How To Pitch To The Press In 7 Simple Steps
Want to learn how to pitch to the press so that you can secure valuable media publicity? Of course you do! Luckily, it needn’t be as complicated as it might first seem.
When it comes to securing media coverage for your photography business, I believe that it can be done in seven simple steps.
In this article, I hope to demystify the process of pitching to the media for you, so you can do it more often and hopefully get yourself and your photography widely featured!
Seven steps to getting your photography business featured in the press
Step 1 – Define your target audience
One of the first things you should do before spending time and energy on proactive PR and media outreach work is to drill down on exactly who you are trying to attract.
Who are those dream photography clients you love working with?
Your in-depth knowledge of who exactly that person is fundamental to every subsequent step in this process. So, I’d highly recommend that you develop an understanding of this before you start pitching to the press.
Step 2 – Define your PR Objectives
The next step is to define why is it that you want to be featured.
What would media publicity and editorial features do for your photography business? What are you hoping to gain from focusing on this? How could pitching to the press and securing media coverage help you achieve your wider business goals?
For example:
- Do you want local media coverage to build awareness, attract people in your area to your photography studio, and drive footfall?
- Do you want national PR that’ll position you as an industry expert and build your credibility because you’re seeking more speaking opportunities?
- Or, are you perhaps seeking representation, so you’re hoping to get noticed by art galleries and buyers?
Your objectives shape your entire approach to PR so it’s important to get clear on those now. It’ll help you to focus on the PR opportunities that are most relevant and that will help you to achieve your goals.
Step 3 – Work out which media publications could help you to reach your target audience
Once you know the person you’re trying to attract to your business in great detail, you’ll have a good insight into their lives.
As you and I do, your ideal client will consume a variety of media. Spend time mapping out in detail who they are and noting their likes/dislikes, values, personal circumstances and other factors that determine who they are. Then, you should have some idea of which media they’re likely to love and engage with regularly.
Knowing this will help you to start developing a target ‘media list’. This target media list is simply a list of magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, radio shows, TV programmes and podcasts that you would like to be featured in. I call this your media ‘wish list’.
On this list should be the media outlets that are likely to be good for you to target since they are followed by your ideal client.
PRO TIP: It’s important not to limit your ambitions at this stage. Be ambitious when you come to draw up a target media list, and don’t necessarily just think local – your clients may well be prepared to travel from further afield if they like your work, so include regional and national media too.
While it has been said that ‘any publicity is good publicity’, it’ll benefit your business more if you’ve been strategic about the media you choose.
Step 4 – Get familiar with your choice of media targets
Now, with a media list drawn up, the next step is to spend time getting familiar with the media you are planning to target.
While it’s possible to cold-pitch a publication, the chance of it being successful is slim to none if you haven’t done your research beforehand.
No editor, journalist, podcaster or blogger will be too impressed if your pitch clearly demonstrates that you know nothing about them or their target audience. In fact, it almost guarantees that your email will immediately be ignored or deleted.
Lazy pitches to the press very rarely get the desired result. So, do your homework.
If these media are not ones that you are already familiar with, then make it your mission to get to know them. Take the time to read, listen, watch and take notes on what you find. A quick flick-through isn’t enough.
This isn’t a one-off job either, it should be an ongoing part of your PR work. Getting familiar with the media you’re targeting will help you spot opportunities and make your future pitches to the press more effective.
You need to really drill down into the nitty-gritty of what types of stories they run. You’ll also need to know when and how regularly they run them. Also, just as important is that you get to know what stories they are unlikely to use. That way, you won’t waste your time pitching something that they wouldn’t likely use.
What to consider when reviewing your target media:
- If it’s a printed publication, what are the regular sections that you could target? If it’s a TV or radio channel, what is the programming schedule and what do they cover?
- Who are the most relevant writers/people to contact? Is there a generic newsdesk? Or a specific writer/editor/presenter?
- How do they prefer to be contacted? (It’ll likely say on the Contact page of their website)
- What have they already covered? Not covered?
- What is likely to be the ‘lead time’?
National monthly magazines usually have a 3-6 months lead time. So, to be considered for inclusion in a December edition, you’ll need to be contacting them around July!
In contrast, a daily newspaper will have a shorter lead time. They will potentially accept stories a day or less before publication. Or, even just with a few hours notice if it’s for their website.
Step 5 – Prepare your story ideas
The next step is to start pulling together ideas for stories that you believe could interest the media on your wish list. The key thing to keep in mind here is that you must ensure that your pitch to the press outlet of your choice demonstrates how you can add value.
Much like when you are creating any kind of marketing content – your website copy, your blogs – you must constantly keep your ideal client in mind as you formulate story ideas. Think, what do their readers, listeners or viewers want or need to know?
Remember, it’s an editor or producer’s role to act as the gatekeeper. They control what gets included in their publication, on their website or in their programme, and what doesn’t.
As they read or listen to your pitch, you can guarantee that these questions will be running through their minds.
- Is this relevant to our audience?
- Is it something our audience will want to know about or need to know about?
- Is this news?
- If not news, is it unexpected, different, surprising, noteworthy, or controversial?
- Why do we need to run this story now?
- And, are you a credible source, worthy of being mentioned/included if we chose to run with the story? Or would someone else be a better fit?
If you aren’t giving them compelling reasons in answer to all these questions, your pitch to the press will likely flop.
The media don’t exist to promote your business. So, you need to ensure that you are adding value to them. Otherwise, why should they bother running your story or giving you a mention?
Step 6 – Make the pitch
For most people, pitching yourself to the media will likely be a challenge. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone and may make you feel a bit uncomfortable. After all, there’s a chance that you may be rejected, and no one enjoys being told ‘no’, right?
But, it’s so important to follow through. You’ve got this far, after all!
While it’s important that you do it as well as you possibly can, don’t let perfectionism prevent you from making the pitch at all! Pitching to the media could well terrify you. But if the fear of pitching is holding you back, try to be brave just for a few minutes and just go for it! Give it your best shot!
There will never be a shortage of competition for those valuable free mentions in the press, so there is no time better than the present to give it a go. What have you got to lose? You may even be surprised at the positive reaction you receive!
How to ‘pitch’ to the media
In terms of how to pitch, a well-written press release is usually appreciated by local newspapers. Or, an alternative approach is to send a succinct email pitch summarising the main points of your story.
Whichever method you choose, keep it brief and concise, and write a compelling email subject header. Also be sure to include your contact details. That way, they can easily contact you if they want to know more.
Also, let them know that you have high-quality photos/video to support the story, but only ever send low-resolution images or a Dropbox link initially. Journalists hate it when their inboxes get clogged up with unsolicited image files – just don’t do it!
Step 7 – Be prepared to follow up
Once you’ve made the pitch to the press, don’t think that all the work is done. The final step is the follow-up.
If you didn’t receive an email or call back from the journalist concerned, don’t lose heart. And don’t presume that what you pitched was not of interest.
The truth is, it’s unlikely that you’ll get a positive response immediately (although that can happen if the story is timely and highly relevant).
Considering journalists receive hundreds of emails each day, it’s very easy for a pitch to the press to be missed. You’ll also not hear anything back if you pitched the wrong person or made a spelling error in the email address. So, it’s worth checking you didn’t make these mistakes before you tell yourself that you’ve not been successful.
Sending a gentle reminder could well result in bringing the pitch to the journalist’s attention for the very first time. There are loads of reasons why it may get missed the first time.
In my experience, following up after pitching to the press nearly always pays off. On many occasions when I have done it, this has led to press coverage being secured. So, my advice to you would be don’t be afraid to get in touch again.
A polite nudge by email is appropriate. Something along the lines of ‘Hi xx, I wondered if you’ve had a chance yet to consider my story idea about xx? Here’s a reminder of the details (below). I’m looking forward to hearing from you if this is of interest, thanks.’ Or even, give them a quick call if the story is more time-critical and you’re really confident that this is a story they would be interested in.
Don’t become a pest though! While there is occasionally a case for following up more than once, you should be gracious. Accept that there has been no interest if you’ve pitched to the press and then followed up a few times to no avail.
If this happens, don’t be discouraged. When it comes to getting media coverage for your photography business, you aren’t going to get interest from every journalist you pitch to.
If you don’t get pick-up on the story this time, just pitch it to another publication or try a different angle. Keep your chin up, keep going and good luck!
