Pitching in the 21st Century

The days of hammering the phones to book meetings with reporters may not be long gone just yet, but they are dwindling. While the Internet and email have made our lives easier, they have also given us more ways to approach the media. Pitching reporters through email is nothing new, and today, most journalists and PR practitioners prefer this method of contact. However, most recently there has been a new way of pitching, that some reporters are starting to lean toward: social media.

Social media has quickly evolved from a personal activity to a great business tool, and people are using it to promote companies and to contact others. Reporters are hopping on that bandwagon as well. Some are starting to use Twitter as a way of connecting with others to source their articles and most use it as a place to post their stories, giving them a wider distribution. Pitching reporters on Twitter is a lot quicker, since you only have 140 characters to work with (this also helps you to be concise!). However, to do so you usually need to have a working relationship with them. Other social media outlets such as Facebook have been off limits to pitching, for the most part; mostly because many reporters save them for personal use.

Having more options for pitching media means a greater chance of getting a hold of them and booking meetings. While you still can email, call or Tweet reporters, there are a few pitching etiquette rules to abide by:

1. Don’t harass reporters by constantly emailing them, leaving multiple voice messages and Tweeting them – it’s best to find out their preferred method of contact and stick to that.
2. Re-Tweeting your message to them is considered bad form.
3. Build a relationship with the reporter. When done properly, this can be mutually beneficial. As much as you need to promote your client, they also need story ideas.

As a former reporter myself, I can vouch for the fact that the media can sometimes be inundated with pitches, which means they can’t always respond to them all. The better your relationship with the media, the more likely you will be able to get their attention, book a meeting for your client and in turn produce a story on them.

Lauren Willard can be reached at lwillard@sterlingpr.com. Follow her on Twitter @lkwillard.