We see you over there, DIYing your PR. And we just want to say… “You go, Glen Coco!”
Public relations is not an easy gig. Especially when you are starting from scratch, doing it yourself. Researching media contacts, crafting pitches, following up, and wondering if it’s working while you wait is a difficult process.
So we wanted to offer a helping hand. After a decade-plus of public relations experience, we have some tricks up our sleeves for publicity novices.
The best way to get off the ground: Get inside the journalist’s head.
Where/how do they work?
Seems easy enough right? You find a news outlet you want to be featured on. Check the articles that are related to your topic. Connect the dots to a reporter. Do a little Twitter search and… bam!
But it isn’t that simple. Not anymore. A lot of writers aren’t necessarily on-staff journalists these days.
The freelance market tends to be the majority now. Bringing ideas to editors and developing media pieces from there.
So while reaching out to an editor isn’t ever a bad idea, they are likely not assigning to reporters as much as they once were. Instead, they act more as curators.
So beyond just finding the name and contact info of someone covering your topic, it’s important to understand where and how this person works. So you have to dig deeper.
- Check out their LinkedIn (are they on-staff or an independent contributor)
- Do they have a website of their own? (For a lot of freelancers, covering news for the media can be secondary to their own platform.)
- Is it necessary to go through a contact? Or are you able to directly pitch pieces to the outlet? (Sometimes looking at things from the journalist’s POV means realizing that you can be the journalist!)
If your intent is to be interviewed by a journalist, you have to understand how they are getting their story ideas and who they are working for so you don’t waste time pitching someone who is a contributor (more or less) doing their own PR.
Read Their Work
If you have tracked down a journalist/editor who you feel is willing to be approached with story ideas, hold back before you start pitching.
The VERY NEXT STEP has to be consuming as much of their content as possible. This is the really hard work of PR. But it’s necessary. Let’s put ourselves in the journalist’s shoes.
- You’ve written dozens of pieces on a particular subject.
- It’s all highly findable given the magic of the internet.
- You receive 50+ emails a day of people pitching you THE SAME IDEAS YOU’VE ALREADY COVERED or ideas that aren’t even in your niche.
- *Select All* + *Delete*
Sounds harsh, but they have a job to do. And the second the journalist gets a whiff that you haven’t done your research, your email gets passed over. So you have to read their work. And read it with an inquisitive eye.
When researching journalists you want to pitch, ask yourself:
- Am I a perfect fit for this journalist?
- Has the idea I want to pitch already been covered?
- Do I have a new angle I can offer?
- Are there people interviewed/quoted/featured like me in their work?
- How can I make including me as easy as possible for them?
Plus… you can even reference a recent piece they published in your pitch as a way to communicate that you consume their work and understand what they cover. It’s also a great ice-breaker if you don’t have a relationship with the person you’re contacting. The more you consume their content the easier it will be to answer these questions. Really push yourself to go beyond just a handful of content. Do a deep dive!
Pitch Perfect
There are a few things about pitching that are a GIVEN no matter who you are reaching out to. And though most people have heard them, few follow these high-level guidelines.
Keep it short. Keep it short. Keep it short. Keep it short.
Again journalists get tons of pitches every day. If you are droning on about your life story, it’s going to get deleted.
Focus 80% of your time on the subject.
In PR, if journalists don’t open your email, you can’t get to phase two. You need to be able to convey what’s in it for them in as few eye-catching characters as possible. “Story idea for you!” will not get opened. You may even get marked as spam for that one.
Focus on the journalist, not yourself.
Hit the big four.
Inside a pitch, you need to cover the following:
- What’s your story pitch
- Why is it a good fit for them (toss in a line about their work you’ve read)
- Quickly explain your ability to contribute (as an expert, new study you conducted, a product that solves a problem for their readers, etc.)
- Show appreciation for their time
You could literally write a four-sentence pitch. Being concise is key. You don’t have to tell them everything in that first email. You just have to get their attention and pique their interest.
Remember the Outlet is Also a Business Themselves
The newspaper, magazine, television show, ect you’re pitching is a business too. It’s easy to forget, but that organization is a for-profit institution that relies on content as their income. They’re looking for content that will serve their audience and satisfy their advertisers.
One of the primary ways they determine if a story is worthy is by clicks and page views. When they share a post to their social media or even place the feature on their homepage, the success of that piece is determined by how many people click into the post.
A story that seems relevant to you isn’t always going to be of interest to a wider audience. Be sure to think through the audience of the publication and leverage your content for page views. How can you position your content with a great headline? Which leads us to our next point.
Do As Much of the Journalist’s Work as Possible
When you’re pitching, you need to do as much of the journalist’s job as you can. Think about it. They’re receiving hundreds of pitches per day, operating on incredibly tight deadlines, and producing tons of pieces all at the same time.
So if your pitch positions the content as close to complete, assures them that you’ve thought through all their questions, and delivers what they need, they’re likely going to find your pitch attractive not only from a content perspective but also logistically.
This means things like:
- Offering a few headline options that will entice their reader to click
- Letting them know who is available for interviews along with their bios, headshots, and press reel if they have one.
- Letting them know that you have broll, copy, photos, or other digital resources they can use in the piece.
- Offer up fully written articles that they can publish under your byline, which means they can essentially copy and paste and publish.
Have Content to Showcase
If you’ve already been interviewed on other outlets, show it in your pitch! Nothing wrong with some healthy competition between media sources. (They don’t want to miss a good story.)
If this is your first attempt at getting coverage, make sure your platform is looking good.
You don’t have to have been featured to be featurable, but you do have to show some credentials. Your website, social media, blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or whatever other platforms you’re using are all places where you can (and should) be featuring your own content. If a journalist is interested in your story, you can be sure they will Google you. Make sure you’re ready.
We’re going to be honest with you. PR has gotten a lot harder. Because so many people have so much access via social media, reporters are overwhelmed. It takes a lot to bubble your message to the surface. So doing the hard work of seeing things through the eyes of a journalist is a must. Ten well-researched and uniquely constructed outreaches have way more potential than 100 generic BCC’d pitches.