{"id":135645,"date":"2021-06-02T10:34:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T09:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=135645"},"modified":"2021-06-16T15:45:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T14:45:24","slug":"prs-know-your-audience-accessmatters-with-freelance-journalist-faima-bakar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/prs-know-your-audience-accessmatters-with-freelance-journalist-faima-bakar\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018PRs: know your audience\u2019 \u2013 accessmatters with freelance journalist Faima Bakar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our latest accessmatters<\/a> session for knowledge sharing among the media, comms and PR community was with freelance journalist and Journo Resources<\/a> senior staff writer Faima Bakar. Sharing her experiences as a lifestyle writer on the Metro desk, and some of the lessons she\u2019s learned since going freelance, Faima had plenty of advice for PRs hoping to get in touch with useful pitches<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch our accessmatters session with Faima Bakar here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the relationship between PR and journalism can get contentious when either side isn\u2019t fully cognizant or respectful of the other\u2019s duties and deadlines\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018When I first started at Metro, I wanted to get lots of emails,\u2019 shared Faima. \u2018My colleagues were like: \u2018Be careful what you wish for.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2026relevant content is useful \u2013 provided it\u2019s delivered in the right way. Faima had advice for PRs who want to build relationships with the media and get results:<\/p>\n

\u2018Before selling-in, I would divvy up among your team who\u2019s contacting who. Have a chat across your team and decide who\u2019s doing what first. As a writer, I might be excited to pitch a story based on a press release you\u2019ve sent over \u2013 it\u2019s not good when I see another colleague is working on it already.<\/p>\n

\u2018Know your audience, too. For example, the Metro lifestyle desk is very body positive, so there\u2019s no weight loss stories unless they have an interesting angle. Every Christmas we\u2019d get articles about all the calories in Christmas dinners, and we\u2019d never cover those stories because we don\u2019t want to make people feel crap. Get to know the publications you\u2019re targeting; read what you\u2019re interested in.\u2019<\/p>\n

And is what you\u2019re pitching interesting to you? If not, there\u2019s a good chance it won\u2019t be of interest to the journalist either, or their readership.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you\u2019re sending a story you\u2019re not interested in, what\u2019s the point?\u2019 believes Faima.<\/p>\n

\u2018For my work as a freelancer, I pitch things I talk about with my friends. There\u2019s always a way to make a story more interesting.<\/p>\n

\u2018For example, a PR friend of mine had a low-calorie ice cream client and needed a way to publicise them. She decided to take a bunch of journalists to a big park full of trapeze artists because the ice cream was \u201clighter than air\u201d. It was a good way to be creative \u2013 thinking outside of the box \u2013 and it was fun.\u2019<\/p>\n

While Faima\u2019s work as a freelancer now means less interaction with PRs \u2013 publications will have their own staffers writing up quick-turnaround pieces from releases they receive \u2013 she has developed good relationships over the years. Building connections and proving yourself to be a useful source for journalists in your field takes time as a PR, but there are a few short cuts. Number one: getting the journalist\u2019s name right.<\/p>\n

\u2018I get called the wrong name about once a week. And I get it \u2013 it\u2019s easy to miss a letter. But if you\u2019re emailing because you want coverage, it helps to show attention to detail. If you call me the wrong name, it gets you on the wrong foot. That\u2019s not to say I won\u2019t use your email if you get the name wrong, but it\u2019s not the best way to start.<\/p>\n

\u2018As a freelancer, I\u2019m sending pitches out to people, and I get it wrong sometimes – it\u2019s so easy to do. But have a quick check through of your email before you send it.<\/p>\n

\u2018Being a lifestyle reporter and now a freelancer, my interests were and are quite wide. I developed a good relationship with quite a few PRs \u2013 there are some I\u2019ve never actually met, but we\u2019ve been emailing back and forth for years.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018If there are journalists you want to work with, find out what works for them.\u2019<\/p>\n

Watch the full accessmatters session with Faima Bakar here<\/a> and check out our previous sessions on the accessmatters hub<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our latest accessmatters session for knowledge sharing among the media, comms and PR community was with freelance journalist and Journo Resources senior staff writer Faima Bakar. Sharing her experiences as a lifestyle writer on the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":135656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3725],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135816,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135645\/revisions\/135816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}