Pitching Media Like The Pros
Pitching media can be an intimidating process, even for PR pros. How do you get them interested? How do you make your story sound appealing? What if they ignore me?
You need them to tell your story, after all, so the pressure is on.
Fear not! We’re here to provide tips to make pitching media easier for you, and for the journalists, and help you generate more coverage for your story.
Before we begin, if you haven’t done so, please take a look at our previous blogs about crafting your perfect media pitch and creating the best media hook. They are quick reads and will help lay the foundation for what we’re discussing today.
It Does Take Time
I can’t stress enough to remember that this process does take time (but it’s worth it!). While the news cycle may have shrunk to seconds, unless you’re in the middle of a crisis or some disaster, media aren’t likely consistently knocking at your door.
Some stories take weeks, months, and in some cases years to complete. While years is not the standard, even most basic stories can take days or weeks to complete.
But if you do the work and approach the effort in an integrated and strategic approach, you can see real business results that do impact your bottom line.
7 Tips for Pitching Media
There are as many tips for pitching media as there are practitioners or journalists out there. Below are some specific and actionable tips that have worked for me over the years and that you can put in to place now:
- Get specific with your story – we all know you can’t be everything to everyone, and the same is true with media. Besides, that’s not what they want. You can’t create a story pitch that is relevant to all journalists, so don’t try. It’s an easy way to get them to hit the delete button. So, create each pitch specifically for the reporter and the outlet who’ll be receiving it. Make even simple adjustments so it’s personal and relevant.
- No Blasts – If you’re emailing so many people the same pitch that you need to put them in the BCC line of the email, you need to rethink your strategy. Email blasts still have their place, but it’s not for pitching stories. Journalists can recognize when it’s not tailored for them, and they’ll just take a pass.
- Do your homework – with social media, and so much accessible content, this is easy to do, but it does take time. But it’ll pay dividends at the end. For each journalist you’re pitching, you should know what they like to cover, if they have any personal interests in your story, or other fun facts about them as a reporter, and a person, that can help you connect with them. If you can connect, your job just got a whole lot easier.
- Get Personal – If you have a relationship with a journalist you’re pitching, make reference to a moment you shared, the last time you spoke, or just something that calls their attention to a good interaction with you. If you don’t have a relationship, that’s ok. Make sure you’ve done your background work on that journalist, and call out a relevant story to the one your pitching, or something you liked about their previous reporting. Sincere flattery goes a long way!
- BLUF Approach – for those in the military, BLUF, or Bottom Line Up Front, is something you’re very familiar with. I also talked about this in the Crafting The Perfect Media Pitch blog, but for Public Relations purposes, we’ll call it the inverted pyramid approach. Let them know why you’re reaching out and why it’s something they should be interested in. Create a catchy subject line, and don’t waste their time by beating around the bush.
- Twitter, Instagram, Email? Some journalists prefer email, some like text, and some even prefer to be hit up on Instagram. The point is that everyone is different, so if you’ve done your homework (see bullet #3) you’ll know how you need to reach out to them. If you make it easier for them to read and consume, you’re increasing your chances of getting picked up.
- Follow up, but not too soon – journalists are busy. Shrinking newsrooms, deadlines, and even family demands. Remember, they have lives, too! So, give them time to respond. When to respond can vary from story to story, or deadline to deadline, but I like to give them at least a few days to respond before I reach back out. Remember, the process can take days, week, or even months sometimes so have patience and plan appropriately.
Let’s Get Start – But Wait, There’s More
Now that we’ve given you some tips, go forth and pitch media on your stories! And drop us a line and let us know what additional tips you have for pitching media.
As you’re making your pitching plans, here are some recent blogs to help guide your planning:
– Tips For Nailing Media Relations
– Creating The Best Media Hook
– Crafting The Perfect Media Pitch
– Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of Effective
– Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.
– How to Create Content That Engages Audiences and Builds Brand Trust Quickly
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