Five tips for securing more top tier media coverage
Landing top tier media coverage that shifts perceptions in the eyes of investors, customers, prospects, and the wider market isn’t easy. Success relies on endeavouring to understand how journalists think, being genuinely useful for their audience, and resisting the urge to overpitch.
Here are five simple but effective tips to help you land more top tier media hits in the outlets that matter most.
Think like a newsroom, not like a marketer
If you want broadcast, national, or tier-one trade coverage, you need to frame your story like a journalist not a brand. This also means acknowledging that the journalist isn’t on your time, you’re on theirs – you need to match the speed of the news agenda.
PRs need to be a true bridge between the journalist and the client, be truly objective, avoid getting drunk on the Kool-Aid, and provide top tier journalists with tailored access and insight. Bland quotes filled with corporate jargon that have been signed off by five people just aren’t going to cut it.
Make sure all key company information is easily accessible in your pitch
It always blows my mind when I see a pitch that doesn’t prominently include the key company information. You can’t expect a journalist to work to find the basics.
The background paragraph on the company is what determines how credible a business is. This should always include the following:
An explanation of what the company is/does in a single sentence
When and where was the business founded
How much funding it has raised/what’s the market cap
How many customers does the company have
Who are the big-ticket customer names
How many staff does the company have
How many countries is its technology available in
How many offices does the company have and in which countries
These are the basics. It should take seconds – not minutes – for a journalist to know who the company is, what it does, who it works with, and the key financials that you’re comfortable sharing publicly.
Pitch less, not more
This might sound counterintuitive, but volume isn’t the answer to generating more high-quality media results. Say goodbye to spray and pray. It’s about relevance, careful targeting, and timeliness. Bombarding hundreds of journalists is not the answer. Focus on sending well-crafted pitches to fewer journalists at the right time.
A single, timely, and thoughtful pitch will always outperform a scattergun press release. So slow down, put the kettle on, do your homework, and only pitch when you have something truly worth saying.
Follow the 80/20 rule – the right media list matters more than the pitch
Even the best pitch in the world will fall flat if it’s sent to the wrong person. 80% of your success will likely come down to who you’re pitching. You might be able to get away with not writing the perfect pitch if it’s sent to the right person, but a perfect pitch is useless if it’s sent to the wrong journalist.
This means investing your time in building an accurate, up-to-date, and tailored media list for every new piece of media pitching activity. No, you do not need to include every journalist under the sun. In fact, the opposite is true - less is more. Look at what each journalist covers and ask yourself, “does this person really need to be on here?”.
Invest real time in journalist relationships
Yes, cold pitches do work. Ignore those who tell you otherwise. However, if you want to deliver consistent results again, and again, and again, this is where taking the time to understand how a journalist works, what they’re looking for, how they put together their pieces, and how they like to be pitched, really matters. You need to respect their craft and nurture the relationship.
If they prefer email only, don’t call. If they prefer short emails structured in a specific way, don’t send lengthy press releases. If they say no, respect it, don’t force the issue, and come back next time with a different angle or something stronger.
Top tier journalists will remember and find the time for people who make their jobs easier and help inform their audience. Consistently delivering for them makes an enormous difference.
Top tier media coverage is often the result of ruthlessly relevant, deeply informed, and adopting a journalist-first approach. Next time you go to pitch, ask yourself: is this genuinely useful? Is it going to help the journalist tell a highly relevant story? And would I run this if I were in their shoes? If the answer to all those questions is yes, then you’re on the right track.
