How to write a media pitch

This guide will equip you with the knowledge to confidently craft a first-rate media pitch.

I go through two main types of pitch: data-led pitches and expert commentary pitches.

Quick tips:

• Keep it direct, impactful, and fluff-free.

• Tailor your pitch to fit the specific niche or region of the journalist.

• No attachments. Provide links to extra data or imagery.

Emulate the style of similar news stories

If you're new to the niche or haven't written many pitches before. A good place to start is to look at news stories about similar studies or topics.

You can find these by searching things like 'study reveals + niche' or 'expert reveals + niche'

Look at:

• The language and tone

• The structure and format

• The kinds of visuals they use / how many visuals they use

• Do they include statistics from multiple sources?

• Is there a quote?

• How granular is any data?

Then use this information to inform the style of your pitch.

Pitch angling

Before you write the pitch, you need to decide the angles you’ll use for your pitch.

It's easy to get tunnel vision when you're working on a campaign and get fixated on a particular angle.

But the first angle you think of might not always be the most newsworthy.

Take a step back and put yourself in the reader's shoes.

• What story are you most likely to share on social media?

• Which story would you be most likely to talk to your friends about?

Imagine you have data on rainfall and you have a statistic about how much rainfall fell last year. It might be an interesting statistic, but it's not something that will stimulate much discussion because it's not something that directly affects anyone's life.

A headline to do with which city or state is the rainiest is much more shareable because it's got more of a 'so what' for the reader.

Another important question to think about is

Is there an angle that's more relevant to the news at the moment?

This is focusing on 'timeliness' and is getting more and more important with an increasing number of pitches to compete with. If you can tie your pitch into something that's already proven itself newsworthy, it makes it an easier decision for the journalist.

For example, imagine you want to do some expert commentary around gardening and you've noticed stories in the news about a storm approaching. A great angle to take would be 'Gardener shares best way to protect your plants from unexpected storms'.

Another way to demonstrate relevance or newsworthiness is to link your study to another recent (reputable) study that backs up your findings.

Pitch targeting

Ideally, you will have multiple story angles to boost your campaign's chance of success, with each angle being targeted at a different type of publication.

The easiest example of this is including regional-specific information or stats in your campaign. You can also tailor your campaign to different niches.

Going back to the rain data example, you could segment it as follows:

Each 'angle' needs its own pitch. Busy journalists will ignore pitches that don't immediately jump out as being relevant to them.

But this doesn't mean you need to write each pitch individually. Write the 'main' pitch first and then tweak it (and the subject line) for any subsequent angles.

Tip: It can quickly get overwhelming writing lots of pitches, especially if you're trying to target multiple states or cities.

My advice (from experience) would be to focus on the states or cities you think the story is most relevant too first. For example, if you've ranked each state focus on the top and bottom states. Or if you have a study to do with the tech industry, I would focus on 'techy' states like California, Washington, or Texas (Austin) first.

Send out a couple of pitches and see if you get any traction. If you do, double down. If not, you might need to try a different approach.

To expand further on the tip above, I also recommend hyper targeting. If you're going to go through the trouble of targeting your pitch to a particular area, do it properly.

I did a campaign based on US city level data, but instead of focusing just on publications from that city, I tried to extrapolate the data to the whole state and sent my pitch to publications from every city.

The campaign didn't do very well and I got a few replies from journalists in cities that weren't covered explaining it wasn't relevant to them because they were in a different city.

A note on demonstrating newsworthiness

Don't be afraid to reference other studies that back up your findings or

"According to x 1 in 5 people smoke, ….

Giving your study more credibility is never a bad thing.

Data-led pitch outline

Here is how I would structure a data-led pitch.

Subject line

This is crucial.

The subject line needs to grab attention instantly - check out our guide to crafting the perfect subject line to learn more.

In a nutshell, think of the subject line as the headline of your story.

Hook/Lede

Head straight into the meat of the pitch.

The official definition of a lede is "the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, summarising the most important aspects of the story."

In your first few sentences, tell the journalist your key finding, why it's newsworthy, and why their readers would find it interesting. Also include any crucial context such as who is responsible for the study, how it was conducted, and why. If you're pitching a reactive story, clearly link it to the appropriate event or news story.

Here are some examples from published news stories:

These two examples are straightforward and get straight to the point.

The first sentence is the main finding of the study, and the second sentence gives a brief background on who conducted the study and how.

These examples are longer, with the first sentence showcasing why the research is relevant and timely. It's useful to include a sentence like this if your study doesn't have a shocking statistic or something that will immediately draw the journalist in.

The second sentence explains what the study is and a brief methodology, before getting into the key findings.

As you can see, both approaches landed coverage, so it's a case of adapting to which style best suits your campaign.

Tip: I highly recommended skipping any pleasantries such as 'I hope you're well'.

In my opinion, these are a complete waste of space because they don't add any value to your pitch. In fact, they take away value when you consider that you can often see the first line of the email along with the subject line.

Filling the first line with fluff is a wasted opportunity to pique the journalist's interest in your pitch.

Another way to demonstrate newsworthiness or relevance is to back up your study with another recent study from a reputable source (i.e government statistics or a study from a scientific journal, not another digital PR study).

Using external sources that agree with what you're saying will also help strengthen the credibility of your pitch.

Key points

After the lede, add 3-4 bullet points that summarise your key findings. Keep these bullets short and scannable.

Explanation of key points (optional)

Here you can provide further context on the key points and go into more detail if needed (but not too much detail, keep it concise). A sentence or two explaining each bullet point is fine.

Quote

Add a quote from an ‘expert’ (i.e. you or someone from the client) on the subject matter.

Journalists are often required to have commentary from outside sources in articles to increase credibility, so this helps them do their job and it also fills out the article if it’s a little short.

Plus it’s an extra opportunity to secure a link in the article.

Tip: The quote is a good opportunity to add more context to your pitch and showcase why it's newsworthy. It should be interesting and tell the journalists / reader something helpful.

For example, if you have a study about how the cost of insurance is going up, your commentary could give some tips on how to find the cheapest deal.

If you're writing on a topic where more authority is required, such as nutrition or mental health, and you don't have an appropriate expert, you can use Twitter to find one.

Write a simple tweet briefly explaining your study and the kind of expert you need, including #JournoRequest and #prrequest.

You should get a few people reaching out offering quotes - you can then reply to your favourite giving more information and timelines.

The only issue with this is that the expert will likely ask for a link in return for their quote, which means you'll be hoping for two different link placements in the article. Worst case scenario is the journalists credits the expert, but not you.

Data tables / full rankings / images

Journalists like to have everything handed to them on a plate - in other words, they will really appreciate it if you give them everything they need to cover their story so they don't have to email you back and ask for it (unless they want to get an exclusive quote or interview).

You’ll often see news articles with data tables included or full rankings.

You can include these directly in the pitch, provide a link to a data page on your website, or provide a link to a Google Drive folder with the data. If you can, I recommend using a data page, because this creates a 'linkable' asset for the journalists.

Images or infographics are also very useful for journalists, but don't attach these to the email. Again, you you should include a link to a Google Drive folder or Dropbox which contains the files.

Never include any attachments to your email. Attachments increase the chances of your email bouncing or ending up in spam.

Methodology

If you haven't already explained elsewhere, include one or two concise sentences about how the data was collected. Common practice is to write this in the third person so the journalist can copy and paste it straight into their article.

Tip: Journalists will often copy and paste directly from your pitch, so you want to write it in a way that makes this easy for them. Don't use personal pronouns.

Expert commentary pitch outline

Expert commentary or reactive pitches are relatively simple compared to data-led pitches, you'll need:

Subject line

Again, very important and I have a separate article on this.

Hook/Lede

Similar to above, this is where you let the journalist know why your pitch is newsworthy and interesting to their readers. The stronger the hook, the better for expert commentary type pitches - I try to link it to a recent event or something that's been in the news.

You will often see cleaning experts being quoted in the news, but this pitch gave itself a great chance of being covered by very obviously linking it the story to Christmas.

Quote / more details

In expert commentary pitches, the meat of the pitch is the quote.

Always introduce the expert (i.e. you or someone from your client), giving their full name and job title. Write the quote in third person so the journalist doesn't have to edit it.

Tip: Have a look at other expert commentary style articles online to get an idea of how to structure your quote / the kind of language journalists like to use.

Should I ask for a link?

Always embed links in your email pitch when you mention where the data has come from, or who is providing the quote.

This is the best way to ensure a link because journalists will often copy and paste straight from your email.

You can also add a polite sentence at the end of the pitch asking the journalist to properly credit the information with a link if they use it.

I.e "If you would like to cover this story, please provide proper credit and a link back to siteexample.com."

But don't make a link the first thing you ask for.

A tip from @WolfofBaldSt on Twitter: include a note at the end of your pitch stating that the information contained in the email is under a Creative Commons licence. You can use this as leverage later on if needed to get the journalist to include a link.

Media pitch personalisation

Personalisation is talked about a lot when it comes to media pitches, and you will see people recommending you research the previous articles a journalist has written, or even find out what they did at the weekend from Twitter (I don't advise doing this!).

However over-personalizing pitches for each individual journalist can be more time-consuming than beneficial.

If your story is newsworthy enough and relevant to the journalist they will cover it.

If it’s not newsworthy or relevant, telling them you liked their last article isn’t going to persuade them to cover it.

Proper personalisation is really hard to do, and if you half-arse it or try and automate it, it will be very obvious and give a much worse impression to the journalist than if you did no personalisation at all.

I also think it’s very important to get to the point of your pitch quickly, and adding a few lines of text about the journalist's previous work delays this.

Instead, I interpret personalisation as segmenting your media lists into different areas and then tweaking your pitch and subject lines to match those areas.

For example, if you’ve collected data on the role of pets in marriages, you can create a pitch aimed at journalists who write about pets and then one aimed at journalists who talk about marriage. Or if you have a data story that's split by region, you can create a pitch for each region.

You might also tailor a pitch by type of publication, as tabloids vs more serious publications can sometimes call for a different approach.

Follow-ups

Always follow up at least once. From personal experience, follow-ups often get more engagement than the first send - even if it's just an email to decline the pitch (but these can be very useful for understanding why a pitch isn't doing as well as you hoped).

Best practice is to follow up 2 or 3 days after your initial pitch. For most pitches, I would stick to one or maximum two follow-ups. If the journalist hasn't responded after 3 emails, they're not going to cover your story.

Keep your follow-ups simple - your aim is to bring the email to the top of the journalist's inbox.

Hi, Just wondering if this was of interest?

Or

Hi, I know you're busy and didn't want this to get buried.

Followed by a paste of the original pitch.

Of course, if you think the subject line needs tweaking or there is something you can improve in the pitch then you can change it.

Tip: Once you start sending your emails it's crucial to monitor your email for replies. It's not uncommon for journalists to ask for extra information, or even to request an interview.

Formatting tips

Before you press send on your pitch, always triple check for mistakes.

Journalists have so many pitches to pick from, they can afford to ignore any with writing issues.

• Look for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Grammarly is good for this. I also run my pitch through chat GPT asking it to point out any issues.

• If you're editing a pitch from a previous version, make sure all the parts that need changing have been changed. For example, if you're editing a Texas based pitch for Florida, make sure all instances of 'Texas' are removed.

• Check that any 'filler' text is removed in the final version (e.g [Insert name here]).

• Make sure all the text is in the same font and size, especially if you've copied and pasted parts of the text from somewhere.

• Remove excess exclamation points. Exclamation points are chronically overused and often not needed, journalism style guides advise using them sparingly and that mild exclamatory sentences should end with a period. I personally don't use any exclamation marks.

• Don't use any colour and limit bolding to section headings. You want to keep the pitch as clean and easy to scan as possible.

• Double check any statistics or dates you've included are correct.

• Check all the links you want to include are in there.

• If you're using abbreviations, type it out in full the first time followed by the abbreviation in brackets. After that, you can use just the abbreviation.