The ideal pitch to the press – part 10: time sensitive

Including bullet points within your pitch gives journalists an at-a-glance summary of the pitch but what if your pitch is time sensitive or exclusive?

10. TIME SENSITIVE/ EXCLUSIVE INFO:

Where your pitch is time sensitive, tell the journalists so they know exactly how long they’ve got to pick up and run your story before it is yesterday’s news. If you are offering someone for an interview, be sure to let the journalist know their availability – so they can arrange a telephone or face-to-face interview then, without having to liaise back and forwards about when is suitable / convenient. And, only send exclusive pitches to one media as journalists talk and your reputation will be damaged if one journalist’s ‘exclusive’ story ends up in another’s media.

Always send your pitches to journalists individually rather than as a mass email as, if you’ve put the relevant research into each media, you can then tailor the pitch to attract different journalists to separate elements of the same story, maximising your chances of coverage from more than just one media.

If your pitch is in response to a journalist’s media enquiry, only send them what information they want and nothing else. If you can be relied upon to only contact journalists with relevant information that they have asked for, they will be more likely to read your next email.

Before starting research on a pitch it is worth remembering that regional, national and online media coverage is different. What appears in a regional newspaper wouldn’t get covered in a national newspaper and vice versa. So, when drafting a pitch, ensure that whatever you send suits the individual journalists’ interests and their readers.

And, above all, ensure that every pitch is simple, straightforward, interesting and TO THE POINT. Good luck!.
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