How to pitch to editors
🗞 📖 ⭐️ As a journalist, I pitch to editors a lot and (happily) most of my article ideas are commissioned. But it hasn’t always been that way. Many years ago, when I worked in PR, clients would often expect me and my colleagues to “sell” an idea to an editor - and if you do it strongly enough they’ll buy it. If it didn’t go well, we usually got the blame with the client suggesting we learn some “hard sales techniques”. Yes, awful times. I’m glad the world has moved on.
Pitching to editors is not about selling them a story
See, what those clients failed to grasp (point blank refused to in some cases) was what the editor’s needs were in terms of article content. What the clients thought was interesting about their company wasn’t interesting outside of their company. It’s tough to accept, I know, but unless you’re super well-known in your industry, the fact that you’ve added a certain feature to your product isn’t ground-breaking news!
That said, we now live in the digital world and there are far more opportunities to pitch content to editors than there used to be. That’s to say, there’s a greater need for good quality content than ever before.
Are there opportunities to pitch to editors?
These days, most high-end trade, industry and business titles have an online presence. They may still print a magazine or newspaper but less frequently and the more quality content they publish, the better it is for ad sales (online and in print). So, whilst it’s hard for PRs to get clients featured in printed publications, it’s easier to get them featured online because of the constant need for fresh content that appeals to both algorithms and readers.
What are the rules when pitching to editors?
🕵🏻♂️ 🤔 👨🏾💼
Know who you’re pitching to and what they want in terms of content - read the publication and research who you’re pitching to. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’m pitched to by PRs, in my role as a journalist in the automotive sector, to write about fashion and lifestyle topics! 🥱
Make sure your story is fresh and/or “newsworthy” - it doesn’t have to be a topic that’s completely original but a new or alternative perspective on something is a must if you want to get featured prominently. 🧐
Explain what the story is and why it’s relevant in the FIRST TEN WORDS. If an editor has to read three paragraphs of rambling background to get to the nugget, they won’t. You have to grab them first and then deliver the detail. 🤩
Don’t pitch to the same publication too often. If they’ve recently published an article from your client, leave it a while before pitching to them again.
🤔 🤓 👇🏻 How else can you be helpful and get your pitch accepted? Put your ideas in the comments and let’s see, all constructive ones will be featured.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn