How To Make Your Pitch Stand Out

If this wasn’t enough, the impact of Covid19 is continuing to have a lasting effect on how we contact the media and have our stories heard. Below we offer our top tips to help make sure that your pitch stands out, when selling in a story to the media.  

Keep it to the point  

Journalists receive lots of pitches every day, so it is important that your pitch stands out and you capture their interest. Journalists and the media are busy and won’t have the time to be scouring through your pitch looking for the interesting information. Pitches should be kept short, snappy and to the point. It is important to make sure you are summarising what you are offering the journalist in your opening paragraph if you can, as often they will not read a whole pitch through if they are not interested.  

Find your news hook  

When developing your pitch, make sure you are finding the newsworthy angle, to make it worthwhile for the journalist. Ask yourself, is this something interesting/different, not something the something that would capture the journalist’s attention. Once you find what is newsworthy about your story, focus on this and make sure it is clear throughout your pitch. Make the journalist’s job as easy as possible by explaining very clearly what you are offering and what your story is about and what makes it interesting enough to cover. Do not waste their time with waffle!  

Keep it relevant  

There is nothing worse than pitching a story to a journalist that does not cover the topic/subject area. Make sure that you are doing your research first and not sending on anything irrelevant that journalists do not cover, as this can have a negative effect on your reputation with the journalist in the long run. To build up rapport with journalists, make sure that you are going to them with areas that they are interested in and frequently write about, they’ll appreciate you doing your research and not targeting them with every pitch you have.  

Have an engaging headline  

The headline of your pitch email is arguably the most important part of the pitch. This has to be captivating and draw the journalist in, otherwise they may not even be likely to open your pitch email. Make sure that you are making it as newsworthy and interesting as possible to compel the journalist in. Taking the time to craft a strong subject line, could make all the difference on whether your pitch is considered or not.  

Keep it simple  

Make things as simple and straightforward for the journalist by putting everything they need in the body of the email. Avoid attaching press releases or media alerts, journalists generally won’t click into them. If relevant, send high-res imagery and reports with your story but make sure that all the information they need is in the body of the email, so they don’t have to go looking for anything.  

By following the above tips, you can help maximise your chances of your pitch being seen, and your story being run by the journalist, resulting in hopefully positive coverage for your client. If you have any questions about the work we do at Reputation Inc, or to find out more about our engagement offering, email us at news@reputation-inc.com.