Do Journalists Care About the Art of the Pitch?

12 Tips from the Mass Technology Leadership Council Innovation UnConference

Today I was lucky to be part of a panel that was sparked in part by my blog post on the Art of Pitching the Media. We wanted to expand on this topic to better understand the perspective of both journalists and PR people when it comes to news value, pitching stories and building relationships.

We discussed this issue in-depth today at the Mass Technology Leadership Council Innovation UnConference at the Hynes Convention Center. It’s an amazing event that pulls the entrepreneurial eco-system in Massachusetts together in a unique setting that opens up conversations that could not take place anywhere else. The following is a snapshot of just one of those conversations where I joined Scott Kirsner, Innovation Economy columnist for The Boston Globe and Rodney Brown, news editors for Mass High Tech, along with PR pros Patrick Rafter and Adam Zand in a discussion that visited some important issues and offered even more important takeaways. Adam was ambitious enough to organize the panel and nimble enough to moderate it.

Following are twelve tips that came out of the panel:

1. Be ready. If a reporter can’t get to the essence of your story within a few questions, you’ve failed. I was thrilled to see an entrepreneur and 2011 Mass Challenge finalist, Erica Zidel of Sitting Around, stand up and deliver an almost perfect pitch to Scott and Rodney. Sitting Around connects families with networks of trusted babysitters. She nailed the problem statement, demonstrated a clear market need, successes to date (2,000 families across the country) and how the company would grow. And she got to the point quickly.
2. Know why your story is important. Even if you can’t talk about your offering yet (for those companies in stealth mode), Scott says that you need to be able to speak articulately about the problem you are solving and the market you will be addressing. Rodney added, “If you can’t explain the problem you’re solving without giving away the secret sauce, it’s a problem.”
3. Make your story concise and targeted. Chris Carleton of CHEN PR was in the audience and likened the media pitch process to sales: you wouldn’t take a product to market and start selling randomly to unqualified leads, so don’t do it with your media relations either.
4. Don’t pitch blindly. The fire hose approach may be successful for a story here and there, but long-term success, and coverage, is dependent on targeted and intelligent pitching. As I wrote previously, blast pitching simply doesn’t work.
5. Be honest about who else you are talking to. Reporters do not like surprises, particularly when they think they are getting a story before anyone else. Be honest about how widely you are casting your net when you are shopping your story around. For more, see a past conversation with Scott about embargoes.
6. Make it easy to check the facts. Reporters almost never send articles to sources before they go to print, but if you have concerns, there are some things you can do: First, ask if it’s making sense during the conversation (thanks to Chris for the tip). Second, follow up with materials that answer the tough questions. (Offering a fact sheet never hurts.) Third, Scott suggests that you make sure the reporter has the spokesperson’s after-hours contact information (as well as the PR person’s) for quick questions as he or she finishes up the story.
7. Understand the bar for coverage. It depends on the media outlet entirely. If your company is based in Pennsylvania, don’t pitch it to Mass High Tech (it’s in the name). Likewise, if you’re pitching an enterprise technology story, the technology reporters may not write about you until you have the validation of venture capital financing.
8. Don’t get discouraged. You might have done a briefing with a reporter and have not seen a story yet, or have seen a round-up story on your space in which you were not included. Make sure that the reporter is aware of your major milestones and prove why he or she should cover your company. Adam suggests that you bring them a new angle to reignite interest.
9. Don’t take it personally. If a reporter ignores your calls, leaves you out of a story or writes something you don’t like, getting angry never works. An angry call to the reporter asking why he or she did not include you will only ensure that you’ll never get coverage.
10. Be findable. Scott tweeted about a press release with no contact information last week. If a reporter can’t find a fast way to reach you on your Web site, in your press materials and on the Web in general, you are at a disadvantage, particularly for trend stories. The first thing a reporter does is a Google search on the topic of the story.
11. Understand how you fit into the broader trend. If you can provide a broader perspective about your company and how it fits in, you’ve done the work for the reporter and it might even get you a story sooner because the reporter won’t be waiting around to find another company to fill out the piece. As Rodney said, “Do an end run around that randomness.”
12. You’re not the only one. There is no reporter (or investor for that matter), who will believe that you do not have competition. Be honest about it, and to the point above, it could actually help you get coverage.