Someone Freelance This Way Comes

In the field of public relations, we frequently find ourselves reaching out to the media in search of coverage, desperately pleading with editors and publishers for just a scrap of attention. A few observations: this is demeaning to us and we deserve better. We don’t need to scrounge for their attention – after all, they’re the ones with English degrees. Also, there’s a better way.

Freelancers.

Freelance writers make up a huge percentage of the writers working today for magazines, newspapers, radio shows, and websites. Quite often, they work for a number of these different media outlets at once. They’re constantly on deadline, always stressed, and don’t have regular office hours, which makes them sometimes difficult to contact. So why would we bother dealing with these scrappy professionals, if you can even call them that?

Their livelihood depends on it. That’s why.

Freelancers are different, after all. Because they don’t always know where their next paycheck is coming from, freelancers are always on the lookout for the next good story. Or even the next second-rate story. Editors may put your press release and press kit on the bottom (or worse, the middle) of his giant and ever-expanding inbox, but freelancers can’t afford that. They’re not a newspaper staff writer with an assignment just waiting to be done. Freelancers need to seek it out. They’ve got a hunger for that search, or they wouldn’t be in it in the first place.

Of course, this is all slightly cynical. But it is the truth. By building relationships with freelance writers, you can develop a whole bullpen of writers to essentially “assign” to your newest client in need of a story. Each writer brings something different to the table, adding their own expertise to yours and increasing your firm’s ability to deliver expert coverage on a wide spectrum of subjects. It’s almost like having an entire staff of a magazine under your control. You can have food writers, art critics, music buffs, spa experts, and resort kings. And you can hand out assignments to each of them and then they, the freelancers, go off and get the article published in the appropriate magazine.

One of the ways freelancers can really show their worth is through their contacts. Part of working as a freelancer is knowing a lot of people and knowing how to schmooze. They need to have their man in Havana at every single magazine they know, or they’re not getting their article published. This exponentially expands your own contact base, creating a giant web of people you have at your disposal for your public relations needs. After all, isn’t public relations about getting the widest possible coverage from the best possible media?

Also, there’s the stability issue. Magazine editors and publishers tend to bounce from job to job, even if the job is always a full-time, stable position. This means an editor’s priorities might change dramatically as they move to a regular job at a different media organization. Freelancers, however, tend to stick to being freelancers; it takes a certain wiring to want to work in this way. So, in a way, a freelancer’s shelf life is infinite. Even when the editors and publishers change, the freelancers remain the same.

More than anything, however, personal relationships are what make freelancers so valuable. Over the years when you work in public relations, the people you know and like and trust are the ones who will help you get the best coverage. They know that if they help you, you’ll help them. So you get to know these people, you talk to them, figure out who they are and what drives them, and that makes you a better public relations guru, knowing how to better use the resources that you have your disposal. You may even commit the ultimate sin and make a few friends along the way. Don’t be afraid – they won’t mind.



Someone Freelance This Way Comes - To learn more about this author, visit Blaise Nutter's Website.

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