Best Ways To Pitch Your Story To Media

Tip 1 - Zoe Fox: Twitter can be a great place to reach out, be mindful of your first approach

Twitter can be a great place to reach out.

Generally speaking, Twitter can be a great place to pitch journalists who are often very engaged with Twitter. As somewhat public figures, journalists treat their Twitter accounts at least partially professional, so they'll likely be happy to chat with you on Twitter about topics relating to their beats.

That said, many journalists receive a ton of pitches on Twitter, so be mindful of your first approach. If you just tweet "Hey reporter, I have something I think you'll like — DM me," you're leaving the journalist absolutely no reason to reply. Try to include a link to some news or @mention the brand or organization you're representing. If journalists recognize the company or are interested in the link you share, they're much... 

Tip 2 - Robert Scoble: Build a relationship with me first

How do good PR people pitch me? They do send me email. But they build a relationship with me first and find out what I like to write about. One example? Jeremy Toeman. He tells me all the time that he has clients he doesn’t pitch to me because they aren’t going to be interesting to me or my readers. He protects his relationship with me from crappy pitches.

Tip 3 - Build a good but short list

A simple Google search can tell you the top 10-20 reporters within your niche market, don't go out spamming thousands at once with your bot - focus on the quality over the quantity that you send out. Make each contact last.  Build a relationship by following them, liking their post and participating in conversations.  If they already know your name, the chances of your story getting picked up are a lot higher.

Tip 4 - First step to a successful pitch is to know who you're emailing

With that in mind, the first step to a successful pitch is to know who you're emailing

open_knowledgeviaFlickr

It's time consuming to pitch multiple people your startup. It's much easier to send one mass email and bcc everyone.

Don't do this. If you want someone to spend time on you, spend time on them.

Find the recipient on Twitter and read something they've tweeted recently. Use LinkedIn to find out where they went to school and see if you have that in common.

Don't go on and on about what you know about..... ALYSON SHONTELL

Tip 5 - Present your story so it is news, not blatant advertising

Present your story so it is news, not blatant advertising.

Journalists report news; they are not advertisers. Think of angles for your pitch that can add a human element to your message. It is your job to know what is considered newsworthy. It’s always smart to take some time to monitor the news being written by those reporters you want to approach so that you can find ways to make your story relevant to them at a certain point and time. Can you think of a way that your story can tie into something that the publication is currently reporting on? If so you are more likely to get the attention of the reporter and that they will pass your story on to their audience. Include necessary details with facts to back them up, but avoid the mundane. Reporters have heard the same detail-oriented pitch before so make yours something that they will want to work with..

Tara Hustedde

Tip 6 - Prove your story deserves to be covered and keep improving your pitch

Firs thing first is to know your target market, research the reporters who cover it and see what they like and don’t like.  If you do plan to send out emails, do not send out spammy looking emails that some PR companies do these days as they are very likely ignored.

It’s not about how many people you send it to, the gold is in getting results. Research number of reporters but send it one or two first to see what happens.  Improve it and send it the next couple, with each improvement you should be able to get closer to getting their attention.  Keep following what they do to make sure you are building a name for yourself in their books.

Tip 7 - Avoid hyperbole and buzzwords, just tell us what you do

“I narrow-mindedly outlawed the word ‘unique’. Practically every press release contains it. Practically nothing ever is.”

This quote is attributed to Fred M. Hechinger, a former New York Times editor. Even if what you have is genuinely unique, so many pitches use this word that it has become an almost redundant adjective. All we really, really want to hear about is what your product or company does.

So, it’s best not to fill your pitch with hyperbole. Stick to the facts, tell us what you’ve got, what it does and what it solves. Practical information beats buzzwords every time, so ‘unique’, ‘revolutionary’ and ‘game-changing’ can be left at the door.

KISS: Keep it short and simple  By PAUL SAWERS

Tip 8 - Keep your pitch to a 15 -30 second elevator speech and Always follow up

if you are pitching to television, know that a little bit of visuals can go a long way, so be sure you have some eye-popping pieces or props to travel to the studio with you! 

Keep your pitch to a 15 -30 second elevator speech that includes your introducing yourself and why you think you would be valuable to their readers/viewers. Be sure you also ask them if “now is a good time” because just like you they have jobs to do to and you may be interrupting them. If you are able to continue pitching your story be sure you have a few different angles up your sleeve. This way if one approach doesn’t work you can smoothly transition into another before they decide you are not a great fit for their outlet.

Always follow up.

by Sabina Ptacin Hitchen

Tip 9 - Who, What, When, Where and How

In your PR pitch give the answers to all the above mentioned questions. However, if you feel there is some critical information which you wish to keep secret, yet answer it such a way that your secret remains with you and at the same time the journalist gets the feeling that your story is tangible and shall make the journalist publish your story.

Make sure to keep it a story but not promotion of your product or services or else you may fail.

Tip 10 - Don’t waste their time and Get to the point

Don’t waste their time.
If you send pitches out en masse – 50 people get the same idea – you are going to fail. Instead, only pitch reporters who will care about your idea. Back to point #1, if you know them and what they like to cover, you’ll know if your idea makes sense to them before you blast away haphazardly.

Get to the point.
Have a story idea? Great, get to the point when pitching the media. These folks are busy and don’t want to get to paragraph five to learn what you are thinking. Like a good news story, a good pitch should use an inverted pyramid format. Get to the point and they will respect your effort, even if they don’t bite. I’ve found pitches that get results are one or two paragraphs – just enough to capture attention.

Tip 11 - Have a story idea? Don’t preface it. Just share it

Get to the point.

Have a story idea? Don’t preface it. Just share it. These folks are busy and don’t want to get to paragraph five to learn what you are thinking. Like a good news story, a good pitch should use an inverted pyramid format. Get to the point and reporters will respect your effort, even if they don’t bite. I’ve found pitches that get results are one or two paragraphs: just enough to capture attention.  By Patrick Hyde