Sought-after journalists can receive over 100 media pitches every day, making gaining their attention no easy feat. To earn that coverage, your media pitch not only needs to grab their attention from the start but keep it.
The Max Borges Agency secures over 19k media placements each year in high-profile publications such as The New York Times, Esquire, Cosmopolitan and GQ magazine. We do this by crafting compelling and newsworthy media pitches.
However, we have found that getting a journalist to notice you often takes more than just a good topic or story idea. Through their strong relationships with consumer tech and lifestyle journalists, the MBA team has gained invaluable insights over the years into what to do—and not do—when pitching a story.
MBA’s Top 7 Do’s & Don’ts of Media Pitching
Don’t: Send Boring Pitches
To start, make sure your pitch is interesting and newsworthy. Think about what makes the brand or product unique and why the journalist’s readers want to hear about it. And then incorporate data points to back claims and/or draw a connection to their target audience.
“If I can’t connect to your pitch, then I can’t co-sign the product or service you’re selling. It’s the clever, well-thought-out pitches that draw the most interest. They’re playful in tone, creative in context, and highlight a product’s biggest strengths without sounding so technical.”
– Alex Bracetti, Lifestyle Journalist
Do: Your Homework
Research each journalist you plan to pitch before adding them to your target media list to ensure they are a good fit. Then look through their recent publications to ensure your story is in line with the topics they typically cover. The last thing you want to do is pitch a new vintage-inspired kitchen appliance to an extreme sports journalist.
“Ok. You’ve decided to send a personalized email and double-check the name. You are ready to send off the email — but before you do, ensure that the publication is relevant. This is also far too common in our industry. Pitches are sent out en masse without understanding the publication or being sure that they are even tangentially relevant to your product.”
“I work for a tech publication, yet I get pitches for blankets, rock climbing safety gear, and water sanitizing devices. These sound great! But are in no way relevant to my publication or what we would ever cover.”
– Andrew O’Hare, Apple Insider
Don’t: Be Vague
When pitching a story, you want to send a clear and informative message that quickly gets to the point. Provide the journalist with key highlights about your consumer product, platform or app and a suggested angle that connects it to their typical reader base.
“I’m not expecting you to write the story for me. That’s my job, after all. But if you’re going to come to me with an idea, give me something to work with other than the fact that you need some ink and there’s some tenuous connection between your company and the thing everyone will be talking about in a few weeks, but you really don’t understand that connection, nor do you have any clue what message you want me putting out into the world. Give me at least a couple of ideas about why this is a story worth telling. I may disagree with those ideas completely and go my own way, but at least it’s a place to start.”
– Dennis Burger, Tech Journalist
Do: Double-Check for Accuracy
The quickest way for a journalist to spot a generic, copied and pasted email is when it includes inaccurate details like calling John, Ted or referencing the wrong media outlet. Not only can this be perceived as a lack of effort, but it can set the tone for how they feel about the pitch in its entirety.
Taking a moment to double-check key details and fix grammar, spelling and formatting errors will be worth your time and get you off to a great start with any journalist.
“The worst way to pitch me on your product is with a crummy email. We’re talking bad graphics, ill-formatted text, copious spelling mistakes, or bad grammar. If someone doesn’t spend a few moments to proofread their text, not fill it with spam-filter flagging graphics, and format their text correctly, how seriously are they taking their product?”
– Andrew O’Hare, Apple Insider
Don’t: Forget to Include Visual Assets
Imagery is often a requirement for publications, and the last thing a journalist wants to do is spend time hunting down pictures for a story. Make it easy for them by providing everything from the start in a well-constructed press kit containing high-quality visual assets such as product imagery, lifestyle photos, videos and data stories.
“I can’t repurpose your press release or review your product or interview your CEO without a pretty picture or three to run with alongside the words. Send me a press release with a Dropbox or Flickr link to high-res images, and your email goes straight to the top of my to-do pile. Because it makes my life that much easier, and when you make my life easier, I want to make your life easier. Simple as that.”
– Dennis Burger, Tech Journalist
Do: Be Mindful of Privacy
While there are always exceptions to the rule, most journalists dislike and ignore media pitches sent via direct messages to their personal social media accounts. Stick to email, phone and in-person story pitching to improve the likelihood of receiving a response.
Beware: Some journalists hate receiving pitches over Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, as they like to separate business from their personal life. Unless given the permission to do so, don’t cross that boundary and end up barred from communication on every platform.
– Alex Bracetti, Lifestyle Journalist
Don’t: Be Aggressive or Pester
Always be polite and professional in your follow-up correspondence. It may take a few days for a journalist to get through their stack of emails, so give them a few days before reaching out again. Pushing too hard will agitate most journalists and likely result in your pitch being ignored.
“Following up is good. We all receive too many emails, so it’s always possible that your pitch was lost in the shuffle or ended up in a SPAM folder. But, allow at least a couple of days to pass before reaching out –unless your pitch is time-sensitive (and if it is, maybe you sent it too late, to begin with?).”
“If you follow up a few times and get no response, you might need to move on. We all try to respond to as many pitches as we can, but we are often buried in deadlines. It’s not personal.”
– Trae Bodge, Lifestyle Journalist
When writing your next media pitch, run it through MBA’s Do’s and Don’ts to increase your chances of a positive outcome. Or better yet, partner with the Max Borges Agency to get direct access to a PR team that boasts hundreds of established relationships with consumer and lifestyle media contacts and a proven track record in securing top media placements.
