How to Pitch Your Story to a Journalist
Imagine seeing your company in the newspaper, on your local television news blog or even better, on national television. That’s what can happen when the media picks up your story and covers it in their outlet. Whether it’s television station, a newspaper, or a news blog, getting coverage can cause your company to experience big growth. At a very minimum you’ll experience an increase in awareness and website visits. Pitching your story to a journalist takes a bit of strategy, planning, and patience. Let’s look at those three components individually.
Strategy
Pitching to a journalist isn’t something that you normally do on a whim. It takes a dedicated effort to identify the key media representatives in your industry and community. Who covers your type of information? Look at industry publications, local television stations and also local newspapers. Find the people who will be interested in your story and who write about your type of information.
Make a list of names. Then begin reading their stories. Start looking at what they like to write, who they often interview and how they structure their stories. This information can help you begin to create your plan. Finally, no strategy is complete without a goal. What are your goals here? How can you make those goals measurable?
Planning
The planning portion of pitching your story to a journalist requires a few key steps. The first is to decide who you’re going to pitch to. You don’t want to pitch to everyone on your list. The media world is a small world, and if a journalist finds out you pitched your story to someone else as well, they won’t be thrilled. Instead, choose one, or two at the most, and pitch only to them. If you time the pitch right then you’ll know in a week or two whether they’re going to cover your story. If they don’t, then you can pitch to someone else.
Also in planning you’ll want to create a package of supplemental materials. You’ll want a media kit, collateral information to support your press release information and photos, videos and other images. This will help the journalist who is covering your story and it’s always useful to have it ready for them when they ask for it. Additionally, you can link to the collateral information in your pitch.
Patience
Pitching to journalists is to some degree about building relationships. A journalist may not jump on the first story you pitch. However, if you’re professional and deliver good ideas they will likely eventually cover your story. Be patient, professional, and persistent when dealing with your chosen media reps. Be someone who is ready and willing to help them out. They may reciprocate.
Pitching to the media isn’t complicated. It does, however, require a strategy, a plan, and a willingness to work hard to build those connections. Keep at it. The media coverage you’ll eventually get will be well worth the effort.
