Despite the popularity of social media and digital tools, pitching to journalists and bloggers is still an indispensable skill for public relations professionals. Media pitching is an essential component of an overall public relations and content marketing strategy. If properly performed, media relations can create more awareness, reach a larger audience and generate more leads than other tactics. It’s also less expensive than most any other communications strategy for marketing.
These are some of the best pitching ideas from public relations experts.
- First of all, get the basics right. Spell names correctly and target the appropriate publications. To prevent mistakes, carefully review and proof the initial draft of your pitch or press release. Strive to eliminate unneeded words, fluff and buzzwords.
- Do most of the work for reporters. Journalists are extremely busy and are most likely to publish content that’s already written for them. Sometimes they’ll accept something that’s not necessarily perfect if they’re pressed for time in need of content.
- Find a local or regional angle to a national story.
- Identify quirky aspects of your company. That could be your logo, the CEO’s hobbies, the company culture, or unusual customers.
- Read reporters’ articles, blogs, and tweets. Mention their work and create a greater sense of context and logic regarding the reason for initial contact.
- Redo your email signature to present your company as an authority in its niche. Editors and reporters want information from experts.
- Be different. In other words, be the purple cow. If you’re not different, there’s no reason for editors and publications to cover you.
- Send a pitch follow-up thank you noteby regular mail. In today’s digital world, regular mail is “purple.”
- Use the telephone. The telephone can be more direct and convey a sense of urgency. When emailing, indicate you are available for phone contact.
- Comment on reporters’ posts and personal blogs. However, don’t like reporters’ family pictures on Facebook or be too friendly on social platforms. Be personable yet professional.
- Imagine yourself as a reporter. Ask yourself what you would find interesting if you were a reporter. Would you prefer an industry-specific news story, product review or program update?
- Employ Twitter. Try Twitter pitches. Twitter’s 140-character limit forces you to be succinct. In addition, most top journalists are active on Twitter.
- Focus on others. Pitches and press releases that are all about your company are the most likely to be ignored. Instead, write about a customer, a client or the media outlet’s audience.
- Keep trying. Don’t become discouraged if you don’t immediately hear a response to your pitch. Perhaps your email went unread due to something unrelated to the pitch, a storm, a major political event, or even a radio ratings day. That’s why follow-ups are imperative. Some reporters only respond to follow-ups.
Implementing these tips will almost certainly produce more success in making media placements.
Do you have any pitching tips you’d like to add? Please comment below.
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William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
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