Approximate read time: 4 minutes
Reciprocity is powerful…
The law in psychology suggests that people are inclined to return favours received.
In publicity, building goodwill with outlets costs you nothing.
And humans like to do things for people they know, like and trust.
It’s basic psychology.
Really, success in life is about building long-term relationships.
And in this case study, I’ll show you 3 examples of how I was able to build goodwill with outlets I had already been in contact with so that I would be front of mind when they needed specific sources for stories and be open to my pitches when I had them.
Let’s explore 3 examples…
Situation #1
I wanted to build some goodwill with this journalist for pitching them in the future because their particular outlet was highly relevant to various clients of mine because it had relevant readers and was influential within that cohort.
I emailed this journalist a few news article links that were relevant to their beat which were about announcement to see if it had crossed their desk already.
The journalist welcomed the email as they had not seen the announcement and wanted to cover it themselves.
I explained that I could make an introduction to the people involved if they needed – this was because I did work in the same industry as the announcement, which this journalist already knew.
Instead of taking me up on the offer of introductions, they asked me to be a source instead – again I did work in the same industry as the announcement.
The story was published.
Soon after the journalist was doing another story and they reached out to me asking for possible sources.
I emailed them a list of a dozen sources, with names, links and brief descriptions of their relevance.
The lesson here is that in the process of being helpful to build goodwill for the future, you may not need to wait long for that goodwill to be realised – they could utilise you on the spot.
Situation #2
I am connected to several journalists on social media networking sites – that is beyond the scope of this case study.
But basically I had built a professional relationship with them previously, provided them with some great stories and it was appropriate to connect on social media networking sites as we were quite familiar with each other.
One journalist was looking for a casual journalist to fill in at their publication for a few weeks.
I wanted to build some goodwill with this journalist for pitching them in the future because their particular outlet was highly relevant to various clients of mine because it had relevant readers and was influential within that cohort.
I sent them a message saying that I had some contacts who I respected that had experience, were relevant to their outlet and if it would be okay to make an introduction.
They took me up on the offer.
I then got in touch my two contacts explaining the situation and asked them if they were interested.
They both were very interested, but due to circumstances they were unavailable for the small window of time.
However, they want me to pass their details on for future work.
I replied to the journalist explaining the situation but passed on their contact details for future reference.
I was able to help 3 journalists who all had mutual and overlapping needs.
The lesson here is that it is possible to goodwill with journalists outside of just providing potential stories and sources that are not directly related to you.
Situation #3
A journalist on my social media news feed, asked for recommendations for an article they were writing.
I wanted to build some goodwill with this journalist for pitching them in the future because their particular outlet was highly relevant to various clients of mine because it had relevant readers and was influential within that cohort.
I simply responded to them via the social media networking site and I gave them a response and some leads.
A few months after this communication, I pitched them for a client.
They were open to my client pitch and the story and was published.
The simple lesson here is that building goodwill with journalists will help your publicity objectives in the future.
Three different example of how to build goodwill with outlets.
The specifics are not important, so much as the principles behind them.
No need to copy it exactly, just see if you can use it as inspiration for something unique to your brand.
As the saying goes, “make you bed before you need it.”
Start building good will today.
You’ll need it tomorrow.
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