How to pitch a story to a journalist.

Like the Dragons, pitching is easier when you take the time to create something they might want and don’t waste their time trying to sell them stuff they don’t want.

An extended blog on how to pitch a story to a journalist: timing, tactics, content, channels and more.

The first thing to say is that there is no set method for pitching. A pitch, very simply put, is a piece of communication aimed at getting a journalist interested in a story, that's it.

Here I am not talking about writing opinion articles or press releases or how to create a story that a journalist might cover - just the act of how you capture a journalist's attention enough to gain the permission to continue a conversation.

And it's hard to do.

It's a bit like entering the Dragon's Den, except you may have a half-built product, you may not 100% know what the Dragons are looking for, you don't know if you're going to find any Dragons in the room - and it may be they don’t even want you there.

Pitches get better and easier as trust builds, relationships develop, and both sides understand each other a little better.,

This blog is about how PR people and clients (whether in an in-house or agency situation) can work together more effectively towards that end.

Think full-funnel

Like any other sales or marketing process, pitching works like a funnel - stuff goes in the top, some comes out the bottom.

At top of the funnel is the prospect (in this context, a journalist) moving from being completely unaware of your business, converting into someone who trusts you enough to become a lead (i.e.give a clear signal, or expression of interest in your story). 

Like in the principles of marketing; if you've invested more in the upper funnel you're more likely to get more conversions at the bottom. And former customers are more likely to make repeat purchases. The first ‘sales’ are often the hardest.

In this context, this is why big companies with PR agencies get more coverage. They have invested in the brand (reputation), sales materials (PR stories), and relationships (media relations) they need to earn coverage.

For smaller companies, who don't have all that - it's harder - so expect fewer, lower quality conversions at first and know (sorry to say) that earning regular quality media coverage from a standing start is usually a marathon and not a sprint.

And in the context of this blog - about pitching tactics - the pitch will change depending on where the journalist is in the funnel.

Choice of channel

Pitching has undoubtedly got a lot harder in recent years, partly due to the proliferation of channels.

In my first PR job, telephone, fax and post were the main channels. Of course, faxes are dead and it doesn’t look like a vinyl-esque resurgence is on the cards. As for post, many journalists now work remotely, and expect the immediacy of digital. Which leaves the phone.

Some old school PRs reared in 1990s PR sweatshops still swear by phone as a primary channel. I know some agency leaders still who still scream "just phone the f**king journalist" at cowering junior staff, without wondering why they are resistant to 'picking up the phone'.

Clue: it isn't that younger people are afraid of talking, or are feckless and lazy procrastinators - it's mainly that 99% of the journalists I know hate unsolicited calls from people they don't know selling stories they don't care about from unknown execs at companies they've never heard of.

But for journalists you do know, who have given you their number, and trust you not to bother them with rubbish - a phone call is always the best route for me (or its modern equivalent, the WhatsApp/ LinkedIn voice message) - provided you know to not bother them with anything not urgent when they’re in the middle of something else.

For this reason, email remains the primary channel for most and the best starting point, especially if you don't yet have a strong relationship - even though email has got harder. Spam filters get more aggressive, inboxes overflow and many journalists check them far less frequently for this very reason. 

And each journalist is different - PRs are usually left guessing if an email doesn’t get a reply. Did they get it? Was the timing wrong? Did I misjudge their editorial focus? Should I chase?

So this blog focuses on email pitches.

Email pitching dos and don'ts.

Firstly, here’s the things I avoid.

Never spray and pray:

It used to be standard in agencies to send templated emails to a mailmerged list. By nature these are untargeted and not personalised. Little due diligence has been done on whether the journalist is interested. Often media relations is left to more junior staff who may not have the experience to write a great pitch or don’t have a relationship. And they are under pressure to deliver - so they go far and wide.

There are so many reasons this is bad practice: for your personal brand, the agency brand, the client reputation and your domain reputation. 

Email domains that spam are far more likely to (um) get treated as spam which is bad news for everyone at the company.

Agencies often get roasted for this on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) and now, on LinkedIn. Don't let that be you!

Don't throw the kitchen sink:

If you are introducing a new idea, have a new client, perhaps in a new/ complicated and unknown category and you don’t have a strong relationship with a journalist, there is temptation to create a long pitch to explain it all.

You will not be able to tell the whole story in a pitch. A long email with lots of links and attachments is not going to be dealt with.

Keep it short, simple.

Bear in mind the 'real estate' you have in an email is a headline and (maybe, the first few lines of the body).

Generally I'd advise keeping the subject line to 5-7 words, one of which is the most important story keyword e.g. a famous brand, famous person, or a hot topic. By famous or hot, I mean famous or hot in that particular journalist's world. 

Then make sure the first line adds specifics on how you will build on that keyword - ie your headline 'offer' - so perhaps 20 words or fewer. Then below that, a list of talking points. You can add substance and detail when you get a signal that the journalist is interested.

If you can't do that, it may be you either don't have a strong enough story, or need to work harder to make what you have more concise.

Avoid pleasantries and froth:

So many pitches I’ve seen open up with a breezy “how are you/ how was your weekend”.

Few journalists will reply saying "Yes, I had a lovely weekend, and I am well. On Saturday I went to the zoo after a lovely morning… how are you, stranger etc"?

So resist the need to ask.

I still struggle to follow this rule if I'm honest... so do most PRs as we’re generally genial, friendly, upbeat folk. 

But stick to the story and get to the point as soon as possible. And cut cut cut the flowery waffle. 

In a pitch journalists need prose, not poetry. It's a functional piece of communication, not entertainment.

Make it easy:

Be super-clear about what you want the journalist to do next, so phrase the pitch in a way that angles for a yes/ no response. This is your ask.

Don't send pdfs or images they may struggle to open. Don't expect them to invest time in watching a long video, download content from your website, or do anything fiddly. 

Don't ask for 'their thoughts'. Be clear on what happens next, and ask them if they want it.

Constructing the pitch.

It may be that you have a general template pitch that you want to tailor for a particular story.

I think this is fine, provided it's personalised each time.

Structurally I think it will look like this;

1) SUBJECT LINE  (5-7 words)

2) FIRST LINE (a build on keyword in first line, impactful)

3) CONTEXT (2-3 short sentences, at most)

4) OFFER (4-5 bullet points/ talking points)

5) ASK (what next)

Then when reviewing your pitch, try the TRUTH test. TRUTH is a mnemonic for checking you have all the five elements you need to convey in a pitch. I've used other mnemonics in the past but this one (pinched from Paul Blanchard's brilliant book "Fast PR") is in my view the best.

• T is for Topical. Most journalists (especially reporters and correspondents) feed on news. They live in the moment, so if the story isn't topical, they will probably ignore it. This answers the question, why now?

• R is for Relevant. Consider their audience, and area of specialism, and make sure the story relates to them. Typically you would look at what they have written about before, and infer interest from that. This answers the question, why me?

• U  is for Unusual. Weird or quirky beats boring hands down. And bringing something new or different to an existing story - like a big build/ development on it or a change of direction is more likely to get noticed. A rebuttal. A pivot. A 'first ever'. This answers the question, what's new?

• T is for Tension. With no conflict there is no story. When there is change there is (almost) always a winner and a loser. A news moment is a chapter in a bigger story of change, where there is a before, during and after. This answers the question, what's changing?

• H is for Human. This is about relating the story to actual people using real-world examples, so it's relatable and people can talk about it in ways most other people understand. Human impact is probably the biggest single determinant of how newsworthy a story is, by which I mean how much prominence a media publication will give it against all the stories. This answers the question, who is impacted?

I'm not suggesting you have to spell all these out in the actual pitch in detail - you won't have the time - but give enough for the journalist to show you've thought about it.

If you can't cover each of these five things in a pitch.. try again!

In other words, the pitch has to summarise: here's how real people, who you write for (or about) will be impacted by something - and a new take on what this means.

The real reason PRs often fail at pitching.

In my experience, the biggest challenge PRs have is getting their clients in a position to give them what they need to write good stories; namely metrics, boldness and patience.

First, metrics. It's often difficult to extract believable and relatable impact numbers for a start. I will probably do another full article on the ‘impact number’ but it’s basically the metrics in the story that a journalist will use to assess: do I care about this, and is what this company is saying significant enough to change this?

There may be very good reputational, political or and commercial reasons for not telling the whole story. Some clients may not have the information or don't know where to find it. And when PR sits in a marketing/ promotion silo, clients may not always be forthcoming - selling a product to a customer and selling a story are different skillsets.

Second, boldness. It's sometimes hard to coax a client to lean into the tension in a story - as they don't want to highlight losers and/ or generate a negative reaction.

When there are losers there is always friction, no one wants to be the loser. As former Labour comms director Alastair Campbell put it "the definition of news is something, someone somewhere doesn't want other people to know" (or words to that effect). 

So you have to expect pushback.

Third, patience. For commercial and time reasons, people are in a hurry and want results quickly.

PR is an expensive, risky, unpredictable and major investment that takes time to pay off and can stretch the trust relationship between clients and their partners. PR people are under immense pressure to move fast, with limited information and usually with a less-than perfect product, at a slower pace than the client wants and at a faster pace than the customer/ journalist wants.

I think it's for these reasons most pitches miss the mark. But with time and patience, a good PR will overcome these challenges - and the outcome of regular positive media coverage is worth its weight in gold.