You're navigating the world of media outlets. How do you customize your pitch for maximum impact?
To stand out in a sea of pitches, customization is key. Here's how to tailor your approach for each outlet:
- Research the outlet's content and audience to align your pitch with their interests.
- Highlight the unique angle of your story that resonates with their readership.
- Personalize your pitch to the editor or journalist, showing you know their work.
Curious about other personalization tactics? Share your strategies.
You're navigating the world of media outlets. How do you customize your pitch for maximum impact?
To stand out in a sea of pitches, customization is key. Here's how to tailor your approach for each outlet:
- Research the outlet's content and audience to align your pitch with their interests.
- Highlight the unique angle of your story that resonates with their readership.
- Personalize your pitch to the editor or journalist, showing you know their work.
Curious about other personalization tactics? Share your strategies.
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Don't buy lists. I had a boss once who insisted on the spray 'n pray model; he even write an e-book about it lol. That might have worked before journalism was reduced to a tiny nub being supported by the altruism of tech giants but not anymore. Research your target publications, get to know who covers your industry and pitch them stories that aren't just "my product is amazing". I can't stress this enough; no one cares how great your product is, how revolutionary the new feature is or how your were featured in Forbes (content network *cough). Make your pitch timely, relevant and interesting to someone other than you.
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A few quick tips to maximize your impact. - Do research on the contact person, the outlet, and previous pieces they have worked on in order to offer a similar tone or brand voice. Make it as easy as possible for them to literally just copy/paste your contribution into their current article. - Keep track of the outlets you are reaching out to and when you do not get the pitch ask the contact person what you could do to offer better value to them in future contributions. - Connect with outlet contact person on LinkedIn or other social media so your posts are seen in their feed and they get familiarized with your online contributions as well to create a top of mind situation.
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Know your media landscape (national, local, trade and influencers), determine your client’s top five or 10 media must haves and wish list. From there reach out accordingly. When your pitch is outside of a contact’s beat it’s ok to reach out to your contact, acknowledge the pitch is beyond their beat, then ask if perhaps there’s another journalist at the outlet who may be interested. Use that foot you’ve already got in the door to expand and build relationships with additional contacts at the outlet. .
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For our B2B tech clients we usually customers for 3 specific media outlets: Business/Exec, Tech, Prospect Industry Vertical (eg: Retail, Marketing, Finance, HR)
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