Manage Journalist Contacts with A CentralStation CRM
Contacts with journalists are crucial in public relations. A simple Excel spreadsheet is not enough for you to keep track of your contacts.
Using the example of CentralStation CRM, we will show you how you can manage the contact data of journalists professionally with the help of a CRM system.
The primary function of CentralStation CRM is to map the relationship and communication with your customers as completely and clearly as possible. You can save all contact details together with notes, e-mails, reminders or comments.
Save Contact Person and Media List
In addition to the contact details, you have the option of creating additional individual fields that are relevant to you. For example, when managing journalist contacts, it could be interesting to have additional fields for the circulation of the medium, the frequency of publication or the editorial deadline.
Save Information About the Person
Check the journalist’s social media profiles. They usually offer you a starting point for your conversation.
In addition to the pure contact details and information on the medium, you should also store the journalists’ thematic priorities to address them with really appropriate content. The free text field “About the person” is available for this purpose.
Besides, links to the journalist’s social media profiles can be entered. This makes sense in that you can, for example, briefly click into the profile on Facebook or Twitter before a call to see what topics the journalist is currently dealing with – this often allows you to start your conversation.
Assign “tags” to Categorize Journalists
You can categorize journalists within CentralStationCRM by assigning and assigning keywords, so-called “tags”. This will make your work easier if you plan to approach specific journalists or are looking for contacts. You define the “tags” yourself, depending on which aspects of your press work are relevant.
For example, when categorizing journalists, it makes sense to organize them according to the target group. Therefore, create a “tag” for public media and one for specialist media. Of course, you can further subdivide the target groups.
In the case of specialist media, for example, you can separate individual industries. In the case of public media, you can define whether they are explicitly aimed at car lovers or football enthusiasts. Other “tags” can determine the media type:
Our Tip For Agencies
If you use CRM as an agency to do PR for several customers, it makes sense to create a “tag” for each customer. You can assign the individual journalists to one or more customers and thus always have an overview of the relevant journalists for a specific customer.
“Tags” Assigned for The Daily Organization of Public Relations
“Tags” make it easier for you to organize your contacts.
In the initial categorization of journalists and your daily press work, it makes sense to use “tags” in CRM. For sending out each press release, we recommend creating a “tag” assigned to all journalists who are to receive the press release.
If you use newsletter software for sending or a combination of several “tags”, it is advisable to save the “tags” as a filter. In this way, you can easily export the relevant contact details and upload them to the newsletter provider.
