So, you’re a start-up, or a small operation.
Maybe you just don’t have the big PR budget, yet; or you are working on proving ROI to the budget hawks in your organization. You know media coverage would be a boon to your bottom line, but you aren’t ready for a huge investment.
What can you do?
You might be surprised.
PR is not rocket science; while it certainly requires skill that’s gained through years of experience, you can go very far with a little pluck and determination.
Here are 5 tips for pitching yourself to media.
1. Choose your journalists carefully.
Identify three journalists who might write about you or your product/service. Start by choosing the publications your target audience reads, and then choose the appropriate writers from there.
Who are the beat reporters who cover your space? What journalist names do you see most frequently in your industry?
If you have trouble, check out your competitors. Search for articles they’ve been covered in and target those same journalists. If they’ve written about your competitors, there’s a greater chance they’d be interested in you, too.
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2. Nail down email addresses.
PR firms subscribe to services such as Cision, Meltwater or MuckRack for this, but there are less expensive options, too. Lots of journalists include emails in their social media bios (Twitter, most often). Some may provide it to you in response to a polite LinkedIn message.
A tool I love and recommend is RocketReach.co. You can get five free look-ups per month or pay a modest price of $50, $100 or $300 for monthly packages.
3. Perfect your pitch.
Write down three reasons why your company or product is unique. Why is it better than your competitors? What need does it fill? Who cares about your product and why should people care about it right now? Do you have a particularly captivating personal story? That’s the basis of your media pitch.
Remember to be concise. Journalists are busy, and don’t have time for blather or puffery. Make your case up front and make it quick.
4. Work backwards.
Your email subject line is one of the most important parts of your pitch (nowadays pitches are 95 percent email). To write an appropriate subject, start with what you want from your pitch and work backwards to find an engaging opening salvo.
Think about it in terms of a headline. What headline could you imagine your company in? Can you highlight a trend you’re a part of? Is your product satisfying an unmet need? Have a controversial point-of-view?
It is key to be able to stand out in a reporter’s cluttered inbox, and the first thing they see is the subject line. Make sure yours draws them in.
5. Follow-up…but not too many times.
Now you’ve got your pitch and an email address, so it’s time to hit send. Get right to the point, because journalists receive hundreds of pitches per day.
If you don’t get a response at first, follow up on the same chain a day or two later with a brief note along the lines of “Hi Joe, any bandwidth to learn more?”
The follow-up email exponentially increases response rates. If you still don’t hear back, it could be for several reasons, and is a sign your strategy needs to be adjusted.
You might have failed to approach right reporter, stay concise enough in your pitch, offer a newsworthy angle or the media outlet recently wrote about something similar. Adjust your strategy instead of spamming a reporter’s inbox with follow-up notes. Belligerent emailing will just get you blocked and blacklisted.
Whatever your experience or comfort level, just start. Journalists are used to working with PR interlopers, but often prefer hearing directly from experts at your organization.
Brooks Wallace is the West Coast Lead for the Hollywood Agency. A version of this article originally ran on its Backstage blog.(Image via)
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