\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Here are a five sobering truths about successful media pitching. <\/span><\/p>\n 1.) Successful media pitching starts with thorough audience research.<\/b><\/p>\n The secret to true marketing communications success is identifying the three-to-four ideal audiences\u2014the true tribe\u2014for your clients or your organization. <\/span><\/p>\n The misconception is that media pitching is a shotgun blast to any and all publications. The truth, however, is that successful media pitching starts with research. By first understanding the ideal audiences, you\u2019ll suddenly filter out all of the outlets that are unnecessary. This takes your approach from a broad stroke to a surgical maneuver. <\/span><\/p>\n This is also key to developing story angles. By understanding your client\u2019s or organization\u2019s tribes like you understand your own best friends, you\u2019ll know exactly what they believe and what they care about. This helps uncover what\u2019s truly newsworthy to the people that matter the most. <\/span><\/p>\n 2.) Media pitching is a longer process than you might think.<\/b><\/p>\n Another illusion is that media pitching is as simple as picking up the phone and charming a member of the media. That notion couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. <\/span><\/p>\n As I just mentioned above, you have to clearly identify your audience and use that info to really chisel out a developed story angle. And that\u2019s just the beginning. Next, you have to prepare the supporting materials\u2014these are the press releases, photos, videos, etc. But before you even start the first pitch, you have to know who the best people to talk to are.<\/span><\/p>\n There are a lot of false media relations prophets who say to \u201cpitch the newsroom editor at the biggest publication you can find\u201d with a story. That might work once (probably not, actually), but it\u2019s not a repeatable method for continued success. Based on the newsworthy story you\u2019ve developed and built, you have to find the most relevant people to pitch to. This takes digging, regular reading and analysis. <\/span><\/p>\n OK\u2014so now you have the story, materials and right people to talk to. It\u2019s a slam dunk, right? Definitely not. Now you have to work on your pitches, carefully crafting and personalizing every, single one. Even after you do that, and follow up appropriately (four-to-seven days later minimum), it might take months before you see that story take shape. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to start the process early.<\/span><\/p>\n 3.) Success is never guaranteed, no matter how many pitches you score.<\/b><\/p>\n One massively successful campaign doesn\u2019t ensure future success. <\/span><\/p>\n You have to develop a repeatable, winnable process driven by research and due diligence. You\u2019ll quickly realize that it takes the length of that disciplined process to see continued success over time. <\/span><\/p>\n You might get more experience, more wins, better relationships and more know-how about the craft, but you can\u2019t take the full process for granted at any point. Approach every pitch like it\u2019s your make-or-break pitch. <\/span><\/p>\n 4.) Don\u2019t expect to land every pitch (and if you do, you\u2019re really lucky!)<\/b><\/p>\n This is an important expectation to communicate to your organization and clients\u2014you won\u2019t win every pitch. It\u2019s important to have a well-rounded and thorough list of potential opportunities. If you see more than half of that list come to fruition, I\u2019d classify your particular campaign as a success. <\/span><\/p>\n Too often, we\u2014and our organizations and clients\u2014expect to land every pitch, but that\u2019s just not reality. It\u2019s not to say that you might land (insert your favorite publication here) in the future\u2014it\u2019s just to say that it doesn\u2019t always pan out 100 percent in your favor. That\u2019s just the way it works. <\/span><\/p>\n 5.) It\u2019s really easy to make the wrong impression on a reporter.<\/b><\/p>\n Here are the facts. Newsrooms are shrinking and the ratio of public relations professionals to reports are pretty sobering. <\/span><\/p>\n The way you communicate is absolutely critical to seeing success. A lot of people spam-blast lists of reporters with irrelevant pitches that are too long and too impersonal. Others might have a relevant angle, but don\u2019t demonstrate etiquette in the process, which is just as bad as a spam-blast. <\/span><\/p>\n Be polite, be courteous and treat others like you\u2019d like to be treated. We all hate irrelevant emails in our inbox that are too long and unhelpful, so don\u2019t send them to reporters. Send relevant, concise and helpful emails that will make the person on the other end\u2019s job easier. <\/span><\/p>\n _____<\/p>\n Ben Butler is an entrepreneur, marketing communications professional and founder of <\/span><\/i>Top Hat IMC<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u2014a fully integrated marketing communications firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can connect with Ben on <\/span><\/i>LinkedIn<\/span><\/i><\/a> and on Twitter <\/span><\/i>@BenButlerPR<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Media pitching is the crown jewel of the public relations industry. It\u2019s also a mysterious art that we develop a lot of questions about as we study the craft. We can\u2019t help but wonder\u2014what\u2019s the reality behind successful media placements? How is it done? What are the secrets?\u00a0Naturally, there are a lot of people stepping up to the plate to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2894,2897],"tags":[1155,213,1564,68,91,575,2407,2252,647,2408,40,2248,1565,2071,637],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6694"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6698,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6694\/revisions\/6698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Courtesy](\"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/6277209256_198cdbea86_o.jpg\")
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