How To Pitch To National Newspapers & 5 Top Tips!
How To Pitch To National Newspapers & 5 Top Tips!
Lucy Harris, Intern at Kai Communications
Learning the tricks of the PR trade can take time but it’s important to know how to get the attention of the press for all the right reasons. Here is a collection of top tips and information on how to pitch to national newspapers; looking at who to pitch to, when and how best to pitch and what content to include, to help you get your stories told.
How to pitch
It is vital that your pitch is targeted - it saves a lot of time when you send your story to the right person and avoids instant binning of your material, and email directly to the editor you are pitching to, personalising it.
When writing the email of your pitch start with a strong subject line for your target audience. Keep the structure of the email of your pitch clear with the hook or exclusive name in the first four words of the subject line, followed by a short summary at the beginning of the email. Journalists say they are more likely to open emails with subject lines of 6-10 words long. Remember name recognition is important for larger feature articles, so don’t be too niche or use technical terms that won’t be attractive to their potential audience.
Always attach high quality, high-resolution relevant images over 1-5MB as part of your email to provide editors with visual supplements. Remember a picture says 1000 words and it also means more space editorially is given to your article if they are included. Offer one to three pictures so they have some choice but not an overwhelming amount. And don’t send pictures to radio editors, they won’t be used and will clog up their inboxes.
If possible ensure your pitch is exclusive, particularly for very important media outlets as they want to be sure they are the first or only publication to be featuring your story. Make sure to state that it is an exclusive pitch.
When to pitch
Each newspaper will have a different time frame as to when they go to print and even online articles are often scheduled according to relevance, importance and what else they are publishing so having awareness of this is key. Forward planning a new issue can be anywhere from a day to over a year, including some online supplements, so there may not be a ‘best day to pitch’ as each newspaper’s schedule is different. Most glossy mags work three months in advance, whilst most trade magazine features work one month in advance. Please note there is a difference between a news story and a planned feature.
Typically, if you are emailing a pitch try and get it in in the morning, early in the week so it has the time to be seen by the right people before daily or weekly meetings, with over 50% of journalists preferring pitches to be sent in the morning early on in the week . I find that emailing a story works best at the start of the day when the journalist is coming in fresh and won’t be in the middle of writing another story.
Importantly don’t chase things up repeatedly or too quickly if you haven’t received a reply, newspaper workplaces can get very hectic, with over 50% of journalists receiving 10 or more pitches per day, so multiple emails would more annoy than inform. If they are interested the right people will get back to you eventually.
What to pitch
Newspapers are always looking for the next best thing, so pitches with a fresh and current hook are key. Try and develop feature pieces to have multiple layers that can add a human story to give depth to the proposal, such as looking at a new book that has been released by an author with an interesting backstory.
Think about if what you are pitching is relevant for the platform it will be received on, whether that is print, online, or even social media. Also consider about the demographic of the readership and if this relates to your pitch, looking at age, location, and financial status for starters to see if your story will work in a particular publication.
Make sure all your facts have been checked and validated, you have investigated your own stories, and you haven’t left any questions unanswered. By submitting a finished and polished pitch you are more likely to get published.
5 Top Tips
- Bespoke pitches – Know the right journalist to pitch to and take the time to familiarise yourself with the section your pitch will fit in and the editor you are pitching to.
- Readership – Know readership demographics to tailor your pitch to fit them perfectly.
- New hook – Having a new perspective or angle for a story can help you stand out and get published but remember don’t make things too niche or techie. With over 40% of journalists stating that pitches sent to them are not that valuable make sure your piece can stand out and show them something new.
- Extra digital assets – including exclusive, high-quality images is key but if appropriate why not add audio, infographics or video to your pitch as additional content is sometimes more likely to be considered. Make sure your images are high resolution, in focus with clear lighting and most importantly match the story you are pitching.
- Fact check – it may seem obvious but make sure your pitch is factually correct and fully researched to ensure it is a polished and reliable pitch.
