Pitch Perfect

Sarah Lichterman

If you were hoping this was going to be a post about the recent announcement of Pitch Perfect 2 opening in May 2015, I am sorry to disappoint you. As one of my favorite comedies, I would like nothing better than to list my top five movie quotes complete with several memes. However, this is not the appropriate avenue for that.

One of the more important roles of a public relations professional is to determine the appropriate outlet for communication. When a client has relevant news or a crisis situation, they come to us first to ask what to do next. After gathering all information about the situation, our next step is to strategize which media is most relevant to send it to, and then, we create the perfect pitch.

In a recent PRSA meeting, we listened to a panel of local media who discussed the best practices for pitching stories and shared stories of the worst pitches they have received. One horror story that stood out to me was a magazine editor that had recently received a pitch where he was blind copied on the email. Not only was the news irrelevant to his magazine, but he also said he would not have used it any way for the sheer fact that the PR person had not taken the time to craft an admissible pitch for his magazine. I was appalled to hear that some people send news that way. At Obsidian, we are encouraged to read news often in order to understand what types of stories are pertinent for certain publications and reporters. While each pitch that is sent out may not be perfect, we do our best to ensure it is relevant and timely to the outlet we are pitching.

If you want to be pitch perfect, there are a few key lessons you should practice daily. Mark Thabit, senior vice president of marketing and project management at Vocus, explains how to make the perfect pitch to grab a reporter’s attention in in this article on Ragan.com. Among these are straightforward tips such as to speak like a human being, network with media and know your reporter. The following tips are ones I think about regularly when crafting a pitch.  

Get to the point. If you think a reporter is going to read your eight-paragraph essay talking about a company’s new hire, you are wrong. Reporters received hundreds, if not thousands, of emails a day. They may only read the subject line or the first few lines of your email, so get to the point quickly and make sure the news is intriguing. If you don’t think it’s compelling news, then a reporter is most likely not going to either.

Answer the five Ws. This goes along with getting to the point. From the beginning of news sharing and storytelling, who, what, when, where and why have been the foundation of any story. And, this will never change. Make sure your pitch includes answers to these questions without too many details. The details can be included in an attached news release or interview.

Offer other media. A perfect pitch usually is not just words. With news being shared instantly through social media and websites, media doesn’t always have the time or resources to send a cameraman to cover your story. Use a content data sharing system like DropBox to share large photo or video files.

Once you have crafted the perfect pitch, reread it to triple check that you have given accurate facts, attached any supporting media and are sending it to the correct reporter. You want to be confident in your pitch to know that you have “crushed it.”

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.