This article originally appeared in PRNews.

Rapid response, newsjacking, reactive outreach – whatever you call it, can be a major part of a successful PR program. Reporters need color commentary and deeper analysis of breaking news, and your clients need coverage in outlets that won’t cover product news directly. It’s also a good way to build relationships with a reporter as a PR person. If you can help them out when they need it, they’ll be more likely to read your emails when you have other news to share.

But, rapid response can be difficult because it happens on the media’s timeline. If you’re not prepared for that, you won’t get any coverage. Here are nine tips for building a successful rapid response program.

1. Be fast

Speed is everything. When a news story breaks, you have hours, not days, to get a comment ready. The sooner you can send something out to reporters, the more likely they are to use it. You’ll need to check for relevant news stories first thing in the morning and jump on any relevant opportunities immediately. You should be sending comments out no later than two hours after first seeing the story. Pulling this off requires lots of coordination and planning in advance.

2. Decide in advance what you will and won’t comment on

Meet with your client and plan out what topics you want to comment on and what topics you will avoid. This prevents you from flagging irrelevant opportunities and wasting time. Think about what your client has the most experience in and what could help get them into the pubs that they want to get coverage in. Rapid response opens up reporters and outlets that wouldn’t cover your client directly, so consider a wider range of topics. You may need to gently push your client to step slightly outside of their comfort zone.  Consider avoiding charged issues like politics (but don’t rule them out if your client has relevant experience).

3. Find your spokespeople

Again, determine this in advance so you won’t need to spend time deciding while you’re working on an opportunity. A good spokesperson will be, above all else, responsive. They should also be knowledgeable enough to add detail to draft comments and have a title that relates to the topics you’re commenting on. But being responsive is more important – better to send out a decent comment on time than to be late with a perfect one.

4. Plan out the process

Tell your spokesperson what the rapid response process involves, what they should expect, and what you will need from them. Decide on as many details as possible – who on your team will flag opportunities, and how? Who will draft comments, and who needs to review them before they can go out? Flagging via Slack or text message may be helpful if your spokesperson deals with a lot of email. It’s often faster for you to draft a comment and have your spokespeople revise it than to ask them to write something from scratch.

5. Make your comments concise and punchy

Think of these as sound bites. Make them pithy and interesting, and they’ll be more likely to get used. Aim for 2-4 sentences. You’ll be tempted to make these longer to fit in more of your clients’ messaging, but resist that urge. Shorter is almost always better. The reporter can always follow up if they have more questions.

6. Consider local outlets and national issues

Local newspapers, radio stations, and online publications usually prioritize comments from local companies. Make sure these contacts are on your list of targets. National issues will get lots of attention and often will be covered in outlets that your client won’t be able to get into otherwise. And there’s always a need for local experts to explain how a national story affects people in your community. One story can lead to another. For example, we pitched commentary from one of our clients about a local ransomware attack to a local technology outlet. The commentary was included in an article, the reporter reached back out with more questions a week later when there was a development in the story, and then the client got invited on the local NPR radio program. All thanks to the first comment.

7. Build a good list of targets

Build a list of targets that you can modify and reuse for each round of rapid response. Make sure everyone is relevant, and tweak it for each story – don’t spray and pray. Keep notes on reporters that use your comments or that you work on other news and try to build on those relationships.

8. Consider blogs and X (Twitter) threads

If your client has more to say about the news than you can fit into a comment, have them publish a blog post or a Twitter thread about it. You can send the link to reporters, and sometimes, they’ll get quoted or included in articles. This works particularly well if your client can do some kind of technical analysis of the news.

9. Be fast!

I’m saying it again because it’s important! Use these steps to build a rapid response program that works like a well-oiled machine, and you’ll be successful.