On Thursday, AZ BIG Media hosted an Arizona Technology Council Lunch & Learn about grabbing an editor’s attention with your business story pitch.
Nearly 50 people were in attendance to listen to AZ BIG Media Editor-in-Chief Michael Gossie, Loud Rumor Founder and CEO Mike Arce and TechTHiNQ Principal Linda Capcara discuss the ins and outs of a great press pitch about your business that will grab an editor’s attention.
In this modern era of journalism, editors receive hundreds of pitches a day for potential coverage. With only so much time in the day and resources, editors can only pick a few stories to cover out of the hundreds they learn about.
Gossie said he has a very limited amount of time to consider each press pitch out of the hundreds he receives, making it important to send a pitch that immediately interests the editor.
During the event, attendees were able to present a quick pitch to the panelists, who would critique the effectiveness of the pitch.
One of Arce’s biggest critiques was staying away from the usage of industry givens in your pitch. If you’re a sandwich maker, don’t just say the sandwich is tasty and made quickly, those are industry givens. Instead, make sure to talk about what’s unique about your company, something it’s doing that other firms aren’t doing, he said.
Capcara said to avoid buzzwords through out a press pitch. The reader tends to ignore the buzzwords once they come across it again and again throughout the pitch.
She also noted to humanize your press pitch when relevant. Editors want to see a real-world connection. Also, making the release vivid and interesting helps editors visualize what the story will look like when they’re reading the pitch.
One important factor that is always sure to get an editor’s attention is statistics. Editors love numbers, and it lets them get gauge how important the story or issue presented in the pitch may or may not be.
Gossie also presented some tips on what to do and not to do when pitching your business.
They include:
Knowing your target: Make sure you’re aware what kinds of businesses the target publication writes about and covers. If your business isn’t within their realm of coverage, then you’re wasting your time and the editor’s time.
Make it relevant: This is the reason why the editor would care about your pitch. A good pitch is relevant to what’s already happening in the news, or up and coming trends.
Get to the point: Don’t write out a long winded press release. Have the most important information at the top of the pitch and proceed from there.
Keep it short and simple: Don’t get into the weeds with your press release, just present the pitch simply and quickly.
