Here a quick guide on how to prepare that media pitch so that you can get that wanted attention from the media and generate some newsworthy information on your business.
1. Identifying your targeted Niche
In creating your media pitch it is always important to take the demographics of your ideal customer. Always put into consideration a potential customer’s age, income, location, and interests. The more honed down you are to your target audience, the better. Tailor-fitting your PR tactics make it more likely for you to spend less time and effort in getting a message across your target market.
One other important consideration is that you need to focus on what type of media your target niche actually read. Doing this would require a little bit of research on the part of the business owner. A younger target audience means that blogs and online news syndications would be more accessible to the group. Professional target audiences would prefer industry-specific magazines, business journals, websites, and publications. A much more mature target audience would prefer print, radio stations, or TV channels.
2. Analyzing your Target Media
Read issues, download podcasts, listen to radio broadcasts, or watch a few episodes of your targeted media. Moreover, take note of the names of contributors, writers, and journalists covering the topics that you can share your views on.
Taking a closer look at your target media allows you to get more clues on the material that would most interest media people and their readers, listeners, or viewers. The more practice you get in analyzing your preferred media, the easier it becomes to know what opportunities are available for you to capitalize on.
3. Thoughtfully Crafting Your Media Pitch
Write a short presentation that will present your news angle to the media. Make sure that you write it in a very concise and involving manner. Keep your pitch to fifteen seconds at the most. Facts show that this is the average time that a person gets to talk with a reporter over the phone.
4. Always Having your Facts Handy
If your short pitch catches a journalist’s attention, given the curious nature of their work, they’ll phone you to ask further questions. Make sure that before you answer that call, you have your facts either printed out or are in front in your computer. Have all the facts that support your business and your news story. This is very important because these are the things that give credibility to your story. They can also act as your cue cards if you suddenly experience a mental block during the interview itself.
5. Having More than One News Angle Ready
Don’t waste your time and the media person’s time by having just one news hook. Have a few stories or perspectives to suggest.
6. Taking note of the Proceedings as they Happen
Always have a piece of paper or a worksheet open in your computer while entertaining or making media calls. It would be your guide on what transpired during the call. Make sure to take note of what was discussed, real time. Moreover, it will be your main device when trying to recall details like what’s going to be the next step in the process, or even the place, date and time of your interview or TV show appearance. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to lose those.