SEOClerks

How to get a journalist to actually read and respond to your pitch



Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

How to get a journalist to actually read and respond to your pitch

When we start up a business we normally don't think far enough ahead as to where we are going to pitch out ideas. Did you know that journalists are looking for the next big thing and will report on it, or write about it, if they think it's going to be great? Sure, you think your new business idea is the next big thing but if you're not getting in front of the right people, no one will see it and appreciate it the way you do. You've incorporated your business, put up a website, and even have some pad advertising up and running but what about news coverage? This can turn your high traffic website into a monster of your industry, in a good way of course.

You'll need to write up plenty of pitch letters, and emails, when you plan on launching your business. Don't worry if you've already launched or have been live for years, it's never to late to start pitching to journalists How to get a journalist to actually read and respond to your pitch When you write up your pitch letters, you need to do it in a non spammy way because it will just get deleted if the person reading it thinks it's garbage. You need to think of your pitch as a part of your business, you wouldn't add something bad to your business, would you? So what do you do exactly to increase the chances of getting your letters and emails seen are read? How can you increase the chances of getting a response if someone actually reads your letters and emails? Well, in this discussion I'll be going over 5 ways you can get a journalist to respond to your pitch more frequently How to get a journalist to actually read and respond to your pitch


You'll need to follow up after you send in your pitch
Following up a pitch is pretty common, it's just like if you send in a resume or call back after an interview. You're checking up on what you sent in to see if you were considered for the job, or if the journalist actually saw your pitch, in hopes to get something out of it and overtake your competition. You need to remember that most media professionals will get upwards of 500 emails each day. Now, they may not all get this many emails, but if they are getting just 100 emails and letters a day, they could still get overwhelmed and miss your pitch pretty easily. If you don't get a quick response, I would recommend sending in an email around day 3 to day 5 after your pitch. If you wait a week or two before you follow up, your pitch could have been deleted or your letter could have been thrown away. You need to strike while the iron is hot lol.

You can follow up on your pitch a couple times, you don't have to rely on one single follow up in order to get seen. Send in one or two additional emails or phone calls to see if your pitch has been noticed. The worst that will happen is they have seen it and just weren't interested. They don't have time to call back everyone who pitches them, so don't take it to heart if they didn't reach out to you.

If you haven't heard back from them after 2 trys to call or email them, you can try a third time but that's it. Don't try to contact them again after that about this pitch because you could just hurt your relationship with the journalist or media company you're trying to work with. You can contact them later on for different ideas and pitches, but stop after 3 emails for each pitch so you preserve your relationship and stay in good standing.


Pitch a different angle
If your pitches aren't working and getting in front of the journalist or media company, you may want to think of a different way to pitch. You could do this yourself or have someone come in and help you with your pitch. It's always great to have additional input from someone else because they are a fresh mind and see things a little different than you do. You may think your pitches all look different, but they could actually be coming off as similar because of how you type, speak, etc.

In your pitch, you should relate to similar technology that is already in the limelight and how you are going to be at the top in no time. If you're going to be cutting edge, you need to show it with live examples and statistics so you can back up your claims. Journalist and media companies don't want to hear claims, they want to see results before they act on anything.


Pitch to the right people
Just like setting up a new website or business, you need to do your due diligence on who the right people are within the industry you're trying to pitch to. This means you need to know which journalists to pitch to because they aren't all the same. If you're pitching to a sports journalist and you sell baskets, you won't hear a response anytime soon and that journalist will likely ghost your emails, phone calls and throw away your letters as soon as they see them.

If you're not sure who to pitch to, you can always go on LinkedIn and figure out what kind of journalist the person is. You can simply go through their profiles and see what they are currently writing about, if it's not related to your idea or website, move on and find a journalist that would be interested in hearing what you have to say How to get a journalist to actually read and respond to your pitch


Pitch to different journalists at the same company
Now, don't take this the wrong way, you don't want to pitch to every single person you can at a media company. You just want to pitch to a couple different journalists at the company in order to increase your chances of getting found. If two journalists are talking to each other about your website or business, they will quickly realize there is something that is buzz worthy and they need to call you back ASAP. If you contact just one journalist, they may not see the popularity of your website or business right away and could pass on writing anything about you.

Again, you need to make your pitch enticing but also full of facts and statistics. If you're just sending them an email saying "I'm the best! Call Me!" you won't hear your phone ringing too often lol.



If you've pitch everyone but still haven't heard anything back
Let's say you've pitched 50 media companies and haven't heard back from any of them. You wrote up the best pitch you could think of and no one has even sent an email saying they weren't interested. Your pitch likely was off topic and not written up well, but don't worry, there are people out there that can help you write up amazing pitches that will help you get responses. I've actually written up a few of these pitches because my clients weren't having success on their own. It was only a 1 page pitch, but it took 3 days to write each one since I had to do a ton of research, and that is why a lot of pitches don't work. Not many people are investing enough time to create a high quality pitch that grabs the attention of the journalist.

Take your time when writing up a pitch and you will be happy you did How to get a journalist to actually read and respond to your pitch



In Conclusion
The best way to entice someone to open your email or read your letter is to make your title interesting. You don't have to do any sort of click bait tactics by adding dollar signs and numbers into the title, just write up something interesting and you'll get noticed. You'll need to take your time when writing up a pitch, it isn't something you're going to be able to do in one sitting. Write your pitch over the course of a day or two, maybe even three like I did, and you will see a much higher quality pitch than if you took just an hour to do it.



Remember to follow me!
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/Razzy


Thanks!

Razzy

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

Join
kgord
Well Razzy, you certainly cover all the angles! I must admit I never would have thought of having a journalist report on my product, and do the word of mouth and advertising for me, but I think it is not a bad suggestion at all. Why not?



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

DarthHazard
I wouldn't have thought about it either, to be honest with you. The problem for me would be that it would be very hard to find a journalist that would be willing to report on your site and writes for a big enough blog for you to get some decent traction from. I have tended to rely on word of mouth and various different advertising methods like yourself to get publicity for my site, but I may try this method out as well.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Judas2018
I am on the journalist end of things so I get people contacting me to do press releases or articles on their products or projects all the time. I like that when someone contacts me they have their project laid out perfectly. What it's about, who's involved, pictures or video, etc. Remember - the more info about a project you provide - the better story of it a journalist can make.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

JoeMilford
I think that this is true of any business pitch, right? The more prepared you are out of the gate the more a potential investor in you feels that he or she can trust you with his or her confidence, finances, content, consultations, etc. I learned this from being a teacher--you must be incredibly prepared when you walk into a class room and always have back-up plans if your initial plans fall through. It is imperative that you provide the writer with what he or she needs to create the articles or press releases--plus, you want your details to be specific enough that you get the type of article you want in return.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Judas2018
One trick I learned when I receive press releases through the mail is to wait 24 hours before doing an article on anything. Many studios or production companies send me press releases on Monday evening or night - then Tuesday morning resend the same press release with edited, changed, added or deleted information. Thus - I don't end up going public with an article containing the wrong information.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

kgord
That makes a lot of sense. I am sure you don't want to write an article if you are going to get new information somewhere done the pike. It just isn'tgreat if you have to start everything over again.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Judas2018
Edits are a part of journalism. We just try and make them as rare and discreet as possible. Which is why having all the correct information before penning an article ensures it'll be perfect.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

augusta
Whatever we intend to do in life, follow is the sure bet of winning .sending one pitch is not enough, following up is the main deal.You might not know the other schedule and the journalist might be a busy person or just busy at that time so it pertinent to follow up and make sure the pitch was sent to the right person which can totally relate to the pitch and be diligent about it.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

overcast
That's true. Following up is a good skill that we all must have. And more and more we do that we are going to learn from it. And based on what I have seen so far. It seems like journalist too don't mind following up. Because that is the only way it seems like things are working for many it seems.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Corzhens
Gee, it is nice to hear that you are a journalist because I have high respect for journalist. We have a saying that anyone can be a writer but not everyone can be a journalist. Anyway, I believe that a pitch is not that hard to make but not so easy either. You have to cramp the salient information so that when the 3rd sentence is read the reader already has a good grasp of what you are pitching about.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

overcast
I think HARO seems to be the only known way for many to get the journalists attention. I came across some of the Facebook groups. And people were posting a lot of stuff there. I think journalist needs to understand that pitching to them is going to happen. You can see that journalist often get their inbox full. And that's something people have to understand when it comes to handling the content.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Baburra
I think pitching to the right people is very important and you brought up a very interesting point. Most of the time, people just keep sending things to other people without much direction, and they really could be helped by thinking about how it will also benefit the person on the other end. A lot of people just never consider this and while some get lucky, others never get noticed and they never figure out why, and most of the time it is because of this. If they are able to see which people can benefit off of whatever they are selling, then they will have a much easier time of finding people who will actually notice them.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Judas2018
There are also many sites, article sites that take articles regardless. They are just content sites that are looking to collect articles from all across the web. Those sites have categories where you can submit your article to depending upon criteria and topic. Sometimes from there - a blog or website news journalist will notice your work and offer you an internship, a job or the chance to work on a paying project.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Pixie06
This is a good way to get some customers. I have never thought about this before. This may help me to further grow my business locally. I think pitching the right people is more important. I will have to conduct some research before finding the right journalist. Journalists are busy people and we can send them a reminder mail in case they don't reply back.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Corzhens
When I was asked to submit an article for a blog, all I did was to write from my heart. And since the niche was my passion, I was sure that I had written it well. When I asked a friend to review my article, the first changes I noticed was the title. It should be something catchy, better if mysterious or controversial sounding. Next is the first paragraph. It should be full of substance that will make the reader continue reading. That made my day.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Judas2018
When it comes to article titles, I always try and use attractive wordplay. While also focusing on the core content of the article as well.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?