How To Pitch A Reporter
Reporter - Stripped down to its core, publicity is little more than one person persuading another. You, the publicity seeker, must persuade a journalist that your story is worthy of receiving print space or air time. Your ability to sell your story to a journalist is what it's all about.
Reporter - If you've ever sat with an insurance salesman who droned on and on, you probably know that simpler is better when it comes to persuasion. A few choice words, a brief, well-reasoned argument and a strong close can make the sale. Too much detail, too much rambling and too much pontification can kill a deal.
When pitching a journalist, the same rules apply, Keep your pitch short and to the point -- and the results will come.
Unfortunately, many beginning publicity seekers -- and even some old pros -- forget this advice. Instead of keeping things short, they seek to overwhelm journalists with multi-page press releases, extensive backgrounders and lengthy fact sheets. If they even get read (and most just go directly to the trash) these voluminous press kits only serve to bury your main argument in a blizzard of verbiage.
That's why I love pitch letters.
A pitch letter is a brief business letter, almost never longer than one page. It can accompany a press release, or it can stand on its own. Pitch letters serve one purpose -- to pique the journalist's interest in your story. They needn't tell the whole story. Rather, they are "teasers" for the meat of your story angle. If you've hooked the journalist with your pitch letter, you have a real chance of getting the rest of your press materials read -- and your story placed.
Pitch letters can be sent by snail mail but, increasingly, they're the perfect tool for e-mail contact. Too many publicity seekers send entire press releases by e-mail when a few brief paragraphs would serve their cause far better.
If you're e-mailing a pitch letter to a journalist there are three rules to follow:
1. Keep it short. Try to limit your pitch to two or three paragraphs.
2. Never send attachments. In this era of worms and viruses, that's bad netiquette.
3. Take the time to craft a short, snappy headline. You don't have to tell your story in the headline -- just make it intriguing enough for the journalist to click "open", not "delete"
Whether your sending it on paper or electronically, here's how to put together a strong pitch letter, step-by-step:
* Start off with your best shot
In the first sentence, try to give the reporter something that will make him say either "Gee, I never knew that" or "That's an interesting angle for a story". Or better yet, try to get him to say both things! Don't mess around with formalities, and don't bury your angle in hype. Here's an example of a pitch letter we used to promote "the world's largest game of Pictionary".
Reporter - If you've ever sat with an insurance salesman who droned on and on, you probably know that simpler is better when it comes to persuasion. A few choice words, a brief, well-reasoned argument and a strong close can make the sale. Too much detail, too much rambling and too much pontification can kill a deal.
When pitching a journalist, the same rules apply, Keep your pitch short and to the point -- and the results will come.
Unfortunately, many beginning publicity seekers -- and even some old pros -- forget this advice. Instead of keeping things short, they seek to overwhelm journalists with multi-page press releases, extensive backgrounders and lengthy fact sheets. If they even get read (and most just go directly to the trash) these voluminous press kits only serve to bury your main argument in a blizzard of verbiage.
That's why I love pitch letters.
A pitch letter is a brief business letter, almost never longer than one page. It can accompany a press release, or it can stand on its own. Pitch letters serve one purpose -- to pique the journalist's interest in your story. They needn't tell the whole story. Rather, they are "teasers" for the meat of your story angle. If you've hooked the journalist with your pitch letter, you have a real chance of getting the rest of your press materials read -- and your story placed.
Pitch letters can be sent by snail mail but, increasingly, they're the perfect tool for e-mail contact. Too many publicity seekers send entire press releases by e-mail when a few brief paragraphs would serve their cause far better.
If you're e-mailing a pitch letter to a journalist there are three rules to follow:
1. Keep it short. Try to limit your pitch to two or three paragraphs.
2. Never send attachments. In this era of worms and viruses, that's bad netiquette.
3. Take the time to craft a short, snappy headline. You don't have to tell your story in the headline -- just make it intriguing enough for the journalist to click "open", not "delete"
Whether your sending it on paper or electronically, here's how to put together a strong pitch letter, step-by-step:
* Start off with your best shot
In the first sentence, try to give the reporter something that will make him say either "Gee, I never knew that" or "That's an interesting angle for a story". Or better yet, try to get him to say both things! Don't mess around with formalities, and don't bury your angle in hype. Here's an example of a pitch letter we used to promote "the world's largest game of Pictionary".