15 Tips to a Successful Press Release Pitch

The time you spend connecting with the media is valuable time. You want to make the very most of it while you have their attention. The following 15 tips will help you achieve more success with your press release pitch.

1. Create a plan. It’s important to have a media strategy plan and a press release plan before you reach out to any particular media representative.
2. Personalize it. Personalize your pitch. Write your email specifically for one media representative. Know what they like to write about and what they’ve written about in the past. Make sure your information is relevant to them.
3. Follow up. Don’t just send an email and wait. Follow up. Journalists are busy too.
4. Have someone read your draft before you send it. Errors can be costly.
5. Create some type of call to action. Give your media representative a next step to take. They can visit your website, watch a relevant video, or send you an email.
6. Understand who you’re writing to and why they might care about your news. Make sure they actually write for your industry.
7. Care about your news. Too often marketing representatives themselves aren’t invested in the story. If you don’t care, how can you expect someone else to?
8. Understand your audience (and how the news benefits them).
9. Back up all your claims (citations and sources matter). Not backing up your information can hinder your credibility. No journalist will want to work with you.
10. Provide plenty of lead time. Journalists are busy. If you want them to cover your news, you have to make sure they have time to write the story.
11. Know who your competitors are (and don’t be afraid to tell the media rep).
12. Don’t talk about other publications.
13. Just the facts, please. Journalists don’t care much about prose and backstory. Just give them the facts.
14. Don’t pitch to everyone; be selective. Choose a few key reps to focus on. It’s a small world, and if you start sending pitches to everyone it can come back to haunt you.
15. Understand the difference between a press release and a story pitch. A story pitch is a suggested story idea that you propose to a journalist. A press release provides details of something newsworthy. Newsworthy is key here.

Embracing these 15 tips is simple. You can make this list into a checklist. Before each pitch, make sure you’ve covered your bases. Pitching to the media about your news is a smart way to build relationships and grow your business. Planning and preparation matter.

Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278

Anthony Santiago

Anthony Santiago is Director of Marketing at Newswire. With over a decade of experience in PR, he helps ensure that clients understand the value of brand messaging and reach.