PITCH PERFECT 💬
📖✨ A story has to be special to capture a reporter’s attention, particularly at top-tier outlets. Here’s what it takes to break through:
✉️ Nail the subject line. Reporters won’t read your pitch if the subject line stinks. Convey timeliness and relevance. No “News from Inkhouse.”
👀 Mind the tone. We’re living through a pandemic. Not everyone is having a good day. Acknowledge what’s happening around us.
✍️ Personalize the message. Do your homework. What’s the reporter’s beat? Did they recently start a new podcast or Substack? Details matter. Don’t pitch until you’ve reviewed at least five recent stories. And also, don’t draft one pitch and blast it to multiple reporters. They hate that.
❗Be relevant. Who are the readers of the media outlet? Your story needs to matter to them.
💬 Speak like a human. Be normal, not a robot. Pitches should be conversational — you can even use abbreviations or sentence fragments. But no jargon/buzzwords. Write how you speak.
💼 Keep it brief. Lead with the who, what and why. If you can tell your story in three sentences, do it. If it’s longer (but really, don’t do this), be concise and use bullets to identify key points. A benefit of Twitter: it forces you to pitch a story idea in 280 characters.
🖥️ Access to experts. One silver lining of the pandemic? People have been around. Which = Zoom meetings with reporters. Pro tip: If you’re promising a spokesperson, be clear about what that person can do — appear on-camera or Zoom, offer a quote, or both.
🔢 Point out data. Do you have user insights or data that speaks to a broader industry trend? For the brave who want to build real media relationships: share your raw data. Our friend Sam Whitmore says reporters love that stuff. Then the reporter can find the insights that matter most to them. And if that’s too scary, see if they’d like to ask a question on your survey.
✔️ Fact check. Then fact check, again. Reporters are moving fast. Help them with accuracy and prevent mistakes. It’s part of building relationships.
➕➖ Know the flip side. If no one is there to argue it, then why are we talking about it? Do yourself a favor and know some friendly competitors you could offer. It’s a reporter’s duty to speak to people on all sides of every story. Help yourself by helping them.
🗓️ Plan in advance. Reporters won’t run your press release, so don’t expect them to cover news if you only give them a day or two notice, unless of course, your news will be the news of the day. One reporter tweeted that he couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with all of the funding announcements. Give them time so your story gets air time.
🚫 Avoid being a PITA: Know the fine line between persistence and being a pain. It’s perfectly fine to follow-up, but make sure you’re adding new (and relevant) information to the thread. “Did you get my email?” is a direct route to the spam folder.