Since Abelow PR is a close-knit team, the agency shares new contacts quickly and efficiently. In larger firms, because they are broken out by industry concentration, mainstream media aren’t always shared among all team members at the top PR firms, even if they have a centrally located database repository. In the haste to service clients, and in many cases the account managers are overloaded, the staff doesn’t always have time to send the new contact around to the other teams.
Our PR agency, one of the top PR firms that prides itself on scrupulously maintained media databases, we are also very careful to comb through the list and leave out those editor’s who would not want that kind of news.
We are very sensitive to the huge number of emails the press get daily. Since we are one of the boutique public relations firms that takes the time to tailor lists, so editors know that when they get a release from us it will be relevant to their beat. Its worth taking the extra time to tailor the media list to a particular release. Likewise, when the PR firm takes on a new account that is slightly different than others, many hours are spent in media research to add editors who cover that beat. A perfect example is the Single Malt Scotch Whiskey account the agency recently signed on, 1494. While many of the publications that cover travel are in the luxury lifestyle category already on the agency’s rosters, in depth research was done to add those reporters covering the “Spirits” category.
Major PR firms utilize a number of databases to which keep up on all the editors in North America covering a wide range of industries. But in the end, we find dogged research and networking is the foundation on which good media relations are built.
