I got rejected from Newsweek; what's next?
Ronjini Joshua
PR & Communications Expert helping tech brands launch products, build brand awareness and thought leadership through earned media.
As a PR professional, we are constantly pitching new story ideas. Most people don't realize that 90 percent of our job is rejection, because we love to highlight and showboat our big wins. Many media outlets can't even take the time for a rejection, it's just a black hole of silence.
However, a good PR professional has a thick skin, a ton of resilience and gets creative.
Last week, a story I was pitching was rejected by Newsweek. As we often do, I pushed to find out "why" the story was rejected. This persistence is one of the reasons PR people are paid to do the hard work, and we typically don't get the feedback we seek. However, this time journalist gave me a very brief explanation as to why the article failed to peak his interest.
What do you do with feedback, when it feels like you've already failed? You use it to try again. The real formula to winning the top-tier media coverage is listening to what the journalists want, following instructions and implementing feedback to IMPROVE what you are doing.
Next steps:
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Once this makeover is complete, I will repitch it and it may be even better suited for multiple outlets that we did and didn't target in the first round of pitching the story.
The biggest mistake that #startups and #entrepreneurs can make if you want to win top-tier media coverage is being too stuck on what YOU think the story is and how it's laid out.
After 20 years in tech PR and 15 years working with startups, staying nimble is the name of the game. You will:
Just because the media rejects you or pushes back, doesn't mean you can't win. Be willing to keep learning and improving your skills to get the story you seek. Good luck out there!
This is true for organizations of all sizes... "The biggest mistake that #startups and #entrepreneurs can make if you want to win top-tier media coverage is being too stuck on what YOU think the story is and how it's laid out." We have to get out of this habit of talking about ourselves as PR pros/communicators/organizations/people. Do you like people (and listen to them) more when they talk about themselves? Or do you like and listen to them more when they talk about something you care about?
Ranjini: nothing to worry, and continue to pursue different operations with rejuvenated thrust. I bet, you have been a success many times in your life, and are bound to rebound towards more succeses. Feel free to reach out to me for my ever moving forward with more and more ideas towards more achievements. Dr. KRS Murthy
Expert Content Curator, Writer, Blogger, Columnist, Author. Your go-to for content written to outdo. What kind of words do you need written?
5 个月Thanks for sharing such valuable insights that go hand in hand with the adage that a “no” offers the potential for a bigger “yes.”