Pitching is a business transaction
The two things you need to get right when contacting journalists
Yes, there can be a randomness to editorial decisions and breaking news that can be hard to predict - but whether or not your pitch is successful often comes down to a fairly simple equation.
My theory is that pitching is essentially a business transaction. And just like any other transaction in business, you are providing goods - an idea for an article or your expertise - and you are metaphorically trying to sell this to an editor.
(Of course, if you’re a freelance journalist you are literally trying to sell your idea).
And, as with all sales, people are far more likely to buy your product if it fulfils an unmet need and is going to make their life easier.
It is exactly the same with pitching to editors. Their unmet need is that they have specific sections that need filling - be it a column on a particular topic, features about a certain set of subjects that their readers are interested in, or news stories about hot topics with a certain political slant.
And you can make their lives easier by providing something which will neatly fill one of these slots with minimal effort on their part.
Most pitches I receive fall down because they haven’t considered exactly which slot(s) they are aiming to fill and/or they’re asking me to do a lot of the thinking or work to turn the idea into a published article.
But if you DO consider these two things, you’ll find your pitches are much more likely to land successfully.
I appreciate this all sounds a bit abstract right now – let me explain with some examples:
Find the right slot and pitch to it
I always find the best pitches are ones which appreciate every publication has lots of different sections, all with slightly different content and styles – and aims for the most appropriate of these.
I will always be more likely to say “yes” to a PR pitch which says:
I saw you write case-study led health features for the Telegraph and I wondered if you’d be interested in pitching this to their online health features section?
Than one which says:
I thought this would be good for The Telegraph.
The former shows the pitch has been carefully tailored (always a good sign) and the pitcher has thought carefully about where within the wider publication this story would best fit (a really good sign).
Doing this thinking for the journalist in advance makes my life easier (another big tick) and means I can make an immediate decision as to whether it’s something that will work for me and my editors - so I can give the PR a quick answer.
As a freelance journalist, I aim to do exactly the same thing when I’m pitching myself – I choose which specific part of the publication the story is the best fit and pitch to the editor in charge of that section.
BTW - The single best way to figure out which section to aim your pitch at is to read a few editions of the publication to get a feel for the style.
I shouldn’t still be surprised by this, but so many people who pitch have clearly never read the publication they’re pitching to – do this very simple thing and you’ll have an edge over your competitors!
Make life as easy as possible for the journalist
I mentioned this before when I wrote about how long you should make a pitch, but I cannot overstate how important it is to make things as easy as possible for the journalist when you’re pitching an idea.
That doesn’t just mean making clear what the story is and how it is relevant to the publication’s readers, it means ensuring the journalist has everything they’re going to need to write the story.
That includes things like:
Providing a clear summary of the story, including all the basic essential details. Spell out: who, what, where, when, why and how – and include any relevant costs/pricing.
Having relevant experts lined up, briefed and ready for interview.
Having case studies lined up, where applicable, with short summaries of their stories, photographed and ready for interview. Case studies must be happy to be named and pictured unless in exceptional circumstances.
Making sure the story is backed up by sourcing relevant stats, ideally from independent sources, and/or published academic research, which could be used for a table or graphic.
Having suitable hi-res pictures ready to share. Editor Leah Milner shared some great advice in our Q&A on how to enhance your pitch with pictures.
Have a clear embargo, if applicable, and stick to it.
The journalist will likely need to gather all this information, including sourcing pictures and/or organising a photoshoot, in order for the story to run. It’s a lot of work – and often something we don’t have much time to do.
Anything you can do to help get these things sorted for them means you are much more likely to get a “yes” to your pitch.
I do exactly the same when I am pitching to editors – I know the closer to being publication-ready a story idea looks, the keener editors will be.
A cautionary tale…
I was recently pitched a decent news story but came very close to giving up on it completely because so many of the above didn’t apply.
The PR who pitched didn’t have accurate launch dates or pricing of the product (and took chasing to provide these), couldn’t provide usable pictures, kept moving the embargo date around and hadn’t properly considered what the angle would have to be to make it work for a mainstream news publication, meaning the client panicked and I had to deal with unnecessary calls and emails to keep them on board.
The only reason I stuck with it was because I had already sunk so much time on it, I needed to get it published so I would at least be paid for my efforts. Needless to say, I won’t be rushing to work with them again in a hurry.
In contrast, the PR who pitched me this story was a dream to work with, providing everything I needed to get the story ready on a tight deadline – and as a result got the story published in their target publication The Sunday Times.
As was this wonderful case study Suzanne, who provided everything I needed really speedily, meaning I was able to include a mention of her virtual assistant business in my article for the Guardian.com.
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