What Makes A Good PR Pitch?

What Makes a Good PR Pitch?

Written by Annette Neto, Account Manager

When it comes to PR, coverage is one of the cornerstones of the overall success rating. It may not seem like it to outsiders, but getting coverage – good-quality coverage – with target media, is an art.

The number one method to secure coverage is through strong media relationships. At Action PR we’re incredibly proud of our media contacts and the bonds we form with journalists, but how does that relationship even start?

Build Relationships with Journalists

It’s simple really. It all starts with a pitch. A well-crafted, thought-out and specific pitch is the starting point for most of our relationships. Many assume that gaining coverage is a numbers game. Send one release, one angle or one news hook to masses of media and you’ll be featured the next day across the news publications. Going to 100 press contacts with one pitch may seem like a good idea because; “more people will see it, so your chances of success are higher”, right? Wrong.

The number one complaint PR professionals receive from journalists is the following; “They don’t know what I write about. Clearly, they haven’t read my articles. It’s obvious they don’t know what sort of content I look for.” On average, the ratio of PR professionals to journalists is three to one. This means journalists are being bombarded daily for their column inches.

Quality over Quantity

A good PR professional will know that it’s quality over quantity when it comes to pitching to press. We know that being specific, knowledgeable and personal is the way forward. By drafting a pitch that gets to the point, is interesting and most importantly, relevant to the journalist you’re pitching to – is the only way to really succeed in securing coverage.

Relevant and Personal

The most obvious way to do this is to find a handful of target press contacts and consume their work until you’re an expert in their writing and the publication. If your client wants to be featured in Time Out, you must read the magazine every week until you know exactly which journalists write which pages, what their writing style is and what sort of features they publish. The next step is to research that journalist. Check their social media platforms, read their blogs, find out more about their previous work. This will make your pitches far more personal and the journalist will feel that you’ve done due diligence when pitching to them. Finally, and most importantly, make sure it’s relevant. Pitching a yoga class to a journalist who writes the restaurant reviews, is never going to achieve coverage in that title. Unless you look after a restaurant which hosts table-top yoga once-a-week for diners 😉.

This may seem like a time-consuming exercise, but the point is not to do it for 100 press, but to do it with 10 and nail each one of those targets.

In a world where journalists get hundreds of pitches per day, personalisation is key. If a journalist feels you’ve really read their work, engaged in their content and can identify how your brand fits their publication, that’s when they’ll be more likely to hit ‘reply’ to your email.

 

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