Did your company just put together a press release in the hopes of getting some coverage for a new product or service? This press release isn’t going to do you much good if you don’t have a media list set up.
What is a Media List?
A media list, which can also be called a media contact list or a press list, is a list of media members who might be interested in press announcements about the products or services your company has to offer. It should include everyone from news reporters and journalists to bloggers and podcasters.
Would you like to see a media list example and learn how to build a media list from scratch? In this article, we’re going to set out to teach you everything you need to know about creating an effective media list.
Continue reading to find out how to bring a media list to life.
What Is Included in a Media List?
Building a media list usually won’t be something you can do within a matter of just hours. You’re going to need to collect quite a bit of information from a variety of different media members.
So, what exactly should be included in a media list? It should almost go without saying that you’ll need to get both the first and last names of media members. You might also want to get any nicknames that these media members go by to make your interactions with them feel more personal.
But you obviously won’t want to stop there. You’ll also want to include these things in a media list –
What Should Your Media List Include?
- The company that a media member works for
- A media member’s title
- A link to the website for a media member’s company
- Links to a media member’s social media accounts
- Contact information for a media member (office phone number, cell phone number, email, etc.)
You might also want to try to get your hands on any miscellaneous information about a media member that you can. If, for instance, a media member has worked at other organizations in the past or has won awards for their work, that would be great for you to know.
What Would Be a Good Media List Example?
Once you have all the information that you’ll need to build a media list, you can begin to actually put it together. But if you haven’t ever created a media list before, you might not know how to do this.
The simplest way to do it is by opening up a new document in Google Sheets and getting to work. You’ll be able to come up with different categories that you can add across the top of your spreadsheet before filling them in for each media member that’ll be on your media list.
This is what a media list example might look like:
Name: John Smith
Organization: Best Podcast Ever
Title: Lead Podcaster
Website: bestpodcastever.com
Social Media: https://twitter.com/bestpodcastever, https://facebook.com/bestpodcastever
Phone: 123-456-7890
Email: [email protected]
Other: Started his podcast in 2020. Currently has 1.3 million subscribers. Plugs one cool tech item at the end of every episode.
A media list example like this shows all the kinds of information you’ll want to include on your list. It’ll make it so simple for you to make sure someone like John Smith receives the right press releases from your company.
How to Build an Effective Media List
Building and maintaining a media list is a crucial component of successful public relations. However, with the rapidly changing media landscape and high journalist turnover rates, many organizations are finding more efficient alternatives to traditional media list management.
Now that you know what should be included in a media list and have seen a media list example, you should be ready to begin building a media list. It’ll be very important for you to take the right approach to doing it. It’ll leave you with a long list of media members who will get your company’s press releases from now on.
As long as you create a media list correctly, you also shouldn’t have any issues adding to it over time. It’ll be simple enough to incorporate information for new media members into your media list without any problems when you set it up in the right way.
Here are the steps you’ll need to take to build a media list from the ground up.
The Traditional Approach to Building Media Lists
If you choose to build your own media list, follow these steps:
- Define your target audience and relevant media sectors
- Research media outlets that reach your target audience
- Identify specific journalists who cover your topic
- Verify contact information through multiple sources
- Track all interactions in a database or spreadsheet
- Regularly update contact information and add new contacts
Pick a Target Audience for Press Releases
There are tens of thousands of news reporters and journalists scattered throughout the country today. It’s not going to be possible for you to include every single one on your media list.
Rather than trying to do this, you should pick a target audience for your company’s press releases and use it to narrow down the number of news reporters and journalists who appear on your media list. You can focus solely on those media members who operate within a very specific space.
If, for example, your company specializes in selling a sports-related product or service, you’ll want to aim to target your press releases at those who work in sports media. You might want to make your target audience even more specific than this by only including those who cover a particular sport.
Decide Which Media Members to Include
Once you know what your company’s target audience is going to be, you can start collecting a list of media members you’d like to include on your media list. For now, all you’ll need to do is put together a list of their names.
You’ll need to do a decent amount of work to create this list of names. You should spend time poking around online to see which organizations you’d like to have cover your company’s products or services and then find the names of people who work for them.
This will be one of the most tedious parts of building a media list. But you should start to feel like you’re getting something accomplished when you see all the names of the media members you’ve been able to find.
Gather All the Necessary Information
After you have the names of media members that you want to include on your media list, you can begin gathering information for each one. As we alluded to earlier, you’ll want to get your hands on information like their titles, their websites, links to their social media accounts, their contact information, and more.
Once upon a time, gathering all this information would have taken weeks and maybe even months. It often required picking up the phone and calling around to get as much information as you could.
But these days, the internet has made it relatively easy to find information about most media members. Many of them will even go out of their way to make it easy for other people to find this information online.
Choose How to Store Your Media List
When you have all the necessary information for your media list collected, you can begin to create the media list itself. You can use Google Sheets to do it, or you can find some other software that’s designed to provide you with the right media list tools and help you create a media database.
No matter what you decide to use, you should make it a point to keep your media list neat and tidy. You don’t want it to turn into a big mess and have it almost impossible to find the information you need.
Commit to Updating a Media List on a Regular Basis
Like those in most other industries, media members aren’t staying with the same organizations for decades at a time anymore. They often bounce around from one job to the next, which can present challenges when you’re trying to use a media list to your advantage.
With this in mind, you’re going to have to work on updating a media list regularly. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to update it every few months so that it’s as current as it can possibly be.
Challenges of DIY Media Lists
Managing your own media list comes with significant challenges:
- High journalist turnover rates (30-40% annually)
- Constantly changing beat assignments
- Time-consuming maintenance and verification
- Risk of outdated information leading to failed outreach
- Limited reach compared to professional databases
- Difficulty tracking preferred contact methods
- Need for regular relationship building
Is There a Better/Easier/Cheaper Way?
Practically speaking, building and maintaining an accurate media list will cost your company hundreds of hours a year.
And remember, that list you’ve worked so hard to develop will likely be out of date within 2 weeks.
Which raises the question – is there a better, easier, cheaper way?
Yes, there is. It’s called eReleases.com.
The eReleases Advantage – Forget The Expense and Frustrations of Building Your Own Media List
Rather than investing countless hours building and maintaining your own media list, consider using eReleases for press release distribution. Here’s why:
- Extensive Media Network
Access to over 1,700,000 verified journalist contacts
Partnerships with major newswires
Guaranteed distribution to targeted industry sectors
Real-time database updates - National Cision PR Newswire Distribution
Every press release distributed by eReleases is also sent out over Cision’s National PR Newswire, the most trusted source of press release information in the U.S. - Quality Assurance
Professional editors review all releases
Guaranteed placement in relevant industry categories
Compliance with journalistic standards
Higher likelihood of pickup due to established relationships - Time and Resource Savings
Eliminate database maintenance
No need to verify contact information
Reduced bounce rates and failed deliveries
Focus on content creation rather than distribution - Advanced Targeting
Industry-specific distribution lists
Geographic targeting options
Beat-specific journalist targeting
Custom distribution based on keywords
Best Practices When Using eReleases
To maximize your success with eReleases:
- Write compelling, newsworthy content
- Choose relevant industry categories
- Include multimedia elements when possible
- Time releases for optimal impact
- Follow up through the platform’s tracking tools
- Monitor analytics to refine future strategies
Hybrid Approach Considerations
But can a case still be made for creating your own media list of trusted media contacts?
Of course!
While eReleases handles broad distribution, consider maintaining a small, focused list of key media contacts for:
- Exclusive stories
- Relationship building
- Local media outreach
- Crisis communication
- Industry-specific announcements
Measuring the Success of Your Media List
Track these metrics to evaluate your PR distribution strategy:
- Media pickups and mentions
- Website traffic from coverage
- Social media engagement
- Quality of media placements
- ROI compared to traditional distribution
- Time saved on administration
Why Is It Important to Have a Media List?
If your company is going to go through the trouble of creating press releases and sending them out, you’ll want to see to it that they end up in the right hands. But there’s no guarantee that this will happen if you don’t have an updated media list.
This media list will enable your company to send out press releases to the media members who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. It’ll increase your chances of getting the media coverage for these products or services that you so desperately desire.
You’ll also be able to create working relationships with a wide range of media members. They’ll have an easier time contacting your company when they need something because of this.
Building Your Own vs. Using eReleases to Distribute Press Releases
While building and maintaining a traditional media list can be valuable for certain organizations, the efficiency and reach of services like eReleases make them an attractive alternative for most businesses. By leveraging professional distribution services, organizations can focus their resources on creating compelling stories and building meaningful media relationships rather than database management.
The key is to choose the approach that best aligns with your resources, goals, and target audience. For most organizations, using eReleases provides the optimal balance of reach, efficiency, and effectiveness in today’s fast-paced media environment.
Let Us Help Get Press Releases Out to the Right People
In a perfect world, all companies would have the time and resources that it takes to create media lists using the media list example we just provided. But this isn’t always the case for companies.
If your company could use a helping hand when it comes to creating press releases and getting them out to the right media members, eReleases can assist you. We’re one of the largest press release distribution services around and can give your company the help it needs.
Contact us now to get more information on our services.