As public relations professionals, we are constantly cultivating story ideas from our clients, developing pitches, identifying targets and distributing them where we hope they do the most good.

Though having a compelling story is important, it is only half the battle; finding the right audience for your story is also key. Ask yourself: Who will care about this news? For whom is it relevant? Who should I target? Identifying the right journalists is essential to securing coverage. You may have a great story, but if you’re pitching the wrong media contacts, it is unlikely your story will get placed. There are tools available, like Cision, that can help you build the right media list for your pitch.

We recently started working with Trupanion, a Seattle-based pet insurance company. Trupanion is passionate about pet safety and pet friendly workplaces. In support of Pet Fire Safety Day on July 15, Trupanion shared its own best practices about pet safety, including a fire drill video they produced starring their own office pets. Pet Fire Safety Day has traditionally not generated a great deal of coverage and we knew it may not generate main stream media coverage. So, we selected targets in the pet community, such as pet bloggers, who would likely care about our pet fire safety story. Because of that careful selection and attention to the right audience, we were able to secure coverage in two pet blogs:

• Dog Tipper, “Creating a Fire Evacuation Plan for Pet-Friendly Offices,” July 15, 2013
• Pet Health Care Gazette, “Pet Fire Safety Tips for the Workplace,” July 18, 2013

We were also able to secure an interview with Herb Weisbaum for KOMO News radio. He’s planning on using Trupanion’s pet fire safety tips as his weekend pet tip. Overall, our client was happy with the results and considered it win. Through our outreach we spread the word and continued to position Trupanion as a thought leader for pet safety.

In addition to helping you be successful in pitching, taking the time to identify the right targets will help build and keep relationships with journalists. Journalists are very busy and appreciate when you take the time to understand what they cover and send relevant story ideas. For more tips on pitching media, see our past blog posts:

• Pitching Tips from Media Pros: BusinessWire Media Roundtable
• Tips for Pitching the Media through Social Media

What questions do you ask yourself to ensure you are reaching the right target audience?