Brands looking to gain links from high-domain media platforms to boost SEO should consider how they can build relationships with journalists to give their content the best shot. 

One of the most effective ways to do this is by carefully curating targeted media lists. In fact this is vital to any PR strategy and gaining coverage for your brand. 

With journalists inundated with emails all day, sending releases to targeted publications is super important. They usually receive hundreds of pitches a day, so forwarding anything irrelevant to what they cover is a big no-no. 

For example, motoring brands should never send a release to a fashion editor, and a UK-based company should never distribute to a local US newsroom reporter. It’s a terrible idea and bad practice. 

Not only is it an easy way to get an unsubscribe from journalists who could be handy for gaining press coverage for future campaigns or product releases, but it’s also a complete waste of time on both ends. 

Journalists have strict deadlines and don’t have time to read through unrelated content, so tailoring pitches to target specific people and outlets is the key to success and securing high authority backlinks. 

Those who take the time to research the type of articles journalists write are much more likely to see their hard work pay off land coverage for their brand, especially when pitching to the high-domain publications everyone is already targeting.

Earning authority links is a great way to move ahead of competitors, but it isn’t easy.  So, although it is time-consuming, creating well-researched and targeted media lists is worth it when the links lead to better search rankings, increased website traffic and improved sales and revenue. 

Here are some tips to help you build a targeted media list for your brand: 

Twitter is your friend

If you're looking for media contacts to pitch your press releases to, social media is a valuable resource, especially Twitter. Many journalists are active on Twitter, making it the perfect place to find helpful information. 

A few tactics can be used, such as harnessing the search bar to type in, for example, ‘fashion journalist’, which will bring up lists of people who cover the subject. Most journalists will specify the topic they cover and the publication they write for in their bio, streamlining the search quickly. 

Other options include posting a call to Twitter and inviting journalists to share their emails if they want to be added to a specific mailing list for your business's niche. This is an easy way to create conversations with journalists, giving you an easy way to form a relationship, leading to an increased likelihood gaining coverage for your brand and more chances of a link to the company website.

Always keep an eye out on Twitter for new journalists and journalism requests covering specific subjects so you can make your mark first.   

Scan the latest news coverage

Scanning the news to see what's happening worldwide is a big part of digital PR. If you are looking to get coverage for a motoring brand and see that a new road law is set to be introduced, use it to your advantage and get newsjacking. Jot down the names of journalists covering the topics in the press, as this shows they will be interested in similar information, and share your expert comments. Some platforms publish the contact details of their journalists although others can make finding this information more than tricky.  

Consider investing in a media database

Harvesting contact details from social media and Google searches can be time consuming. The good news is there are a number of media databases available which brands can subscribe to. These databases make it possible to obtain the contact details of journalists working on your target media platforms.

Subscriptions can be expensive though so this won't be the right option for everyone. Many brands will look at the cost and realise it probably isn't that much more expensive to work in partnership with a PR agency who will already have a subscription of their own. For agencies it makes much more sense as we can use the database on behalf of multiple clients.

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