Top Tips – How to Pitch Media
How to Pitch Media – A media pitch is a short email to a media outlet that you want to pitch for press coverage, interviews and more – think of this as your “ask”. You’re aiming to spark interest in your cause/business/story and asking the outlet to speak on it.
Media outlets receive hundreds of pitches daily and it’s essential to have a well structured and captivating pitch to be recognized.
Here are my top tips to help you write an effective media pitch that will land you your next interview!
Strong, eye-catching email subject line
A strong email subject line grabs the reader’s attention, sets a first impression and the reader is more likely to click on your email and learn more about your cause over a lacklustre one.
Keep it short and sweet – your subject line must include your hook to grab their attention and not exceed 10 words.
Avoid using generic or gimmicky terms as those emails will generally be deleted or redirected to the junk folder.
Try incorporating buzzwords that the specific media outlet may be interested in (more on this later in the post).
Brief and to the point
Time is money.
You don’t need to include niceties or an in depth introduction about yourself. Journalists don’t have the time to read pages of text and would much more appreciate a brief and direct email.
Include your hook and let the reader know why your story can benefit their audience and what makes you stand out from the competition. Add links that can direct the reader to more information if they’re interested to find more details.
Tailor your pitch to the specific outlet
Personalization is key.
If you are simply copy and pasting your pitch and mass emailing it to various media outlets, you most likely will not get a response.
Do your research before pitching to media outlets – find out what they’re talking about or what their values are. That way you can write a pitch that really shows what you can offer and how that aligns with their narrative. People are more willing to hear what you have to say if it relates to their interests.
Always proofread and double, triple check the details
It’s very important to proofread your pitch to make sure that there aren’t any mistakes.
A rushed and sloppy pitch is unprofessional and will be ignored.
Know when to follow up
Knowing when to follow up is important and it really depends on the type of media you are pitching and who you are pitching to.
My general rule of thumb is – if it’s hard hitting news, follow up with the journalist within the hour.
Otherwise, give it four to five days to send your first follow up to ensure that they received your first email. People are busy and it’s likely that they simply haven’t had the time to get to your email.
If there’s still no response, send a second follow up the week after that. And a third and final follow up a week after the second.
If you’ve followed up three times and haven’t heard back, consider it a dead pitch and move on to your next one!