How to turn your media hits into home runs

Hits in baseball come in tiers, from striking out to hitting a home run.

In PR, there are also several types of “hits” you can get for your client and they too come in tiers.

Strike out

Part of the game, unfortunately, is striking out, in PR just as in baseball.

You spend time putting together the perfect pitch and targeting your approach to the right contacts, only to get no response from any of the reporters you sent it to. This happens to the best of us, but it’s a reminder that you aren’t the only one pitching a reporter and your “perfect pitch” needs to stand out from the rest.

Go back and take a look at what you sent. A good pitch is concise and to the point, ties into the current news cycle and is sent to a reporter who writes about the topic and would be interested in your story.

Just like how a batter changes his strategy depending on the at-bat, a PR professional needs to be ready to pivot and adjust their pitch so they don’t strike out.

Single

You wrote a pitch, sent it out, and secured a hit. While you may not have gotten a cover story in a large national publication, a “single” is still a media hit and something to be proud of.

This type of media hit is can be a pickup in a local calendar listing, a mention on social media or a name-drop for your client as part of a roundup in a bigger story. Just like a baseball player who makes it to first base is putting himself in a position to eventually score, securing a minor hit for your client helps build momentum and could help lead to that major story.

Double

A “double” hit is media coverage that lands somewhere in the middle—perhaps you met your client’s goals but didn’t exceed expectations.

For example, you secured them a feature story and interview, but it was with a local publication and not a larger national one. Or you secured a live interview, but it was with a radio station and not TV.

In any case, a double gets you closer to crossing home plate and sets you up to get those last two bases with some additional work.

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Triple

You made it so close to a home run, missing one or two “hits” to secure that big win.

A triple goes above and beyond the expectations you or your client may have set, but you weren’t able to secure that dream coverage in The New York Times or the in-depth interview with a reporter you’ve been monitoring for months. You managed to secure all your regular local or niche publications, as well as some that you don’t typically get, demonstrating the strength of your pitch and the well-developed strategy you employed to execute it.

Home run

Congratulations, you did the unexpected and got a home run.

This typically only happens only once or twice in the span of a project (or a baseball game) and is something of which to be very proud. You managed to secure an interview that you never thought possible or got a feature story in a national publication that eventually got picked up by several other big outlets, giving you high visibility and an “out-of-the-park” media hit.

Home runs are unexpected but should be what a PR professional aims for with each and every pitch. By keeping a positive, forward-thinking attitude, a home run becomes an attainable goal, instead of something only the pros can hit.

Just like in baseball, PR pros throw out pitches in hopes that we can get a home run for our team. Not every game includes a home run, but with a well-developed strategy and targeted pitching, you can turn that single hit into a triple or even a home run.

Judith Rontal (@RontalJudith) is a Senior Associate at Scott Circle Communications (@scottcircle), a Washington, DC based public relations firm working with mission-driven clients. A version of this article originally appeared on Muck Rack, a service that enables you to find journalists to pitch, build media lists, get press alerts and create coverage reports with social media data.

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