At Broadreach PR, we like to live by the idea that you never really give up on a pitch. It can take longer than you originally planned to land a story, but it’s important that you remain persistent when it comes to media outreach. Sometimes the timing isn’t right, and while you can’t force a story, you can make sure you’re doing the legwork to make your pitching process as successful as possible.
A recent seminar I attended reinforced this idea. Michael Smart PR’s Master Class: Media Outreach Campaigns: win over and over again with the same idea taught me a few great tips about how to craft an attention-grabbing pitch, tailor it to the reporter, and best of all, pitch the same story repeatedly with success. These were my key takeaways:
- Take advantage of the news as it relates to your story! If you’ve read an article the reporter wrote previously, mention it in your pitch, and if possible, find a way to connect their previous stories to the one you’re currently pitching.
- Focus on the aspects of your article that each reporter you’re pitching to could be interested in. Everyone is passionate about different ideas– what sparks the interest of one writer may cause another to ignore your email.
- If you find that one angle of a pitch is successful, use it again, but be sure to personalize the pitch enough so that it’s still relatable to the outlet you’re sending it to.
- The power of the follow up is real! A reporter might have passed on a pitch previously due to the timing, but could be open to the story at a later date– if at first you don’t succeed, it doesn’t hurt to try again!
