Step by Step guide to turning your pitch into a story….5th one is a must!

Newspaper. Have you ever wondered that this affordable collection of large folded papers never runs short of the subjects to write about? Somehow, we have all the pages, all the corners, rows and columns delivering us information.

Events leading to the formation and placement of articles, reports, news, advertisements, and interviews are happening ceaselessly. Right now as well, when I am writing this and you are reading, our friends in the media industry would be going through some of the pitch mails in their inboxes while….while….while…. putting the others in trash. And, I am sure, if you are still reading this, you absolutely want your pitch to be gone through. Congratulations, you have something to learn here!

Fortunately, many of my pitches caught attention and caught ignorance which helped me analyze what works and what does not. Consequently, reducing your efforts, here is a step by step guide for turning an everyday pitch into a magical story.

Step 1 – Value the Timeline

If you want to know the value of one year, ask the student who failed.

If you want to know the value of one month, ask the mother who delivered a premature baby.

If you want to know the value of one hour, ask the lovers waiting to meet.

If you want to know the value of one minute, ask the person who escaped an accident.

And if you want to know the value of a day, ask the PR guy who couldn’t pitch the story right after the event. Even before we understood PR, we watched or let’s say saw how news channels put in best of their efforts to run particular news first on their channels. That crackling sound as they run the breaking news has been proof of their ecstasy. Digital transformation today allows us to keep a track of the speed of different channels but what remains the same is the desire of a platform to be first to deliver information. And this is our first step – Pitching the story without any delay. A product launch, a drive initiation, an association establishment, a topical day announcement matter the most for 3-4 hours after they happen. That is the time when our pitch should be planned. Remember, no photography event will be valuable after The National Photography Day. You might get coverage based upon your relationship but you would always remember it was not a result of your skill but only a way to meet the promised outcome.

Step 2 – Select the right platform

Do you engage in a study with your client to understand which announcement should be targeted to which medium? Most of us do not because we are so comfortable conducting our outreach the way we have been doing it for years. Neither the communication teams nor the agencies are involved in a deep research of the upcoming platforms which can bring them more traction. Be a game changer here. Add a relevant one year old website with more traffic to your target list instead of being satisfied with that most widely read paper. Selection of the right medium to take your message based upon the genre, popularity, readers bring relevant placements and a better chance for your story to be picked. Otherwise, a sports announcement deserves only trash in a crime reporter’s inbox.

Step 3 – Understand your messenger

Fortunately, our brand communication industry is not overly influenced by technology if one talks about robots. We still have emotion led people dealing with emotion led people who are individuals first before being journalists, influencers, writers, bloggers or editors. This brings the need to understand our messenger. You spend hours thinking about the subject of your mail, curate the content of the pitch referring to amazing tips online and send it at the best possible time relying upon your praiseworthy storytelling skills. But, what if the messenger of your story is active on whatsapp/telegram and checks mails only late evening when the stories are filed? And what if vice versa? Start investing in understanding people who write about you or your brand, their preferences, their interests, their engagements, their demands instead of just maintaining your database with their contact details and e-mail ids. When you understand humanely, the professional relationships get a personal touch.

Step 4 – Focus on regional connect ?

What’s happening in Delhi, at the PM office, is of interest to the entire nation, rather the entire world. What our prime minister wore at an event is of interest to the news channels of the USA as well but your spokesperson’s contribution in the development of an NGO in the South has nothing to do with a journalist working in one of the Northern dailies. Anybody would write about you not for you but for his or her target audience and their interests. And what is of interest to someone living in Vapi, Gujarat? I hope you agree what’s happening in Vapi and not in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. Never sound unnecessary by pitching your stories which are not regionally relevant. Understand what the regional connection in your story is and start your conversation with a focus on that only.

Step 5 – Prioritize public sentiment

Public Relations is all about public sentiment. If you are able to bring out the public benefiting point in your story, no one can stop it from being picked. How are you helping the readers? What is there in it for them? Why would they read you? What can they expect from you? Answer these questions and then pitch your story. From auto, politics, health, technology to every beat, people are writing about things only because they are of interest to the audience. Work on this. While pitching, initiate with sentences – This announcement is aimed to benefit xx people of the region because of this, this, this. Explain this properly while understanding the queries from the other end and get your story that space in your desired column.

Step 6 – The art of following up

It is you who need the story and hence it has to be you who should be waiting for it. But that wait needs to be a balance of follow up and patience. You have already got the story rejected if you are pushing it blindly. Give it time; if it has amazing value, you will get it covered without any delay. But if it does not, follow up for it regularly but patiently and politely. How urgent it might seem to you, always remember no one in a professional environment delays things for fun. Therefore, till the time you get a yes or a no; keep your efforts continuous but mindful. Remember, there is an art of following up. People who learn that never follow up again and again.

These steps should surely bring some amazing conversions for your brands. I will look forward to them.