Crafting a great media pitch is key to attracting top-tier journalists, bloggers, and influencers. It’s not just about thinking like a journalist and tailoring your pitch—it also needs to be interesting, brief, and relevant. Mastering this skill is crucial if you have a story that deserves attention. Join us as we explore the basics of writing a standout media pitch and why it’s important for you and your brand.
Here are some key steps to follow when writing a media pitch:
- Know Your Audience: Research your media targets before pitching. Customize your pitch to match their interests and audience. Compile a list of relevant contacts, including journalists, influencers, and bloggers. Targeting the right people boosts your chances of success.
- Ensure Your Story is Newsworthy: To get media coverage, ensure your news is truly newsworthy and presented in an exciting way. Consider if your story is current, involves important figures, evokes emotions, impacts people, and is relevant to the publication. Just existing or having a CEO in town isn’t enough to make a story.
- Craft a Compelling Subject Line: The subject line should intrigue the journalist enough to open your email, so be upfront about the content and keep it short. Your subject line is your first impression when pitching to journalists, so keep it clear and let them know it’s a pitch. Statistic-based subject lines are preferred by journalists because they suggest unique data in your pitch, helping them gauge the story’s potential. Avoid using too many words or unnecessary adjectives. Keep your subject line under 49 characters for higher open and click-through rates.
- Personalize Your Pitch: Address the recipient by name and reference their previous work to show you’ve done your homework. Explain why you’re pitching them, as it can better build rapport. Lack of personalization is a top reason for pitch rejection. Your subject line should indicate your pitch is tailored. Avoid generic greetings like “Hi XXXX.”
- Get to the Point: In your opening paragraph, clearly explain the news angle or story, including the Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Offer different angles for covering the story to increase the chances of gaining press coverage. Be creative and look for unique perspectives to reach a larger target audience.
- Provide Supporting Details: Support your pitch with key details, quotes, stats, or multimedia. One or two stats can be impactful, but don’t overload the pitch with too many. Provide a link for more info. A press release can supplement your pitch but shouldn’t replace it.
- Highlight the Benefits: Show how your story benefits the audience or fits their focus. How will this brand solve its problem? How will it solve their readers’ problems? Explain how the benefits impact or improve their everyday lives.
- Resonate with THE Audience: You’re not just answering these Ws for the journalist—you’re answering it for their readers. A journalist’s audience can make or break their careers, and any journalist who still has a career these days keeps a steady pulse on who reads them. Include the content that your journalist’s readers are craving upfront.
- Call to Action: Clearly state what you want the recipient to do next, whether it’s to schedule an interview, request more information, or attend an event. A carefully crafted call to action is an absolute must. This is your moment to keep things focused on your audience, your journalist, and their readers.
- Follow-Up: If you don’t hear back after sending a media pitch, it’s okay to follow up politely after a few days. Keep it brief and to the point. Offer a different angle or findings to add value. Be sure to track your follow-ups and tailor your efforts.
Writing a stellar media pitch is important because it helps:
- Capture Attention: A compelling media pitch grabs the attention of extremely influential journalists, bloggers, and influencers, increasing the likelihood of coverage for your story.
- Generate Interest: A well-crafted pitch makes your story or message interesting and relevant to the media outlet’s audience, increasing the chances of it being shared.
- Build Relationships: Personalized pitches show that you’ve done your research and understand the recipient’s interests, helping to build positive relationships with media contacts.
- Increase Visibility: A successful pitch can lead to media coverage, increasing visibility and exposure for your brand, product, or message.
- Drive Action: A strong media pitch can inspire journalists to take action, such as writing a story or featuring your product, helping to achieve your communication goals.
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