Pitching – How Hard Can it Be?

You have a great story and want to pitch it to the media for newspaper articles, magazine features, blogs and social media. It should be as easy as sending an email to your contacts simultaneously, right?

Sending one blanket email couldn’t be further from the truth. Any reputable public relations firm will take time to familiarise themselves with journalists, their blogs, respond to their online articles, and invite them to press events, coffee meet and greets or zoom catch-ups. It takes tremendous effort to form lasting and meaningful relationships with the media.

A pitch should be well researched, personalised and relevant. Any communication with a busy journalist should be on the right day of the week and at the right time of day. Take Roam Generation as a prime example; we research each journalist before reaching out to them. My team and I spend much of our time reading their past articles to ensure that our client's stories are the perfect fit. We know what is happening in the media and the world, so we can send the pitch at the right time. If we don’t receive a response straight away, we’ll follow up an additional two times, with more helpful information such as interesting statistics, the media kit, or new photographs.

Media insights

Recent studies show some thought-provoking insights into the hectic world of journalism. One such survey showed that 60 per cent of journalists value their relationships with public relations professionals as mutually beneficial. Out of a number of journalists surveyed, 50 per cent said that, in 2022, they are still likely to respond to pitches, whilst 23 per cent said that they are more likely to. Journalists who don’t respond cited poor timing, lack of personalisation, and confusing subject headers as primary reasons why they would instantly reject a pitch.

As a rule of thumb, 94 per cent of journalists prefer a personalised one-to-one email, 67 per cent of which would prefer any pitches in the morning. A journalist will receive up to 10 pitches on an average work day and will publish up to seven articles each week. Interestingly, 80 per cent of journalists responded that over a quarter of their stories originate from a well-pitched, concise idea from a PR pro.

Pitching the media

Pitching the media is a massive part of our daily tasks; and it’s vital that we make our pitches stand head and shoulders above the rest. Many journalists, especially in travel and luxury leisure, are bombarded with emails, many of which are irrelevant or of no interest. Well-considered and personalised pitches go a long way to show an editor that we’ve researched the story we are pitching and it’s relevant to their publication. Of course, one of the many things to stand out in our pitches is the fact that we are the only PR agency in the world run from a yacht. How many PR agencies can introduce themselves with a claim like that?!?

Personalise the subject line

The subject line must immediately pique the journalist’s or editor’s interest. We might sometimes use their name or refer to one of their recent articles. When sending a personalised pitch, we use the subject line to show that the pitch is not part of a mass communication strategy.

Use references

At Roam Generation, we find it useful to raise a discussion point about one of the journalist’s recent articles. It can be interesting to refer to such an article and discuss how we found it relevant to our client. We look at their social media platforms, including Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter and interact thoughtfully. Depending on the pitch, we might suggest an expansion on a topic of interest, offer a different perspective, or even a friendly but opposing view on their feature to create dialogue. We understand their personal and business interests, and if the pitch allows, we use human similarities as a way to connect. Editors, after all, are human too.

Remain in touch

Once you are in touch with a journalist or editor, you’ll find it beneficial to maintain the connection. We always try to reference part of the article that was particularly compelling or interesting. If our pitch results in coverage, we ensure we thank the editor and encourage our clients to do the same. We regularly keep in touch with our media connections, personally with news about our clients if it is relevant to their publication.

So, there you have it. Pitching is not quite as simple as it may seem. And pitching is just one element of the PR strategy.

If you would like us to help promote your travel, leisure of luxury brand through targeted, thoughtful and inspiring pitches, be sure to schedule a call here.