The Public Relations Blog

These elements can make your pitch soar if used correctly

Pitching a story to the media is a key public relations component. It is almost a specialty onto its own, filled with various pitfalls that can make your pitches fall flat the moment you first start the pitch — that is, if you do them incorrectly.

Although many consider the content of a pitch when developing one, what gets overlooked is time and pitching. Both the time you make a pitch at and how long it takes to make your pitch are vital to a successful pitch. These two factors are some of the key ingredients that can make or break a pitch’s success. 

Use the three tips below to make sure you’re pitching at the right time and have the right length.

There’s no time like the present to grow your company’s outreach

Did you know that positive news coverage helps to improve your construction company’s reputation? It also helps to place your company at the forefront of many of your prospective customers’ minds.

Far too often, customers don’t know which company to turn to when they have a construction need because all of them seem the same. Luckily, earned media coverage assists in creating a thought leader and puts your company at the forefront of people’s minds when they need to make a building and construction decision. 

Say you’ve tried to get your company in the news, such as print, online, or broadcast coverage, without luck. We’re here to help!

Public relations software is one of the many important tools for earning media coverage

Every week a prospective client, PR agency peer, or another PR professional asks us:
“what's the best solution for a U.S. news media contact database?”

It’s not an easy answer. It’s like asking “what’s the best automobile?” 

At Axia, we've tried them all. And the simple answer is each has their pros and cons.

Earned media is the coverage your company gets without paying for it. This isn’t done through self-promotion or advertisements nor posting news releases on PR newswires.

Earned media shouldn’t be confused with paid media, which would be paying influencers or running social media ads. It is distinctly different from owned media as well, which is the attention your company’s website attracts.

Sending a perfect media pitch can feel like a balancing act. Structure and timing are everything. To avoid becoming a mere drop in an ocean of emails, here are nine media pitching tips directly from journalists, according to PR software Muck Rack’s research.

Tell stories instead of just stating facts.

Imagine you’ve finally got a good pitch ready to send to the media. You’re well prepared, and now it’s time to get that phone call done. Despite hitting it off with the media contact, your contact ultimately declines to run the story. What happened? You did everything right; you had the main point and some facts to go with it to give context.

When it comes time to give the breakdown of a story in writing, news releases are usually sent. Long and filled with information, they’re viewed as the best ways to get a story to the media. But are they really the best way? Your legal team and, most importantly, reporters don’t like them when they’re for medium or smaller stories. Reporters prefer having information to base their own writing off of instead of simply publishing a news release. If the people actually working with your news releases don’t like them, then what should you do?

Recently, I attended a PRSA chapter’s Media Roundtable event where 12 journalists from different outlets and backgrounds gathered to give insight and best practices to public relations professionals. While all journalists have their own preferred way for you to pitch them – and it depends if their outlet is print, online, or broadcast TV – there are some similarities that PR pros should know.

Your company’s culture is what defines your organization. It sets the tone for how your employees work and how the public views your company. Your company’s culture can determine whether a potential customer chooses you over your competitors.

When it comes to public relations, the term “media” relates to different channels a brand might use to communicate.

Axia Public Relations focuses on earned media, shared media, and owned media. We prefer calling it news, social, and web since people are more familiar with those terms. Your company’s PR campaign should include all three categories.