As one of London’s best-known PR and Digital agencies, we are often asked by brands what the secret is behind driving engaging press coverage and comprehensive PR campaigns.

When budgets are an issue, some of the food and drink start-up brands that we take on have even begun the process of a small scale press outreach, before they get to a stage that they are ready to take on an agency.

We’re always happy to share our skills and knowledge. So here are our top three pointers for getting your brand into the media:

1. Ensure you’re targeting the right publications

Forget the saying “all press is good press”. It’s a waste of time reaching out to media titles when their readership doesn’t align with your target demographic.

The purpose of a food and drink PR campaign is to raise awareness of your brand to the right audiences, so ensure that you are being super targeted with titles.

We use Facebook Insights data and YouGov to align our targets individually with brands, as well as using retailers’ own targets and data sets. This ensures the press results have the most positive effect in terms of brand equity, awareness and sales.

2. Take time to read the journalist’s work

Understanding what makes each journalist tick – their personal interests, as well as their bugbears, is super important. It will mean you can tailor your information closely to their style, as well as to fit the editorial format or magazine slot they write.

The first step is to read a number of their articles, not just the most recently published piece. Are they on Twitter or Instagram? What have they been discussing recently, or asking for information about? Have you got something relevant?

3. Be efficient and concise

It’s a fact frequently stated that journalists are inundated with press releases, samples and emails.

Your job is to ensure that they can pull the most relevant information quickly, rather than trawling through paragraphs of prose.

Press deadlines may mean that a journalist who has seemed disinterested in a story for months, can suddenly want your food or hospitality press release, information, quotes and further images at a moment’s notice because it has suddenly become relevant. You will need to be able to deliver the right information efficiently to ensure press coverage and to be remembered as a reliable contact, who is easy to work with.