1. Connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or in real life more than six months in advance of pitching a reporter.

2. Monitor the Twitter hashtags of your community. Often reporters chat with the public on Twitter, and you can respond to comments they make.

3. Compliment a reporter via Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail on a story he or she did.

4. Introduce yourself to reporters at big public or chamber of commerce events. Pass along your card, but don’t try and sell them the idea on the spot. Just be helpful.

5. Invite reporters out for coffee, and ask a lot of questions about them.

6. Leave a comment at the end of the online version of a story a reporter did, which you genuinely liked.

7. Congratulate them on their birthdays, or other personal news they post.

8. Comb through Muck Rack to find regional or national reporters on Twitter who cover your industry.

9. Write a positive blog post on your blog highlighting a story of theirs, and e-mail them the link.

10. Respond regularly to posts they’ve written either on their blog, or on a local community blog you’ve noticed they post on.