’s event, All-American Soap Box Derby Championship Race, amidst a busy summer sports season.

Cision’s new case study “AKA Media Drives More Client Coverage With Cision’s Influencer Identification Tools” showcases the company’s communication strategy to promote its client’s event and how they ultimately landed themselves a spot on the LIVE with Kelly show. Below are some tips for achieving results similar to AKA Media. To read the whole story, check out the case study here.

  • It’s not “one pitch and done.” Create a multi-touchpoint strategy around your event

In today’s communication world, journalists and influencers are being solicited left, right and center. One pitch email to a journalist can get lost in the sea of pitches they receive. It is important to gather all of your assets and develop a multi-touchpoint strategy over time. For example, AKA Media’s first outreach was scheduled well before the event took place and included a video of the All-American Soap Box Derby Championship Race from the previous year to showcase a tangible example of what influencers could expect to see this year. This was the first step of a well-planned outreach strategy.

  • Create targeted lists and gather relevant information about influencers

To search for influencers, use your own network and do some research on Google, but that can only take you so far. Access to a monitoring and targeting database is your best bet to gathering thorough research and will increase your chances of finding the right influencer. AKA Media created several targeted lists to reach national and local news, sports and features producers and reporters. Additionally, using advanced functions on their platform helped them identify what each influencer was interested in at that particular moment. For example, when looking at sports reporters, they could identify if they were writing solely about baseball or if they were looking for “out of the box” (no pun intended) stories such as a Box Derby Race.

  • Tailor your message to your audience

With targeted lists on hand, it’s important to tailor your message to that specific audience. For example, the AKA Media team tailored its outreach to local reporters by including a race participant’s name from that specific region in the headline. By doing so, they gave local reporters a unique angle for a compelling story.

Additionally, by gathering information on specific influencers, you can craft a specific message for the top influencer you’re trying to reach by using the information you gathered on them: What’s the best method to reach out to them? What are they interested in at the moment? What have they written recently? This is all valuable information that can make your pitch personable and stand out from the crowd.

  • Be ready to deliver once the requests from influencers come in

Do they want content? Videos? Guest speakers? Be prepared for every potential request so that you don’t miss on an opportunity when one comes in. AKA Media received a request from a producer on the LIVE with Kelly show. They asked if the winner of the race could come on the show and race Kelly herself. Even if the request was done on short notice, AKA Media and its client were able to deliver and by doing so, substantially increased awareness for the event.

About

Lucie Vietti-Curtis is the Program Manager of Customer Marketing at Cision. She enjoys creating content with customers, for customers. Follow her on twitter @lucievcurtis.