Dear publicists who’ve reached out to my newsroom over the years, I have a confession to make: I wasn’t 100% honest with you.
When you called and asked if the newsroom inbox received your email, sometimes I’d say “yes,” when I didn’t know for sure. Sorry, I was busy. And occasionally, when I said I’d pitch your upcoming event or media availability at the story meeting, I didn’t. Sorry, your pitch or email was a little, well, boring.
But that ends now. And, to make amends for lying, and help you up your game, I jotted down a few thoughts of how to effectively pitch your client, organization, politician, [insert thing] to newsrooms.
This isn’t a complete guide, and may not even reflect the industry standard, but it’s a real perspective based on many interactions with publicists and their many, many press releases.
Think like a journalist
For a big chunk of my 20+ years in news, I attended morning and evening editorial meetings. There, everyone was either required or strongly encouraged to pitch stories, and the majority of us took pride in doing so. If a story you pitched in the meeting made it to air, it spoke highly of your news judgement and your ability to persuasively pitch stories.
If you’re unfamiliar with newsroom operations, here are the basic requirements of a pitch, in order of importance:
- Relevance (important to a large proportion of the audience, and timely). Ask yourself, “how does this fit into the current discussion on [major topic]”
- Visuals
- A “day-turn”, or a story that could hit air that day.
Simply put, the stronger the elements above, the higher the likelihood that the story would be assigned to a reporter.
Tell a great story
Crafting a pitch email to a newsroom with all of the elements above is one very part, but the other part involves boiling it down into a highly digestible message, or simply, a news brief. That format trumps a press release any day.
Since reporters are busy, make it easy and give them a good story starting point. In the email, begin with the point of the message first and then fill in the details from there. Be brief and punchy. Get to the point fast and don’t sensationalize or embellish. Again, emphasize how your message is relevant to the audience or highlight what important question or issue it may help to answer or address.
Time your pitch
At any time, a big story can be the sole focus of a newsroom. When big news breaks, a large amount of resources — from photographers to managers, and producers — will be focused almost entirely on that news event. If you want some coverage, unless it deals specifically with that news event, it’s best to wait. Same thing with calling the newsroom to inquire whether someone is going to come to a media event.
Some other times when you should avoid pitching are close to a major election, during major weather events, or when a major sporting event is being aired on the channel. What time of the day is best? It depends, but I’d recommend reaching out before 6 a.m. for the dayside newscast and before 10 a.m. for nightside, so the reporters have the time to find your email among the hundreds already sitting in their inbox.
Know your reporters
This is an expert tip, but get an idea of who you want to report on your pitch. Send it to the reporter whose style you like the best. Reporters don’t necessarily get to report on the stories they pitch, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
If you’re curious about which reporter to contact, a local media consultant could point you in the right direction. Follow reporters on social media and engage with them in a genuine way to build credibility with them.
Don’t overlook digital
Lastly, while linear and digital broadcast news still gets the most views, web articles are a great way to expose your message to the masses as well. Each well-written story can get between 1,500-10,000+ uniques. Get to know the web producers because they also pitch at editorial meetings, and they’re much more apt to pitch your story if it’s already on the website and getting traffic. You can find them through their article bylines.
Those were the main thoughts I’ve had kicking around in my head. By using these tips, I hope you can be more effective at getting the word out about your organization or client, and at the same time, journalists can get a better crop of stories to report.