How to get your dream journo to swipe right on your next pitch

Conducting media relations in today’s saturated media landscape can some days be as tricky as trying to find your dream partner on a dating app. You’ll spend time and effort trying to perfect your opening line, stalk their profile and battle with yourself over the ‘just right’ way to get their attention without coming off too needy…  only to have that dream journalist never return your call.

Media contacts are very time poor people and their inboxes are swarmed with hundreds of pitches just like yours every day. So how do you make your pitch stand out from the rest? Here’s a couple of quick tips to get you started:

1. Create a media checklist

Do your due diligence and ensure your pitch includes all of the PR basics before sending. Have you got a catchy headline? Did you include a media release in the body of your email and are links to further information easily accessible? Where is your eye-catching imagery and is your spokesperson immediately available for media interviews? The last thing you want to do is deter what could have been an interested journalist from pursuing your story opportunity because your basics are lacking. Your job is to make things as easy as possible for the journalist. Try creating a media checklist for you to tick off each time you complete a send out.

2. Do your research

There’s nothing more frustrating to a journalist than being pitched a story that just isn’t relevant to them or their publication. Google gave us the tools to stalk, it’s now time to do so. Before you press send on that email pitch, double check you’re contacting the right person at the right publication. Look at their social media accounts and research their role, what they’re writing about or interested in and make sure this aligns with your story – this is also a great way to create common ground when you pick up the phone to follow up.

3. Get personal about your touch points

Don’t be afraid to get creative about how you contact a journalist, there’s more inventive ways than just email and the telephone to communicate. Think digitally when reaching out – you can literally get direct access to individual journalists on social media which is a hugely untapped potential at this point! I’ve sent pitches through Instagram, Twitter and even Tinder resulting in meaningful coverage for clients, so don’t be afraid to get personal with your pitches!

Want to find out more about how Elevate can grow your brand with public relations? Get in touch today at info@elevatecom.com.au.