Food and Drink PR - the value of knowing what journalists & influencers want

As a Food and Drink PR agency with specialist expertise, it’s essential that we understand what journalists and influencers want, and how this may differ for each person.

Understanding what they want, as well as when and how they want it, is crucial to achieving the best media & influencer coverage for our clients. Our talented team has extensive experience in understanding the needs in this sector and makes it their mission to stay on top of their game when it comes to media expertise.

To create the perfect pitch to a journalist/influencer, there are several key considerations.

Understanding lead times for food and drink PR

Firstly, in food & drink PR, it’s important to understand the lead times of the various onlines, magazines and newspapers. Knowing how far in advance they work and when the publications hit the shelves is vital for success. That’s why we’re already thinking about Christmas in Spring!

Targeted pitching

Knowing who to contact is also essential. Our team has all this information at their fingertips and understands who the right contacts are across different sectors. Targeted pitching means knowing if a journalist is focused on new products, large features, real stories or research-led news and only giving them what they want and will use.

Is it a good time?

It’s important to know when it’s a good time to contact journalists and perhaps more importantly, when not to. When journalists are on deadline, the last thing they want is to be pestered by food & drink PRs, so timing is everything.

The perfect package for food and drink PR

targeting journalists/influencers isn’t just a simple case of sending out a press release, but offering them a package of what they need. Some, for example, specialise in real-life stories and are looking for case studies and testimonials whereas others want quotes from experts or hard-hitting news stories, backed by clinical evidence, statistics and surveys.

Quality vs. quantity

We want to get as much coverage as possible for our clients, but it’s important that we achieve high-quality, targeted coverage that will resonate with the target audience. We appreciate the value of tailored pitching, offering each journalist/influencer what we think will interest them, rather than mass mailouts where everyone receives the same pitch.

Deadlines for food and drink PR

Journalist deadlines can be tight! National newspapers have a very fast turnaround and understanding these deadlines and being in a position to act quickly is a crucial part of understanding what journalists want. We don’t promise anything unless we know we can deliver – because what journalists definitely don’t want is to be let down at the last minute.