Five Things Legal Reporters Want You To Know: An On Record PR Podcast Roundup
By: Jennifer Simpson Carr
A benefit of working in the public and media relations sector of law firm marketing is getting to know the reporters and journalists.
With our agency’s deep expertise in the legal industry and international client base, we are fortunate to interact with members of the media with unique and interesting roles at their respective publications. They all have one common goal – to report the news accurately.
Our CEO Gina Rubel often says, “Anyone can draft a press release. Successful media relations requires the ability to craft timely and relevant messages, to know the right publication, to contact the correct reporter, to leverage the best time to reach out, and how to effectively communicate a story.”
Developing relationships with the reporters, crafting a compelling pitch, and understanding how to get their attention, are just some of the keys to successful media relations – which often is the difference between landing a story or not.
Learn first-hand what legal reporters are looking for when they are choosing what news to report and which stories to tell.
1. TELL US WHY IT MATTERS
Gina Passarella, Editor-in-Chief at ALM Media.
“We’re looking for those types of stories that are a new and novel approach to some things, a unique challenge that was overcome, a case study to highlight, a trend that we’ve been covering, something that– now it’s the third firm that’s pitched us on this–maybe that is a story! To that point, I always say it’s better to send us stuff and we not use it, then to not send it, because eventually they may start to add up and we may realize there’s a trend that we want to cover. It’s a lot easier to cover a few firms in a story than just one. Making sure it’s timely–that’s obviously so important. But a lot of times, particularly in law, we’ve found that things will come in months after the fact, a case it was on or something. We need to know pretty quickly, a lateral that, “Oh yeah, they joined three months ago.” Well, that makes it a little awkward to write about now. Don’t send us links to the article that another publication wrote on the same thing and ask us to write it.”
Lizzy McLellan, business of law editor at ALM media.
“Anyone can tell you the ‘what,’ but we are curious about HOW law firms, law companies, in-house departments, and different stakeholders are moving things forward. How are they addressing challenges and why are they doing it that way? What’s the motivating factor behind it? Whether it’s a story about law firm technology and innovation, or lateral moves, mergers, diversity or law firm marketing, those are all topics we’re looking to answer ‘how’ and ‘why.’”
Jennifer Schaller, Managing Director and Co-founder of The National Law Review online edition.
“If you want to know why I don’t answer my email until 10:00 at night, it is because we receive about 200 pitches a day. They’re always very mysterious. For example, they will say, “I have an attorney and they’re an expert in labor and employment law. They’ve done this for 10 years and they want to submit a piece. It just adds to the process. If you, as a PR person, are trying to get us to jump on this quicker, it’s going to slow down the process if we must go through the entire dance of figuring out who it is. I don’t know if they’re afraid we’re going to approach them directly or what.
I would think anybody that is receiving submissions or pitches in the volume that we do doesn’t want to be titillated. Just tell us what it is and if we want to do it, we’ll get back with you. The easier you make things for people to get back to you, the better results that you get.”
Cesca Antonelli, Editor-in-Chief at Bloomberg Industry Group.
“Call anytime. We get tons and tons of unspecific emails. When you’ve got a good idea and you can tell us why something matters, that’s the most important thing to us.”
Kelly Phillips Erb, Journalist at Bloomberg Tax.
“I’m in the news division, so when someone pitches me a promotion story, I want to know why. What are you doing that’s different? Why would readers care? If you pitch a promotion story, it should always have an angle of, “Why would it matter to someone other than your mother?”
Internal news: same thing. A lot of law firms like to send notification that they’ve hired three new people. That, on its own, isn’t news. If it’s because you’ve just acquired an office in another state because you’re expanding, that becomes news. When people are pitching, I like simple, timely and different, but also newsworthy because that’s sometimes what goes missing in pitches — why does it matter to anybody other than you? At the end of the day, it’s about the reader.”
2. (PLEASE) DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Joan Feldman, co-founder and editor-in-chief at Attorney at Work.
“Do your homework. You must read what’s being published in those publications or on those blogs, read the writing guidelines, try to have a conversation about what that publication is looking for. I like a pitch by someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time trying to flatter me or convince me how much they’ve read my site, which they always seem to disprove by the stuff they say. Tell me what you’ve looked at on my site and you think these three ideas would fit in or would complement what we’ve already published so that I can come back to you and we can have a conversation about what you might add to that idea or combine ideas. Then, always include why you’re the best person to write that article or what your credentials are. Start with how you can help me. I’m in the business of helping you publish your work on a platform for thought leaders. I want you to look good so that you can be successful, and it’ll make us look good so that we could be more successful together.”
Kelly Phillips Erb, journalist at Bloomberg Tax.
“I get pitches that use the wrong name or the wrong media outlet. But the thing that I would say I love it when people do their homework. It’s frustrating to me when people do not. I get a lot of pitches, and we joke about this on Twitter a lot like, during tax season when people will say things like, “Dear Kelly, you might not know, but it’s the middle of tax season.” I then say to myself, “why would you start that way?” Because first, I’m a tax attorney. Secondly, I write about tax news, and thirdly, it’s March. Even people who don’t do those things for a living know it’s tax season. I love pitches where people do their homework. I dislike pitches that feel generic. I dislike pitches that suggest to me that you’ve sent it to 10 different organizations without regard for what they do.”
3. MAKE YOUR PITCH STAND OUT
Bridget Wingert, founder and editor at Bucks County Herald.
“To call or to email. We take pride in answering the phone. We do not automatically send people to an answering machine, so we’re really responsive and accessible.”
Lizzy McLellan, business of law editor at ALM media.
I personally love to get an email, so I can read through it and share it with a colleague if it’s not in my wheelhouse. I like something that I’m easily able to pass along, but I’m always up for chatting on the phone too. If you’re just looking to talk over some trends, or to see if a story or idea is unique, I may not always pick up on the first ring, but I’m happy to get on the phone for 15 to 20 minutes or longer and chat about what’s going on. Reporters, editors and journalists love talking with the community to see what’s up. I’m always up for that.
Bob Ambrogi, legaltech journalist.
“I welcome people to send me an email. A lot of people will just send me the press release and that’s the end of it. They will just never follow up after that. It’s like, “I sent you the press release and that’s enough.” Go ahead and send me an email and explain to me why you think this is something worth covering. I’m unabashed about the fact that I do like exclusives and if I can report something on my blog ahead of others, I’m always happy to do that. That’s going to get you an edge in getting covered. But even there, I have seen people kind of abuse that a little bit in the sense that they’ll promise me an exclusive of some kind and it turns out to be not exclusive-worthy.”
On Record PR Episode 42: What LegalTech Journalists Want to Know with Bob Ambrogi of LawSites
Kelly Phillips Erb, journalist at Bloomberg Tax.
“Sometimes people get my attention with the subject line. There was a guy last year who was pitching for his boss to be on my podcast, and it worked. He referenced, in his subject line, a story that I had written. But it was, “I know you are interested in this.” It was a clever twist on something I had said. That caught my attention when I was skimming, because I thought, “Hey, that’s my headline,” and then I read the article. The subject line should be thoughtful as well. I mean, it’s part of the pitch. To me, it’s like a headline.”
4. WE ALSO SOURCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Lizzy McLellan, business of law editor at ALM media.
“I’m a millennial, so social media has always been there for me. I do think it says something. When we’re learning about someone, or we’re hoping to interview them for a story, or maybe we’re writing about their lateral, I’ll look at their LinkedIn page and try to get an idea of what they’ve done before. I want to see other law firms or businesses they’ve worked for and see what some of their accomplishments are. That’s not to take the place of asking questions and having a great conversation with them, but it’s helpful. If anyone’s ever fighting with you and thinking it’s a waste of time, I’d say it’s not.”
Sarah Merken, legal reporter at Reuters.
“I’m on Twitter a lot. It’s usually in the background of what I’m doing because a lot of times I’ll see something on Twitter before a press release or before someone reaches out, not as much for court filings. Those I’m usually more proactive about finding, but Twitter is a big one for finding news or just knowing what people are saying about the news that I also might be writing about. People are talking about why this matters or what this means in the broader context.”
On Record PR Episode 71: Trends in Legal Media with Reuters’ Legal Reporter Sara Merken
Kelly Phillips Erb, Journalist at Bloomberg Tax.
“If somebody gives me a name, I don’t care if it comes from Facebook or Twitter. Twitter for me is more immediate and I like that. From knowing me all these years and people probably picked up on just from hearing me on this podcast, I can be wordy. Twitter forces me to be brief, and it forces other people to be brief. I find it to be more efficient.”
5. AVOID THE DON’TS
Gina Passarella, Editor-in-Chief at ALM Media.
“Don’t try to talk us out of the story when we’re writing one that you didn’t pitch. We’re totally open to hearing your point of view on an issue, but if we’re calling about a story and I’ll be honest, maybe there are times where something just isn’t ripe yet, right? If it’s just not worth it. And, we’re doing our reporting and we may come to that conclusion, but it doesn’t mean every time we call there’s going to be an article that comes out of it. When people tell us, “I don’t know why you’d be writing about this. This clearly isn’t a story. This is not news.” It makes me think more that we better write about something. That’s kind of a trigger for me.”
Bob Ambrogi, LegalTech Journalist.
“My pet peeve is people who make claims about their product that are simply not true. That’ll turn me off and you’d be surprised how often it happens. I mean just do a little research. Also, all the people who are pitching me who have no idea what I’m writing about. They pitch totally irrelevant stuff to me. I do hate it when somebody comes along and says, we have the first technology ever to do XYZ and they could have just searched my blog and found they were not the first to do it.”
Joan Feldman, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief at Attorney at Work.
“The subject lines that say, “I need to be on your site,” or “I will pay you $25 for a link,” or “This is part of a mailing list. Don’t send pitches in a MailChimp. But seriously, the competition for editor’s attention is intense and it’s not just PR agencies or in-house marketers, it’s SEO agencies, content marketing agencies, and a lot of “spammy” players who are just looking to get backlinks on credible websites. So be yourself, be authentic, do your homework. And it’s okay to follow up many times if you’re offering credible information. If you’re a spammer, leave me alone.”
Sara Merken, legal reporter at Reuters.
“I understand it is the job of a PR professional or others to get journalist’s attention when that makes sense, but it doesn’t work for me when someone sends 15 follow-up emails when I haven’t answered one of them. That generally isn’t going to make me respond again. So that’s something that, I wouldn’t say it bothers me, but sometimes I’ll get five follow-up emails about the same thing that for whatever reason, I am not interested in.”
Access all of our On Record PR media relations interviews from seasons 1 and 2 using the links below or find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
On Record PR Episode 21: How Businesses Can Work With LIONS – Local, Independent Online News Publishers with Tom Sofield
On Record PR Episode 30: Reporting the News as a Multimedia Journalist with Marion Callahan
On Record PR Episode 42: What LegalTech Journalists Want to Know with Bob Ambrogi of LawSites
On Record PR Episode 71: Trends in Legal Media with Reuters’ Legal Reporter Sara Merken