Tips for Media Pitching

• Know your market and your target audience – a little bit of extra research in the beginning can be time consuming, but you’ll maximize your results and end up saving both you and your contacts time which helps to build beneficial relationships
• Think about what would make you want to open an email! In your own personal email, you probably get hundreds of emails a day. Which ones catch your attention?
• Be personable when you can. You don’t have to wait until you have a pitch to reach out. If you’re consistently pitching to the same DMAs, publications, etc., feel free to reach out and just introduce yourself! Being friendly can go a long way.
• Acknowledge that you know what their beat is, or that they’ve covered something similar
• If your story is not big enough for a general assignment reporter to cover, find someone specific who it is relevant to. Typically general assignment reporters will not open or consider your story for coverage. Never send pitches to general managers, news directors, sales team members, sports (unless it’s a sports story), etc. These people deal with the day-to-day of a newsroom, not what stories are getting covered. The *best* contacts in a newsroom to send news to are the main tip line email address, assignment desk editors/managers, producers, and reporters in your beat. Don’t be afraid to call the assignment desk after a pitch, just be mindful of show hours. “Hey – I know you get a lot of emails, so I just wanted to follow up on an email pitch I sent over. I think it would be a great fit for x, y, and z reasons and *here’s how I can make it super easy for you to cover*!”
• Keep your pitches short and sweet
• Reporters love when you are aware and acknowledge that they’re on some strict deadlines
  
  • “Please let me know how I can help coordinate interviews and b-roll opportunities to meet your deadlines.”
• Use a subject line that captures attention. Think: “What would make me open this email and not just hit delete”
• If there’s a huge incident (breaking news) going on that the publication is needing to cover – this is the worst time to send a pitch. Wait and maximize your results!
  
  • The best time to pitch broadcast media is early in the morning and between 2-3:30pm. 3:30pm-5:00 is like rush hour for news and reporters will not see your emails. Nightside reporters will be pitching and looking for their story ideas from 2-3pm. If their main story falls through – set it up so they have an easy backup!
• Know what makes your pitch or story newsworthy. Is there a hot local topic? Why do they care? Why will their readers/viewers care? Local stories get picked up by national daily, so if national is your focus, don’t count out local!
  
  • This goes beyond the actual material you’re pitching (an event, product announcement, etc.)
    
    • Is your company local to the outlet? How does it impact real people? *This is the biggest question you ask yourself in TV news
    • EX: I’m announcing Igloo just opened a new HQ in Dallas and they just hired 5,000 people.
      
      • I saw you recently covered a huge local business expansion and thought you might be interested in the news that Igloo is expanding with a new HQ and hired 5,000 people. I can set you up with an interview with someone from the team about what this means for the local economy and connect you with one of our recently employed team members. We have b-roll we can also send over. Please let me know how I can best set up an interview to meet your deadlines!
  • Do you already have the b-roll and sound they can use? Even better! Producers will always thank you and typically use it as long as it’s relevant and fits in their shows!
    
    • I thought your audience would be interested to hear about how a new Igloo HQ is impacting the local economy. The company just hired 5,000 people and I thought it could be useful to hear from a new employee. We have b-roll and SOTs prepared from a new employee and company expert – are you interested in using it for your show?

• Just have a news release to send? You can still optimize potential broadcast media coverage by sending over a script. Newsrooms are extremely short-staffed and if you can help them by doing some, or all, of the work – they will be more likely to use it! Writing for news is very different – very conversational, simple, and easy for the average person to understand– I can be a resource for this! ☺
• EX: Below you’ll find VO copy, b-roll and a media alert will all the details leading up to the event. As a former news anchor and reporter, I’m happy to help with anything you might need for coverage. We’d love to have your MMJs or mets out for live shots during or to preview the event. If you’re interested or if I can provide anything further, please let me know! 

(ANC) 

A MAJOR RACING EVENT IS MAKING ITS RETURN TO KILLINGTON RESORT THIS WEEKEND! 

(TAKE VO) 

FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 20-18 – THE FOX U-S OPEN OF MOUNTAIN BIKING IS BRINGING SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN THE SPORT TO COMPETE FOR THE EVENT’S LARGEST PRIZE PURSE EVER – 80-GRAND! IT’S FREE – AND OPEN TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO GO. KICKING OFF THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY– IT’S A FAMILY-FRIENDLY EVENT – WITH THE BIKE PARK OPEN ALL WEEKEND – AND AMAZING VIEWS OF THE EPIC COMPETITION.   

Link to b-roll: 

Perfecting Your Local Pitch

The US Open of MTB is coming back to Killington, VT for the first time since 2018 – how do I get it covered?

• Find out what news DMA covers Killington, VT
  
  • Sometimes you can search ‘what news DMA covers Killington, VT?’
  • Other times you can find what county Killington is in and then search which DMA covers that county https://www.mediamarketmap.com

• Go to Cision and filter your Outlet, Contact search by DMA

• Use the filters to help narrow done your search! (Subject, Media Type, City, County, etc.)

• Always make sure to do an old-fashioned Google search for your area as well. A lot of smaller publications won’t be on Cision but will most certainly be interested in your local news! They’re also generally very easy to work with and will more likely than not see your emails.