Knowing that 99.5% of all pitches do not result in the desired outcome, the primary goal of the initial pitch is to receive a reply from your target. We have already qualified our audience and communicated the assets we can provide, now it's time for the media target to reply.
How do we break the mold and get a reply back from our media target?
As always, we begin from the media targets POV and our goal is to create a Call To Action (CTA) unique to the objective that results in a reply. There are two elements that can change the approach considerably. What type of news is being offered? Is there timeliness and/or a sense of urgency that can be highlighted?
Some of the more common mistakes that doom brand pitches include not communicating timeliness at all or providing too little lead time to the target. The less “mediagenic” ideas should provide longer runways of time to succeed.
The optimal path, where we have a valuable pitch and assets, ideally should provide a 1-2 week timeline to work with the reporter. Less newsworthy ideas should be presented with approximately 3-4 weeks to maximize chances at success. Those ideas that are less timely and “mediagenic” should provide between 5-6 weeks of lead time.
If there is not organic timelines already built into your pitch concept, we recommend tying in to upcoming events, recent industry news, awareness days/months, speaking engagements, conferences, etc. Something tangible that allows you to confidently say, “this is why now is the perfect time to share this story.”
Identifying “controllables” from “variables” is critical to success; time is a key asset to communicate that can increase your chance at receiving a reply. We don’t control how a media member is feeling when they receive the pitch or what their experts may say. However, we do control the way in which we present our idea (knowing our audience and our pitch) and the timeline provided for reviewing the idea.
Reporters are built to work with deadlines in mind, communicating one that provides a respectful amount of lead time in relation to the topic being pitched can be the difference between establishing two-way communication or not.