5 Reasons Why Building Relationships with Freelancers Will Make or Break Your 2025
Don't let fewer on-staff editorial roles and more AI-generated content being published negatively impact your PR strategy — Position yourself today for success next year
Hello, Top Tier Community.
It’s been an intense year in the publishing world (as per usual). Layoffs, consolidations, budget cuts … so many of the editors writers work with are no longer at the outlets we contribute to, and we’ve heard many of you are in the same boat. It’s so frustrating to keep losing your contacts!
Here’s a handy, yet depressing list of the layoffs we know about to date: https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/journalism-job-cuts-2024/
What does this mean for media and PR folks? In short, fewer on-staff editorial roles and more AI-generated content being published. Does that sound like a scary combination? It is.
Times are tough, and that means building long-term relationships with media is more important than ever — but how do you do that when so many on-staff writers/editors keep losing their jobs?
From where we stand, as two long-time freelancers who are always at capacity on assignments, we’d suggest placing your bets on freelancers. Yes, the veteran freelancers in the industry know how to hustle (it’s how we earn a living!) and know how to sell YOUR stories to their editors — and that’s exactly who you want to work with.
Your ability to foster and maintain relationships with freelancers is more crucial than ever before. We do a deep dive on this topic in our Become a Journalist’s BFF: Networking and Relationship Management session (let us know if you’d like to book this for yourself or your entire agency!) but wanted to share some actionable takeaways today in light of all the movement in the industry.
So today we’ll be looking at the reasons WHY you’re going to need to lean on freelancers and HOW to effectively do so.
But before we dive in, a few items you’ll want to know about:
RSVP Now for November's Top Tier Talk
Our upcoming Top Tier Talk will be held on Monday, November 4 at 11am PST/2pm EST.
This will be an open forum where you can ask anything. We can discuss pitching, the outlets we contribute to, seasonal gift guides, sources/experts, best practices, writer pet peeves, interviews, products, deadlines, affiliate programs and more!
Book an Agency-Wide or 1:1 Consulting Session with Jill & Nicole
Here’s a reminder of the sessions we offer, both to agencies and solo/freelance publicists:
All Your Questions Answered Session
Have a bunch of questions you’ve been dying to ask two top-tier journalists? Here’s your chance to learn about what goes on behind the scenes. Book a panel with us and prepare your list. You’ll walk away with all of your questions answered, plus we’ll sprinkle in our best practices throughout the session to help give you (and your clients!) an edge in this highly competitive media landscape.
Pitch Perfecting Strategy Session
Ready to take your pitches to the next level? Or are you wondering why certain pitches aren’t getting much response? Learn how to take your emails from, “Here’s a client I represent,” to “Here’s a story idea you can’t possibly turn down.” Between the two of us, we receive thousands of pitches per week, so we have many tips — and examples — of what works and what doesn’t. From coming up with the perfect email subject line to improve your open rates to sealing the deal with your closing remarks, your word choices matter throughout the entire pitch. We’ll help you perfect them … and we’ll workshop some of your actual pitches too!
Become a Journalist’s BFF: Networking and Relationship Management Session
Some publicists seem to have a transactional “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” approach to their work, but highly successful publicists know that building long-term relationships with journalists is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Learn how to meet new journalists, and discover best practices for staying in touch, following up, and creating meaningful relationships. You’ll also discover how to become a writer’s go-to source, how to stand out when answering a writer’s call for sources (whether that’s on HARO, a FB group, Twitter, or Substack), how to avoid common writer pet peeves and more.
Press Package 101 Session
Looking to mail out samples of your clients’ products in hopes of landing coverage? Great, but there’s a list of things you should know before dropping them off at the post office — things like planning, packaging, and communications will make all the difference in your ROI. We’ll help you make your packages more enticing, while actually saving your clients money in the process. And we’ll discuss how to target the right audiences, how to handle post-delivery follow-ups, and more.
Press Trips Invites and Itineraries Session
The two most important aspects of pulling off a successful press trip are nailing your invites and itineraries. First, we’ll dive into journalist targeting and invitation etiquette do’s and don’ts. Then, you’ll learn how to build a press trip itinerary that will actually land you coverage. We’ll focus on striking the perfect blend between offering media the chance to experience a destination, while zeroing in on quality and unique experiences that can lead to coverage — and help you find that elusive balance between keeping writers entertained vs. not overbooking them.
Hosting the Perfect Virtual and/or In-Person Media Event Session
Events are efficient ways to connect with a lot of media in one setting. During these sessions, you’ll learn the ins and outs of how to create a media event that journalists will A) Want to attend B) Will stay engaged at C) Will work into coverage. We’ll teach you how to target the ideal attendees who are there for article ideas and not just the free swag. We’ll talk venues, guest lists, and what to say in your presentation, plus how to coach your clients to interact with media at events in the most beneficial way.
Your Custom Session
The above options are just a sample of topics, based on questions we get asked about most frequently. But if you have something you’d love to discuss that you don’t see on the list, we’re happy to create a custom session around it. Let’s dive deeper!
Interested in learning more or booking a November/December session? Email us at info@toptierconsulting.NET.
Back to this week’s topic: 5 Reasons Why Your PR Strategy is Only as Strong as Your Relationships with Freelancers
1. On-Staff Writers/Editors May Not Be There Tomorrow
Do you have an on-staff writer/editor you work with a lot and love? Unfortunately, that could change on a dime. With all of these media layoffs, you never know who will still be on staff tomorrow — these staff writers and editors are let go with no warning, and once that happens, you’ve lost your contact at that outlet. And we all know how much work is involved with developing a rapport with a new contact from scratch, so it can be many months before you’ve replaced that connection.
Freelancers, on the other hand, are probably always going to freelance (because we choose this lifestyle over full-time employment) — and most of us freelance for a wide variety of publications. We are nimble because we have many outlets we can contribute to, and this works in your favor as a publicist. Freelancers are also relentless researchers, so if their editorial contact gets let go from a publication, they’ll dig deep to find another one. Buddying up to freelancers means you have more options for coverage available to your clients.
We expect to see more and more freelancers used at publications in the coming years. Yes, a ton of on-staff jobs have been eliminated, but someone still needs to do the in-house work. AI-generated content can’t upload itself. Outlets will still need humans to edit the content and fact-checkers to ensure accuracy. Plus, when staff writers and editors get let go, they often join the freelancing pool. Freelancers aren’t going anywhere!
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