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WebiMax Blog

Digital marketing tips and advice.

Hit a Home Run with a Perfect Pitch

Jordan Wompierski, May 16, 2013

In baseball, the perfect pitch rockets right past the visiting batter as they take a desperate swing at the ball, which is already in the catcher's glove as the umpire calls strike three, much to the delight of the home crowd. In public relations, though, the perfect pitch is a soft, underhanded lob that the journalist smashes out of the park. Your company can certainly get a base hit by incorporating a typical press release into your SEO campaign, but a carefully crafted media pitch can provide the huge home run you've been looking for.

A well-written media pitch can be a home run for your company.

There's nothing wrong with press releases – in fact, we assist our clients with creating and distributing them on a daily basis. They're a great way to announce company news, promote an upcoming product release, or inform consumers of exciting things a business is doing. However, in some cases, it can be more beneficial for our clients to send out a media pitch instead of (or in addition to) a press release.

Press releases are typically posted online for mass consumption without any particular recipient in mind. The hope is that news sites, blogs, newspapers and magazines, and even radio or television stations will come across the release and find it interesting enough to publish or report on. Press releases are a tried and true way to get your company name in the news, but in many cases, media pitches can be more successful because they offer a more targeted approach to drawing attention to your business.

With a media pitch, your company (or an organization like WebiMax that helps with your PR work) sends a targeted news announcement, along with a "call to action," to specific journalists and media organizations that will likely have an interest in the news. In addition to being more specifically targeted than press releases, media pitches usually offer something exclusive or particularly insightful that will entice a journalist to jump on a story before their competitors. Just like your industry is competitive, so is the news business, and reporters love an inside scoop. By extending an offer to a reporter and indicating your willingness to work with them on a story, you are giving them a reason to respond.

WebiMax.comA good media pitch will catch the interest of a reporter and lead to an interview opportunity.

In sticking with the theme, let's say your company makes sports equipment, and you're ready to release a brand new kind of baseball bat that helps batters hit the ball further. If you put out a press release announcing the upcoming release of the new product, news organizations would undoubtedly be interested as long as you provided the pertinent information. Is the new bat approved for use in Major League Baseball? What players will be using it? Where can the general public buy it? How much will it cost? What type of research was done to prove the bat's increased effectiveness over traditional models? As long as you include the answers to these basic questions, it's easy for reporters to repurpose your release into a news story, and you there's a good chance you'll see it a few minutes later on your favorite sports blog, hear about it on the news that night, and read it in the paper next day.

However, if you were to send out a tailored media pitch to select journalists, it might result in more substantial and in-depth coverage. Perhaps you could put out a media pitch inviting some of the most respected sports writers to a preview event, where there would be a hands-on demonstration of the new technology. Or, maybe you could offer journalists an exclusive interview with the scientists who worked to develop the new bat, or with one of the star MLB players who will be using it. A media pitch includes that more personal, more direct, and more exciting call to action which a press release often lacks.

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A media pitch can generate substantial press coverage, both online and in print, if done correctly.

Of course, sending out a media pitch means there's going to be a bit more work on your end. You need to be willing to put in the effort to host the event you're pitching, or to send out the samples you're offering, or to provide the interviews you're promising when journalists come calling. However, the time and effort you put in to make the pitch worthwhile can pay dividends when it results in a home run of positive media coverage for your company.

 

 

Need an Expert Contributor?

Ken Wisnefski is a seasoned web entrepreneur and a frequent contributor to news outlets and business publications. Ken’s vast knowledge of how to make online businesses succeed has made him a sought after consultant from businesses wishing to improve their online initiatives. Contact pr@webimax.com to collaborate!

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