Last tip I wrote about the need to focus the right story idea on the right journalist.

In fairness, however, I might have gotten a bit in front of myself. Maybe the first thing a public relations practitioner needs to figure out when it comes to story pitching and placement is to identify the right media outlet.

So how do you do that?

Here again the key issue is focus. What’s the story idea about? Who will find it most interesting? Consumers? Engineers? Quilters? Political junkies?

And . . . can the focus of the story idea be focused even more? For example, you may be working for Berkeley (the fishing products company) and be preparing to launch a new product.

Depending upon the specifics of the new product, however, you might successfully pitch and land stories

1. On TV,
2. On radio,
3. On blogs,
4. In newspapers,
5. In outdoor magazines,
6. In fishing magazines, and
7. In fly fishing magazines (just to name a few).

Make sure you

• analyze the various categories of media outlets, and
• target the ones you’re most likely to have success with (based upon your pitch).