Preparing to Pitch Your Story to the Media, How to Get in the Right Mindset
When working on your company’s press and publicity, it’s important to focus on strategy. Many marketing professionals work quite hard on both the planning and the implementation phases of every marketing objective. In fact, when you pick up the phone or send an email that’s what is first and foremost on your mind. Yet it’s your mind that may get in the way of success.
Mindset is defined as your established set of attitudes. So your attitude about your pitch can and does make a difference. Put yourself in the shoes of your chosen media representative for a minute. Are you more likely to listen to someone who is calm, focused, and present – actually listening to your questions and needs? That’s generally the best mindset approach to have, so let’s talk about how to get into the right mindset so that you’re able to approach the conversation with the right attitude.
- Have Clear Objectives and Goals
Before you practice a pitch, pick up the phone, or send an email – even before you plan your pitch, it’s important to have a deep understanding of your company, your goals, and objectives. You need to know, without a doubt, what your company is about, what you mean to your audience, and how your marketing tactics connect with your goals and objectives.
In short, you need to be ready, willing, and able to explain your company, including your vision, mission, and value proposition, to your chosen media rep. The more confident you are in your knowledge and understanding, the easier it will stay calm and focused during your conversation.
- Have a Plan
Know what you’re going to say, why you’re going to say it, and what the desired effect will be. In short, have a clear plan. Having a plan will help you stay focused on your objectives. It will also give you an outline for the pitch so that you don’t get off track.
- Be Confident
Whether you’re speaking face to face, chatting on the phone, or even writing an email, confidence is important. It comes through in your communications, in the language that you use, and how you organize the information. Confidence comes from practicing your pitch, from experience, and from taking #1 and #2 into account. It all works together to help you improve and strengthen your media pitching mindset.
- Be Patient – Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Finally, keep in mind that you probably won’t get immediate results from your first pitch. It takes time to build a relationship with a media representative. While it’s completely possible that your timing and story may be perfect, generally that isn’t the case. If you go into your pitch understanding this, it will help you stay present and in the moment with the representative.
You’ll get better results if you’re able to connect with the media representative and that means having a solid mindset. That means being confident, calm, and ready to listen and answer any questions that a representative may have.
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