How To Pitch To The Media: The 4 No-Fail Strategies

Creating an excellent pitch is very important for a brand or business when it comes to successfully getting media. It is the best way you can convey your stories to the media. Simply sending them a pitch will not guarantee you media coverage.

 Pitching to the media can be a crucial part and it requires creative thinking, knowledge about how your story idea can benefit the reporter and audience, and great communication skills. Pitching can be done via email, phones, or even in person.

 But pitching the media can also be one of the most trying aspects of getting media for your business or your brand.

 Why? Media professionals are busy. In fact, studies estimate they receive between 80 and 100 pitches per day (and you thought you had inbox overload!).

 While standing out from the crowd can seem almost impossible, my Media Visibility Checklist gives ways to help you establish better relationships with reporters and transform your pitches into placements.

 This totally free guide includes tips, time-savers, and expert advice on how to get more media ... FAST. Get all the benefit of my more than 20 years in the media business that will save you both time and money. Get your MEDIA VISIBILITY CHECKLIST FOR FREE!

Here are a few other things to know about the media:

• Media such as newspaper, magazines, Tv, radio and many more can create a huge impact on your large, attentive and prospect customers. It can also strengthen the trust and esteem of your brand. Getting press is super important and is highly recommended as you will not only get backlinks from large and renowned publications but will also improve your site rankings and authority eventually landing more deals for your business. 
• Journalists receive a lot of emails every day. The one which is irrelevant and has no value for their audience could get blocked. They focus more on relevant, newsworthy, organized, and short pitches. Therefore, it is extremely important for you to write a pitch that standouts from other emails. 
• With businesses and brands growing rapidly, one thing that will never go out of trend is the goal to be heard in the outside world. Amid the din of noise, it never hurts to separate yourself from the competition. 
• Even with the myriad of marketing platforms that have come into the picture, the time-tested press release will never go out of fashion. Grab a copy of FREE PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE.
• If you’re finding it difficult in writing an effective pitch to press. Follow my 4 No-Fail Strategies on how to pitch the press:

 1. IDENTIFY THE RIGHT JOURNALISTS AND PUBLICATIONS

• Create a list of journalists, writers, and other media source depending on the type of content you want to promote. When finding the right media targets, focus more on engagement rather than traffic. You can also approach writers of different publications who cover your niche.
• Once you note down your list, follow the journalists who you think will be interested in your stories and also find their contact details. Follow them on social media. Find out what they have written recently. This will help you in sending personalized pitches. Develop a strong relationship with each and every writer. 
• An effective media plan is an important foundation for gaining media coverage in the areas of print, TV, radio and online media outlets your target audience consumes. Get my 2019 MEDIA PLAN GUIDE for FREE!

 2. PITCH A STORY NOT JUST YOUR COMPANY INFORMATION

• Don’t do the mistake of pitching your company’s information to the media people. If it is as generic as it sounds, your pitch will more likely to end in the trash folder. Journalists are looking for those newsworthy emails that will bring value to the audience. Therefore, don’t just tell them the information about your company, tell them stories, think of a great hook, provide value. Show them exactly what you can provide your audience with your business.
• Come up with some brilliant ideas which can make your stories worth reading. Do not make your pitch lengthy instead keep it short and write attention-capturing subject lines. Your subject line should show the value you will be giving to your audience and these values should continue to the first paragraph of your pitch to grab the attention of a journalist. Additionally, you should always keep in your mind that whatever story you’ll be creating is relevant to the interest of journalist and it should be timely. Take this into consideration, prepare a pitch and send them through the mail. 
• Help A Reporter Out (HARO) offers the opportunity to score press features, guest posts, or expert interviews so you can share your knowledge with the world. The end result may come in the form of quote snippets, full features, or ongoing editorial relationships and can help boost your authority and site traffic.
• Here's the problem... everyone praises HARO, yet few seem to share the reality of nailing a HARO pitch (nor address the high competition and lack of reporter responses). I put together this handy HARO Tip Guide to help. Get your HARO (Help A Reporter Out) Tip Guide for FREE!

 3. EMOTIONAL STORIES

• The one thing which is common in all viral stories in “emotions”. It has been discovered that successful content generally has 3 elements:

1. It concentrates on positive emotions
2. It is emotionally complex
3. It surprises the readers

• As a result, when you are coming up with the stories ideas, choose something that is positive, complex or has a component of surprise.
• Some of the ideas you can come up with are, if you have a startup, you can pitch a story on how your startup came into existence, share a solution to some problems your business will solve and more like this.

 4. FOLLOW UP

• Once you have sent your pitch to the press, wait for a reply for a few days or schedule a gentle reminder after several days. Most of the Journalists and writers are very busy people so they might not respond to you soon. 
• Therefore, if you don’t hear from them, send them a follow-up email. Before sending a follow-up, email takes a week’s time if it’s not urgent, as it will give them more time to go through your pitch. If you do not get replies for your pitch, evaluate where the things went wrong.

 Creating an effective pitch to the press requires experiences and efforts, but with the time and practice, you will improve your media pitching. When you will reach out to the reporters regularly, you will gain confidence.

 After 20 years in the Television and Radio business and now as a media strategist, I know how powerful media can be for your business. It's the stories we tell that help people remember us - and what better platform to do it than via online and offline media. The best bit about media is it doesn't cost you a cent. Get my MEDIA PLANNER FOR FREE!