How to up your pitching game in five easy steps
Want to send an idea to an editor or a journalist? Read on.
Lots of our work at Cause involves pitching ideas to journalists and editors.
We specialise in finding the stories in our clients’ brilliant projects that will appeal to reporters and their readers, viewers, or listeners, and we love to talk with the people at the heart of those stories, finding out what the impact on their lives has been.
But once we’ve got the story, then we need to pitch it to a journalist. Before Sam founded Cause she and I were both journalists working on national newspapers - Sam as an editor, me as a writer. We both received lots of pitches every week, so we know what works.
In the last three months we’ve pitched and placed stories for our clients in dozens of outlets including Metro, Daily Telegraph, The Sun, The Times, Daily Express and Sunday Express, ITV News, Press Association and BBC Newsbeat. So it’s safe to say our pitches are working.
But what’s the key to successful pitching? Here are five tips everyone who’s pitching stories to journalists or editors should know:
Keep it short. The person you’re pitching to is likely to be busy, receiving dozens of emails a day. Try to keep to 150 words or less including what your story is, why it’s relevant now and the people who you have interviewed or who are happy to talk with the journalist.
Put people first. We’re all humans and we want to hear stories from other humans. Stats, reports and findings are all important for building trust and credibility, but you need a person at the centre of it all to tell their story, and to make that important connection with the audience. Make sure you put that person in the pitch.
Subject line. Thinking of a short, punchy headline is the bit I find the hardest (luckily Cause founder Sam is excellent at it). But you need to make sure your email is attracting attention before it even gets opened. Apply the coffee test - if you were telling a friend over coffee one thing about your story, what would it be? That usually helps me to figure out what the best line is.
Go to someone you know. Of course you’re not going to know a journalist or writer at every publication you want to be featured in. But where you can, look to your network. Who have you worked with before that might be interested in this story? Where do you have a connection, colleague or friend who might be able to help? Working with someone you know and trust - and who knows and trusts you - is always a great place to start.
Follow up. Many of us are receiving dozens, if not hundreds, of emails/DMs/texts/WhatsApps a day, and it’s super easy to miss one. So if you don’t hear back from your first email, then follow up with a friendly message a couple of days later, and then another after that.
Last year I sent out a pitch to 10 organisations, and I kept track of their replies. After one email I had three replies, a 30% success rate. A follow-up email brought another four replies boosting my success rate to 70%. A final email to those still on the list brought another two replies, so a success rate of 90%.
Sending a follow-up email or two massively boosted my success rate for replies, so put aside any nagging doubts and send the follow up.
