In theory, pitching reporters is a relatively easy task. You write the pitch, find a reporter, and then send that pitch to said reporter. Sounds easy enough, right? While it sounds that easy when you look at the basics, pitching reporters is much more than just sending an email.
One of my colleagues always says, “Reporters are people too.” This piece of advice sounds obvious, but it’s easy to forget when sending multiple pitches to many different reporters. The past few weeks, I’ve had two memorable instances where I broke away from a standard pitch and tried to connect with a reporter as a person.
One instance was with a reporter who coincidentally had the same name as me. While he didn’t cover anything close to what I was trying to pitch, I thought he might be able to help connect me with someone at his publication. I sent over a friendly email, commenting on how we have the same name and need to look out for other members of the John Reynolds Club. Less than five minutes later, I had an email back with contact info for another reporter and comments on what other outlets to target in his market.
The second instance came while I was building a media list and stumbled upon a reporter’s Twitter. She had a cover photo of the Villanova University Men’s Basketball Team, and as a Villanova alum, I got excited. I sent her an email just to introduce myself as a fellow Wildcat, and once again within five minutes, I had an email from the reporter. She was so excited to talk about the National Championship and loves helping other Villanovans. She is planning to reach back out to me when she starts writing some articles on my topic.
These are just two instances, but they show that sometimes, having a little personality can be the difference between getting a response and being ignored. Since I know not everyone can be lucky enough to find a reporter with the same name or from the same school, here are three tips to try the next time you need to send out a pitch.
1. Put yourself in the reporter’s shoes. When you’re writing a pitch, read through it as if you were the reporter. Would you find the pitch interesting? If you’re bored reading your pitch, what makes you think another person won’t be too. Make sure what you’re saying is interesting and would be of value to the reporter.
2. Do your research. Databases are extremely helpful for getting contact information, but that doesn’t mean it’s always accurate. Be sure you know what reporters are covering when you pitch them. Imagine if you constantly received emails about things that have absolutely no relevance to you. If that would annoy you, then it probably would annoy another person too – i.e., a reporter.
3. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Remember, reporters are people too.[/inlinetweet] I know I’m repeating myself. But it needs to be said again. It’s easy to confuse being professional with being robotic when pitching. It’s okay to add a little personality to your pitching and email correspondence with reporters. This doesn’t mean you should treat them as your buddies on a Friday night, but you also don’t need to treat them like robots. They are people too, so treat them like it.
Do you have any interesting stories about how you met one of your connections? Let us know in the comments.
John, great blog post. In spite of the fact that technology connects us 24/7 these days, I’m still enough old school to love meeting reporters in the flesh. But one thing I try to do is combine the two: I’ll follow reporters on Twitter, for example, and comment and RT their posts. . .and then use that to invite them out for a drink. I just met a great SF Chronicle business reporter that way and we found out we had much in common! Cheers, David
Thanks, David! Another great example that shows how to think outside the box given the plethora of ways to connect with reporters today.