If your job is to get media placements, you may want to consider how you promote your experts.

It’s not enough to respond to media inquiries and connecting the reporter with an expert in your organization. Nor is it enough to pitch your expert directly to reporters.

In today’s short and ever evolving news cycle, you have to be ready. And that means being able to raise the profile of your experts.

How do you raise their profile? It’s not as hard as you may think. In fact, you likely already have many of the pieces that would enable you to do so.

I picked up some great tips on this topic from Deanne Taenzer, ExpertFile’s vice president for business development. She is an authority on developing online thought leadership content programs that use an organization’s experts.

“There is so much scattered content,” Taenzer said. “We need to collect it in one place so others [reporters] can find it.”

It’s about making it easy for journalists to find the experts they need. Journalists seek experts who are relevant, credible, engaging, influential and responsive.

Content pieces that contribute to an expert’s authority include:

• Biography Create a current biography of your expert, including a photograph.
• Media Assets Include a list of all media outlets in which the person has been quoted or appeared.
• Social Media Note the person’s social media if it’s relevant and if the person has a strong following. If your expert tweets about a relevant news story, it’s likely a reporter will see it and express interest in speaking with her.
• Research Include a list of published research and links, if relevant. This demonstrates the expert’s scholarly work.
• Speaking Engagements List what groups the expert has spoken to and what the topic was. Include the audience size if known.

These pieces address the needs of journalists. When they are located in one place, it makes it that much easier for the journalist to find the appropriate expert.

The idea is to create a directory for your experts. You can partner with a firm like ExpertFile or do it yourself.