{"id":7441,"date":"2016-10-07T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=7441"},"modified":"2018-08-08T12:10:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T16:10:22","slug":"how-an-internship-in-news-media-changed-the-way-i-pitch-to-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2016\/10\/07\/how-an-internship-in-news-media-changed-the-way-i-pitch-to-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"How an Internship in News Media Changed the Way I Pitch to Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

You spend hours crafting your pitch; you know it\u2019s perfect. Unfortunately, a flawless email isn\u2019t enough when it comes to pitching to journalists these days. As future public relations practitioners, we need to work smarter when it comes to media pitching. During an internship with Iowa Public Radio (IPR), I learned a few things that changed the way I draft a pitch for journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>
Courtesy of giphy.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Know who you\u2019re pitching to.<\/b><\/p>\n

The more pitches you send the more coverage, right? Well, not exactly. Forwarding your pitch to a random selection of journalists is like shooting in the dark. You have to be selective and choose your journalists wisely. Spend some time researching journalists from the outlet you selected. What\u2019s their beat? What type of topics do they normally cover? Are there certain topics they don\u2019t cover? Similar to knowing your audience, knowing your journalist is critical if you\u2019re looking for a successful pitch, otherwise your email is heading to the trash.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep it short, sweet, and to the point.<\/b><\/p>\n

Your narrative could be fantastic, but it could cost you coverage. In today\u2019s 24-hour news world, journalists are constantly receiving pitches and if yours is complicated it\u2019s likely they won\u2019t even bother. Make it easier for them by bulleting your information and placing the most important information at the top of the email. Want to test it out? Ask someone to read your pitch. If they’re struggling to tell you what it\u2019s about after 10 seconds, it\u2019s probably not clear enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

Include the basics.<\/b><\/p>\n

This might seem obvious, but it\u2019s necessary. When pitching, double (even triple) check that you\u2019ve included all the basic information. More importantly, make sure the information is correct. Everything including event details, dates, addresses, phone numbers, brief descriptions and contact information should be featured in plain sight (did I mention media contact info?). Nothing is worse than picking up a pitch to later find out that some piece of information was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since my time with IPR, I\u2019ve been able to craft better pitches for journalists by putting myself in their shoes. Looking at your pitch from a different angle can be challenging, but it does allow you to fill in gaps in your information. Above all, pitching is skill that can be improved and with more practice (and some research) you\u2019ll be pitching like a pro.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Mallory Feeney a senior majoring in public relations at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) and serves the Chapter president of UNI PRSSA. Find out more by following her on <\/span><\/i>Twitter<\/span><\/i><\/a> or connecting on <\/span><\/i>LinkedIn<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You spend hours crafting your pitch; you know it\u2019s perfect. Unfortunately, a flawless email isn\u2019t enough when it comes to pitching to journalists these days. As future public relations practitioners, we need to work smarter when it comes to media pitching. During an internship with Iowa Public Radio (IPR), I learned a few things that changed the way I draft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"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],"tags":[28,519,2252,40],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7444,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7441\/revisions\/7444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}