The Benefit of Targeting Niche Outlets for Media Coverage
Who wouldn’t want to be published in The Wall Street Journal or be featured in TIME? While landing coverage in one of those top publications can be extremely beneficial, you might be ignoring a type of media that can be just as influential, and a lot more accessible: niche media.
Unlike consumer media, which is mass consumed, niche media appeals to a specific audience (i.e., trade publications that contain technical content and industry jargon that a mass audience might not understand or find beneficial).
Even if it doesn’t stack up in terms of page views and social media clicks, connecting with key reporters in niche media outlets can be a great way to reach out directly to the audience that matters most for your business and message.
The Benefit of Trade Media
Though top-tier major media outlets have the advantage of a very large audience and broad variety of content, this can also be their weakness. Only a portion of this audience is likely to be your true target, and the accessibility of coverage in such publications is very low.
If you represent an organization specializing in space exploration, your audience—which would include scientists and astronomers—probably only consists of a very small portion of daily readers of The New York Times.
On the other hand, outlets this audience accesses frequently might include Sky & Telescope, a space sub-Reddit or a newsletter from Astronomy.com. Sometimes, getting a placement in any of those outlets, whether it’s an update, feature piece or Q&A with the CEO, can be far more direct, influential and impactful.
Connection to Coaching
As a coach, what sorts of trade publications do you subscribe to? If you’re in HR, you might be reading Human Resources Today, TLNT.com or Glassdoor.
Do you work with creatives, small-scale business owners and entrepreneurs? Perhaps you have the latest issues of Inc. and Entrepreneur on your coffee table. Do you help high-level leaders maximize their potential? Your target organizations’ C-suites may subscribe to Chief Executive magazine or Robb Report.
Any of these trade publications or niche-focused websites are great examples of outlets to target.
Less Competition
Not only can it be more beneficial to target niche media in your industry. You may also find the competition to reach reporters and earn coverage is not as steep compared to general consumer media. One can only imagine the thousands of emails top-level mainstream lifestyle magazine reporters and editors get every day from all sorts of brands that want to be featured.
On the flip side, lipstick and perfume companies most likely have no interest in pitching a human resources publication. As a coach, you want to get in front of decision-makers of your target industry who can make the case for adopting a strong coaching culture, or managers who could be persuaded by why it’s important to be more of a coach and less of a boss.
Once you have identified the key publications, remember to reach out to reporters and editors in a way that will get them interested in coaching.
Adam Yosim (USA)
Adam Yosim has a background in broadcast journalism, and he spent seven years as a local TV news reporter in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Baltimore, Maryland. He is a senior account executive at Stanton Communications, ICF’s public relations agency of record. Adam specializes in media outreach and social media to earn positive media coverage for clients.
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Thank you for providing such great insight into how to better target my niche audience; definitely going to look into those publications.
An alternative that all coaches should consider is to select a niche that is needed and wanted by persons who have the ability to pay. Take a look at a part of the coverage that I have had worldwide:
The Anderson & Anderson Curriculum has been reviewed locally, nationally and internationally, having been featured on KCET Sessions, BBC, NBC’s Starting Over, NPR, and KCAL’s 9 on The Town, Entertainment Weekly, Chicago Tribune, London Sunday Times, ESPN, The Voice TV Danmark, New York Times, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun News, Toronto Star News, Cover, Los Angeles Times Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, REEL TV, Patient/Doctor Journal, Los Angeles Magazine, NASW News & Scrubs Magazine .
Thanks for sharing how it is more beneficial to target niche media. Everyone is trying to make money. You just need to be the one to reach the right people first.