Developing a relationship with the media is crucial for gaining exposure for your brand. Having a plan in place for getting your information distributed to the masses will optimize your marketing strategy, while bringing awareness to your financial practice.

Get to Know Them

Forming a personal relationship with journalists can increase the likelihood of your press release getting published. In order to do this, you will need to conduct research on specific local media influencers who are likely to have interest in you and/or your financial knowledge. To do this, consider the following steps:

• Find out which journalists cover retirement planning, business and/or local stories in your community by visiting newspaper websites or giving them a call.
• Begin establishing which reporters are an appropriate fit to cover your stories by reading their articles online.
• Engage with them by leaving a comment.

Network on Social Media

Writers covering finance, investments and local news beats, or particular topics, are who you should reach out to when you have materials ready to be published.

Oftentimes, you can engage with these journalists on Twitter and other social media platforms by following their pages and practicing the following:

• Retweet them, favorite and comment on their tweets or reach out to them in a private message.
• Be on the lookout for any social media inquiries that ask for a professional reference from a financial advisor and/or story idea.
• Regardless of the topic, place your input. Feel free to get involved with discussions outside of your profession. The more you engage, the more your name will stand out to reporters.
  

Keep in Touch

Continue building your relationships with local media contacts by staying in touch. Whether you comment on a social media posting or pick up the phone to say hello, it is important that you keep in contact. A few helpful tips on how to maintain the relationship are below:

• Set aside time every few weeks to interact with your connections.
• Reach out to reporters with story ideas you think would be compelling to their readers as often as possible.
• Pay them a visit for a face-to-face meeting.

Developing trust and forming a mutually beneficial relationship requires consistent effort. Continuing to follow up with reporters not only helps you expand your business building opportunities, it also shows them that you are genuinely interested in further developing your relationship. To find out more about how NEXT Financial Group, Inc. can help you expand your marketing efforts, call 877.876.6398 ext. 4060 or contact the NEXT Marketing Department to submit an inquiry.