If you’ve ever wondered what reporters and Journalists look for in a Pitch, here’s a very useful presentation from BuzzStream based on a survey of over 500 writers and editors.
Some of the key survey takeaways on how to be more effective pitching journalists and editors:
Although most writers publish one story per day, 44% of them get pitched a minimum of twenty times per day.
70% of publishers prefer pitches that involve collaboration versus a finished asset.
The types of content journalists desire most in a pitch:
- 19% articles
- 13% infographics
- 12% mixed media pieces
- 11% data visualizations
- 11% images
- 11% videos
- 7% interactive maps
- 5% press releases
- 5% interactive projects
- 4% quizzes
- 1% flipbooks
64% of journalists say it’s at least moderately important to establish a personal connection before pitching
81% of journalists prefer to be pitched via email, 69% in the morning
88%% of writers prefer a pitch to be 200 words or less
85% of writers open an email based on the subject line Format for the perfect pitch subject line:
Direct, Concise, Descriptive, Keywords related to writer’s beat
Top Tips from 500 journalists on how to pitch more effectively:
- Do your research
- Know the publication
- Be relevant
- Make it newsworthy
- Know my beat
- Don’t use all caps
- Be personal
- Be concise
- Don’t cold call
- Does it fit my beat?
- Use spellcheck
- No giant attachments
- Don’t pitch on social media
- Know my audience
- Avoid phony friendliness
- Get my name right
- Avoid the fluff
- Tailor your subject lines
Here are the full results of the survey presentation:
What are approach has worked best for you when pitching?
Hopefully you’re not still doing the “spray and pray” using interns and a database of journalists from a PR software company (Vocus, Cision, etc). Who knows how up to date those contacts are? Follow the advice in this presentation – it comes from the source!
