If you’re thinking of starting a public relations/media communications effort, it makes sense to understand media markets to help formulate a communications strategy. In this article we will discuss the main media markets and the practical considerations associated with a low budget communications plan.
TOP 30 MEDIA MARKETS
As mentioned in (Part 1) of this series, there are 30 major cities in the United States known as the top 30 media markets. They are called major media markets because population levels exceed one million people across a wide audience demographic and are:
Atlanta Georgia
Milwaukee, WI
Baltimore, MD
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN Boston, MA
New Orleans, LA Chicago, IL
New York, NY Cincinnati, OH
Philadelphia, PA Cleveland, OH
Phoenix, AZ Columbus, OH
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Portland, OR Denver, CO
Sacramento, Calif.
Detroit, MI
St. Louis, MO Houston/Galveston, TX
San Diego, CA Indianapolis, IN
San Francisco, CAKansas City, NE
Seattle/Tacoma, WA Los Angeles, CA
Tampa/St. St. Petersburg, Florida Miami, Florida
Washington D.C.
These media markets represent the largest investment if you are booked for newspaper, radio or television interviews due to the sheer volume of readers and radio and television audiences. Each of these cities has at least one anchor newspaper organization located in them (The Boston Globe, The Columbus Dispatch, and the Chicago Tribune, etc.), for example, and even smaller newspapers can get a substantial number of responses with a simple mention of your project. Don’t underestimate any outlet in these cities or the surrounding areas within a 100-mile radius. If you’re looking for great coverage and increased public awareness, these cities are the place to focus your time and resources.
SMALL CITIES
Smaller cities, those not listed above, can still generate significant results in areas with populations ranging from 250,000 to 750,000 people. While not considered a major media market, television, radio, and newspaper coverage at the same time can create a major impact on public awareness. Again, these cities should not be overlooked in communications planning.
SMALL VILLAGES
Small towns include population centers of about 25,000 to 100,000 people and often have only a local newspaper organization, a few local magazines, and a few local radio stations. Television broadcasts are often received from neighboring cities and via cable.
TALKING TO THE MEDIA
Every city, no matter how small or large, has a natural order within its media; Newspaper organizations are headed by specialized editors and columnists, and electronic media (radio and TV) all have producers and presenters. When it comes to news organizations, you want to direct your calls to the appropriate reporters covering your story idea. For example, if you were trying to promote a book about cars, you might want to talk to the reporter who covers the car section, if your story is about real estate, the real estate reporter, etc. In electronic media (radio or television), you can research the library, ask for a Bacon’s media directory, or call the destination stations directly with your story idea. Many times, the receptionist can guide you to the appropriate producers of the shows most inclined to cover her story idea. One key is to befriend the receptionist, who is her eyes and ears in the organization. One way to establish a dialogue with the receptionist is to simply ask “can you help me?” and then briefly describe your story idea and ask to speak to the best producer in the receptionist’s opinion. Receptionists know who’s who at these organizations and can save you a LOT of time.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
1. If you have never been interviewed by a newspaper, don’t worry, it’s a piece of cake. However, radio and television are different. Many times these are live and you will be exposing yourself to a sizeable audience. If the media event receives live calls, this can be especially stressful if you are inexperienced. To be professional, you must know your subject. You must be an expert in your field. When you’re on live radio or TV and planning to take live calls, it’s comparable to sitting in the middle of a packed super bowl football field and having to answer questions from anyone in the stands and everyone will hear your answers. Not much of a problem if you REALLY know the subject. If you don’t know the answer to the caller’s question, be honest and say you don’t know; tell him to leave his name and number with the station and he will call you back with a reply. It provides a professional way to maintain your dignity.
2. For this reason, it makes sense to target the first phase of communications towards smaller cities and focus on small newspapers and small radio stations. This way, you’ll gain experience in smaller venues, and if you make a mistake, you won’t destroy your credibility in a big media market.
3. Focus your efforts on one city at a time unless you think you can handle a nationwide public relations rollout. I suggest concentrating your efforts and money on one city because you want to “spin” the media at the same time. I mean, you want all of your media events to happen in a concentrated way so that the newspapers, radio stations, and maybe TV will cover it all in a week or so. In this way, you go in and out of a city and analyze what happened, both the good and the bad, including the results.
Getting media coverage is often a matter of being honest with everyone you deal with. You’ll need a professional pitch (the next lesson in this series) to grab people’s attention, but beyond that, being polite and honest is the key to media success. As long as your topic is informative, controversial, or sensational, getting media coverage is relatively easy to achieve. Stay tuned for these articles, they will be updated daily for the next five (5) days.
For your success! Copyright © 2006 James W. Hart, IV All rights reserved
