Some time ago a financial services company, whose identity will not be disclosed, sought publicity as a way of attracting more business. The company issued a press release that hailed its product as “disruptive”, “transformative”, “revolutionary” and other worn-out clichés that make journalists cringe every time they hear or see them.

The company expected the press release to set off a barrage of telephone calls and e-mails from reporters. But there were no calls or e-mails, just a deafening silence to a press release that joined thousands of others sent daily to reporters’ electronic roundfile.

What went wrong?

One of their big mistakes was the expectation that sending a press announcement would merit reporters’ immediate attention. Unless the name of the company is Apple, Microsoft, Google, or some other corporate giant that also happens to have a stock trading symbol, it’s most likely that reporters won’t even bother reading the press release.

Journalists today have neither the time nor the energy to scan each press release that is sent to them. They are deluged with hundreds of press releases, pitches, news alerts, infographics and other corporate communications every day.

So how do you get the media to take notice?

Here are some tactics to follow:

• Finding the right reporters — Conduct online research on those reporters who might be interested in your news. Search engines and social media venues are fairly effective in tracking down journalists who might cover your news. For example, if your company is promoting a new banking app, put the names of media outlets and banking apps together in the search field. The search engine will show publications and electronic media outlets that have run stories on various banking apps, as well as the names of reporters who covered the topic.

• Create a pitch — Ok, you now have a list of journalists who have previously reported on a product that’s similar to yours. You can easily find reporters’ e-mail addresses or Twitter names on their company’s websites or on their stories. You can also track down reporters on other social media platforms like LinkedIn. Send an e-mail, tweet, or LinkedIn message to the reporter and briefly describe the details in the press release, why he or she should care about it, and other pertinent information. However, keep it as simple as possible. Reporters live a harried existence and don’t have the time to read long-winded prose. Last but not least, be creative in writing a headline for your pitch. The more creative, the more likely you’ll capture the interest of the reporter.

• Smile & Dial — Just because you electronically contacted the reporter an e-mail, it doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. More often than not, even if you did everything listed above, you’ll very likely just hear the sound of crickets. It’s up to you to chase that reporter until you get a response. That usually means calling the reporter directly, usually multiple times until you can get him or her on the phone. Be warned that reporters file their stories daily, even hourly. So they might get a bit short with you if you’re blabbing away about your product while they are under a crushing deadline. When calling reporters, ask them first if they are on a deadline. If they are, ask them when it would be a good time to call back. Call them when it’s convenient for them, and most will be courteous to give you the time to pitch them the story.

• Nailing the Interview — Once the reporter is interested in what you have to say, be prepared on what you want to talk about and avoid boring the reporter with minutia, unless he or she asks for it. You should have only three or four talking points during a media interview, more than that and the reporter might easily get confused about what information you are trying to get across which may result in errors in the story or the reporter omitting all or some of your key points, or both.

• Getting the Story Right — The media outlet has run a story about your new product. Everything is wonderful, except the reporter failed to mention this or that about the product. First, ask yourself if everything in the story is accurate. If so, then be happy your product is getting exposure. Stories are not going to include everything you talked about during the interview, especially if it’s broadcast news coverage. News flash: Media outlets aren’t covering these stories to help make you rich and famous; they are running them because of their news value and interest to their readers or viewers. If there are glaring inaccuracies in the story, contact the reporter to run a correction.  Online publications also can easily remove the offending text and replace it with the correct information. If the reporter contends that the story is factually accurate, you have two options: shrug it off and move on, or write a letter to the editor or producer disputing some or all of the story’s content. Unless the inaccuracies in the story will cause great harm to you, your employees or your business, don’t bother pursuing it if you exhausted all other means. It just isn’t worth it.

One last note:

You will most likely be spending an inordinate amount of time seeking media coverage for your business if you’re doing it correctly.  So unless you have enough hours in the day (and night) to do your own job and the role of a publicist, you should consider outsourcing this function to those who do this for a living.