{"id":135837,"date":"2021-06-21T09:19:40","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T08:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=135837"},"modified":"2021-06-21T09:19:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T08:19:40","slug":"5-reasons-to-build-better-relationships-with-freelance-journalists-for-your-pr-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/5-reasons-to-build-better-relationships-with-freelance-journalists-for-your-pr-campaigns\/","title":{"rendered":"5 reasons to build better relationships with freelance journalists for your PR campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should freelancers be at the top of your list for building meaningful \u2013 and useful \u2013 connections with the media? Yes<\/a>, and here are five reasons why, from our latest webinar with Journo Resources<\/a>\u2019 Jem Collins and Faima Bakar, and Freelancing for Journalists<\/a>\u2019 Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch the full Building better relationships between PRs and journalists webinar<\/a> or read our write up with more advice from the event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1) Most freelance journalists are already au fait with, and effective at, working remotely<\/span><\/strong>
\nSwitching to remote working had its difficulties in the PR and media industries as calls to offices weren\u2019t always diverted to homes and inboxes were flooded with more emails than ever, just for starters. One community who already knew how to manage working from home effectively? Freelancers:<\/p>\n

\u2018With people working from home who weren\u2019t used to it during the first lockdown, the amount of requests for calls and catch ups with me really went through the roof,\u2019 said Jem. \u2018There was a month or two that was Call Central, so it\u2019s good to see people have settled more into hybrid working. I\u2019ve always worked from home and already had quite a good comms system set up.\u2019<\/p>\n

2) Your working relationship with a freelance journalist can be more intimate than with a staffer\u2026<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2026in the most professional meaning of that word. Staff news teams may find relevant press releases useful to write up, but a freelancer will want exclusivity and something deeper.<\/p>\n

\u2018It really is a different relationship that you\u2019ll have with freelancers,\u2019 said Lily. \u2018Exclusivity is key. I want something that nobody else has. An exclusive case study, or you can work with me to do an exclusive report from some data you\u2019ve been able to gather.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s about building a unique relationship with an individual<\/a>. It\u2019s more of an intimate relationship that you have with a freelancer.\u2019<\/p>\n

3) A freelancer may have more freedom to collaborate closely with you on content<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018The relationships I have with PRs that work will be those that come to me with something specific and they want my advice as well,\u2019 said Emma. \u2018Like, \u201cI\u2019ve got this info, where do you think this might fit?\u201d It can be more of a back and forth between us.<\/p>\n

\u2018Those PRs will also note when I tweet when I\u2019m doing a particular feature, or send out an enquiry via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service<\/a>, and understand that commissioning process. If I\u2019m interested in your story, I will pitch it, but I don\u2019t have the power to just publish that information. Understand our beat and how commissioning works for us.\u2019<\/p>\n

4) Want a different take on your research\/data\/survey results? A freelancer will be able to think of a new angle<\/span><\/strong>
\nIf you have some intriguing data and think you\u2019ve come up with all the possible angles that might be of interest to the media and its readership, think again:<\/p>\n

\u2018As a freelancer, I keep getting those generic press releases, but I\u2019m interested in unique and interesting case studies, even if you\u2019re pitching them to in-house staff,\u2019 said Faima.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you have commissioned research \u2013 get in touch with me. I might be able to pull out a line and build a whole feature around it. I\u2019ve managed to pitch a piece based on research like that to Stylist. If it\u2019s research that\u2019s relevant to the journalist; go for it.\u2019<\/p>\n

5) Freelancers potentially have a broader reach than staffers working for one publication<\/span><\/strong>
\nWhile staffers are often limited to certain topics, times and formats, freelancers can be writing on a variety of subjects, to different deadlines, for many different outlets:<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m normally working several weeks ahead, but for a magazine, it would be two or three months in advance. If it\u2019s for Metro, it might be a month in advance. It does depend, so that\u2019s why I\u2019d advise building a connection with freelancers,\u2019 said Lily.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019re working for lots of different publications. It might be print, websites, magazines – lots of different audiences.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Understand how each freelancer works, because we all do it very differently.\u2019<\/p>\n

For more on working with freelancers, watch the full webinar here<\/a>, check out these tips<\/a> for making the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service and here is more advice<\/a> on pitching to freelancers effectively.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should freelancers be at the top of your list for building meaningful \u2013 and useful \u2013 connections with the media? Yes, and here are five reasons why, from our latest webinar with Journo Resources\u2019 Jem …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":135852,"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":[7365,7272,3725,7238],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135837"}],"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=135837"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140855,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135837\/revisions\/140855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}