With consumers averaging six hours per week watching local television, your local stations are a powerful way to share your brand, product, and event news. But with nearly 50% of journalists receiving at least 11 media pitches per day, how can you stand out and form great relationships with journalists and producers? We asked three former journalists, turned communication professionals, to share secrets on what made pitches stand out.
1. Short and Snappy
You have mere seconds to catch the attention of your media contact. When crafting a pitch, know your contact’s interests, beat, and show information to align your segment idea to their interests.
“A good pitch is one that tells me a clear and compelling story in just a few sentences,” said Boua Xiong, former multimedia journalist at Kare 11. “Too often pitches are long and boring and give too much background information.”
Make it easy for your contact to say yes by providing the media release, proposed guest name and title, and how the segment will visually come to life. “Understand just how short-staffed and busy newsrooms are,” reminded Kim Insley, former multimedia journalist at Kare 11. “Make sure you are concise with your pitch; include the elements you know the reporter will need and ask for.”
Clever subject lines and pitches might help you stand out but don’t sacrifice clarity along the way. “Less is more and be more clear than clever,” said Brittany Runk, former producer with Twin Cities Live. “You are essentially selling producers on an idea.”
Boua Xiong’s Pro Tip: Don't tease and say, "reach out for me info." Reporters don't have a lot of time; just give them the goods upfront. If they like it, they will respond.
2. Go Beyond Basic to Get Booked
Not all stories are meant for television, and it may be necessary to help set internal stakeholder expectations on what is worthy of a media pitch. Runk encourages brands to find a new angle on tried-and-true pitches. “If it’s national cheesecake day, don’t simply pitch cheesecake. That’s a very predictable approach,” says Runk. “Think about ways to stand out of the noise of emails and create a unique twist like how to make a cheesecake charcuterie entertaining board that includes bite-size samples.”
Brittany Runk’s Pro Tip: Once your segment gets booked, send deliverables, social media links, professional title of guest, photo or video assets a few days before the segment. If you go above and beyond and are timely and reliable when sending information, that makes such a big difference. Chances are that the producer will want to work with you on future segments because you made it an enjoyable experience and followed through on what you originally promised.
3. It’s Not About You
The pitch isn’t about you or your company, but what perspective your experts or product can share with viewers. Keep the show’s audience at the forefront of your pitch.
“When pitching, you have to know who the end-user is,” said Xiong. “If you keep the viewer in mind as the person you're actually trying to reach, you can re-think the pitch and make it stronger.”
Similarly, all pitches aren’t the right fit for all producers, shows, and journalists. Taking the time to research your media contacts, understand their interests, and the show’s strengths are critical. “You don’t want your carefully crafted pitch about a new concept store going to someone whose beat is personal finance,” states Insley.
Kim Insley’s Pro Tip: Sending something to the assignment desk is not nearly enough. The assignment desk is concerned about the major newscasts of the day but might not share that with the morning show producer, or the lifestyle show producer. Understand the content that station is producing and send your pitch to each of those shows where it might be relevant. If it is legitimate news, or a very compelling human interest story, go ahead and pitch the general assignment editor as well.
4. A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words
A television segment will likely only be two to five minutes. Visuals are an important part of storytelling and critical for television segments to transform the story and bring it to life for viewers. When pitching, be sure to mention b-roll, photos, props, and displays that will help bring your story to life.
“I’ve actually had situations in which I received a pitch, set up the story and arrived to find the person didn’t want to be on camera, or had no visuals or activity for the story,” reflects Insley. “TV crews need video. Be upfront and realistic about what you can provide.”
Confluent Communications’ Pro Tip: Look for opportunities to transform your visuals to be specific to the station you’re at, such as a branded cookie, displays that spell their name, or even the journalist’s favorite food or hobby.
5. The Right Follow-Up
So, you’ve researched your media contact, tailored the pitch, and hit send. Now what? “If you don’t get a response right away, it doesn’t mean the answer is no,” said Runk. “Allow at least a couple of days before you circle back.”
Like many, journalists and producers are tackling more than ever before, with fewer team members and resources. Timing the follow-up to your perfectly targeted pitch will help you stay relevant but protect future relationships.
Boua Xiong’s Pro Tip: Too much follow-up can actually damage your media relations. One follow-up is fine. Two or three times and reporters will likely stop answering you altogether.
As you are pitching your local stations, reflect on these five tips and how you can become a partner to your journalists and producers. Thank you to our three contributors for sharing their insights on what makes or break media pitches!
Are you looking to evolve your media relations strategy? Email Katie@ConfluentCommunications.com.
About Our Contributors:
Kim Insley is a multimedia storyteller and former Kare 11 journalist. She now serves as manager, strategic marketing at Digital River, leading the media relations programs.
Boua Xiong served as a multimedia journalist at Kare 11 for over six years. She is a strategic and accomplished corporate communicator known for innovative thinking and award-winning storytelling skills and is currently the senior manager of Corporate Communications at Medtronic.
Brittany Runk is a former producer for Twin Cities Live, part of Hubbard Broadcasting. She transitioned her career and is now a social media content coordinator at Evereve.
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