Tips and tricks to perfect your pitch

Taylor Childress

Through all positions I held and numerous lectures I attended about PR, one of the most important rules that I learned is about pitching and how to make it stick out. When I first started my PR journey, I didn’t think pitching would be that huge in my career. Boy, was I wrong! I can say that pitching is what takes up almost all of my time. But, it’s very rewarding when your pitch results in a reporter to coming to an event or when an article is written strictly due to your pitch. From all the information I have learned about pitching over the years, here has what has helped me along the way:

The subject line shouldn’t be boring. Just like when you send out your resume or any other important email, the subject line for your pitch is KEY! It determines whether or not your email is even opened. I try to think outside of the box sometimes, but you remember to stay professional.

Make your pitch personal. If I received an email that seemed like an e-blast, I would automatically never read it. Similarly, pitching should be personal. Start with “Hi, (their name)” or something that stuck out when you saw their name. When I began at Obsidian, I maybe sent two pitches that weren’t personalized, and that got me no response. Now, I feel as if I have formed relationships with certain reporters and know how they work. I will send certain messages that include articles I read or appearances they made to spark a conversation and show that I’m paying attention.

Timing is everything. If you are trying to pitch something that happens in a week, that is pushing it. If it’s in three days, forget it. There are new things popping up every minute for the media, and if your pitch doesn’t fall into a certain time frame, coverage likely won’t happen. That’s the beauty (and curse) of the news these days: something new happens every minute and seems more tasteful than the last.

Grammatical errors are not OK. I’m very guilty of this, and it’s a shame. We are typing so fast that and we don’t mean to misspell, but we do. We think that spell check will catch it, but it doesn’t. Just proofread twice – three times even – and you should catch it. Our firm has an internal editing process, so my editor usually catches my errors. However, it’s nice when I catch them on my own first.

Your pitch should be short and sweet. This is the golden rule for pitches. If a pitch is too long, no one will want to read it. Think like a cover letter to your resume. It’s describing the news release or the event. Reporters, bloggers and all media have a busy schedule, and they probably have more pitches to read than you have to send out. Do them a favor and condense it. Be the reason you made their job easier that day.

Be understanding. If a reporter says no, that is ok. Be respectful and understand that they have huge deadlines, as well. You are most likely going to be pitching to them the next day or even in the next hour, so make sure you keep a good relationship. They will appreciate it.

Pitching is a huge thing these days, so have fun with it. Just remember that media get new news leads almost every minute, no matter where you are located. Make it fun and put your creative twist to it. Make their jobs fun for the minute (hopefully less) they read it. It will land you that article or appearance.

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Bianca Gordon

As public relations professionals, a great deal of our success is based on securing media hits for our clients. In turn, much of our frustration can also come when we don’t achieve media hits for a client or story we know is newsworthy. So where does it all start? I’d say with the perfect media pitch.

The perfect media pitch is a lot like the perfect cupcake. If your cupcake eating starts with the icing, there’s nothing worse than delicious icing and dry, tasteless cake. If the cake happens to be your favorite, then what’s worse than moist, delicious cake with horrible icing? Just like the cupcake has two critical components to make it just right, so does the perfect media pitch.

The media pitch is the toughest (and most important) task to master when dealing with the media relations aspect of a PR professional’s job. It’s your initial contact with the reporter, a.k.a. the gatekeeper to the door that will get your client featured. Let’s be clear – we aren’t aiming for “good” pitches. While a good pitch may certainly get you a response and is better than the ignored “bad” pitch, it’s the “perfect” pitch that gets your client in the door and seals the deal for their media coverage.

Courtesy of Flickr

So, how do you accomplish both the perfect cake and delectable icing of the media-pitching cupcake? It starts with the subject line. In an age where all pitches are delivered via email, what your reader sees in the subject line can determine whether you get that double click to open or your pitch is headed straight to the trash. At all costs, avoid “press release” or “breaking news” with a slew of exclamation points to follow. This is a sure-fire way to guarantee your pitch a one-way ticket to the trash. Keep your subject lines targeted and short. 

Now, to achieve that perfect icing on your media-pitching cupcake, you will want to understand who you are pitching to and personalize it to that reporter. Know reporters’ preferences, their work and their beats, and also be familiar with the audience they are trying to reach. Nothing comes across more haphazardly than pitching a hard news story to an entertainment or sports reporter. You wouldn’t substitute salt for the sugar in your perfect cupcake recipe, so don’t ruin your perfect pitch by being careless.

Lastly, be sure to tell the reporter why your story will interest him or her. You know your client is the greatest thing since sliced bread; now is your time to prove it.