Media Relations Tips

What are some misconceptions people have when pitching to U.S. Hispanic media?

Not researching your audience. U.S. Hispanic media targets huge audiences in the U.S., but it's not the same as the general U.S. market. A message that might work well with the general media is probably not the right one when talking to a U.S. Hispanic audience.  

What are the most important things to consider when putting a pitch together?

Have a clear understanding of your audience. If you don’t know your audience, it's hard to know anything for sure. Receiving real-time feedback – an easy thing to do these days - allows you to adjust and change course so you avoid sounding tone-deaf.

Is it important to translate your message to reach the U.S. Hispanic market?

You absolutely need to translate messages to reach U.S. Hispanic audiences. Please don’t use Google translate. Work with a specialist who knows the space, understands your goals, and translates your message in a way that resonates.  

What are some do’s and don’ts of pitching?

Do: Make the subject line or the first sentence in the body of the email a headline. What is that one sentence that’s going to make me understand what the story is about and want to know more about your story? We think about our stories headline backwards, so if we already have that foundation of interest to work from that helps us a lot.  

Don’t: Send long emails or pitches. If I open an email and see I’m going to be scrolling a couple of times, I might decide I don’t have the time to go over this because the story is too complex. If you’ve piqued my interest, I’m going to reach out to learn more.  

When do you prefer to receive sourced content vs. editorially produced content?

We love to shoot things ourselves. We love to make it feel like our own. However, we tell stories about brands all over the world, so there’s no way we can shoot them all. That means we must rely on visual assets.  

The biggest thing I look for from sourced content is that the footage is well-shot. Sometimes you can get video from a company that looks like stock footage instead of feeling like the brand.  

My biggest turn-off is big text throughout a video, telling the story. That might be a great teaser for the brand, but it’s not going to be as useful for a media company. Clean footage that shows beauty shots and process are best.  

What video formats do you prefer, and what is the best way to send them to you?

Dropbox or WeTransfer or something that can easily share high-res video. As for formats, options are best. If you’re only sending a 30-second teaser that’s already heavily edited, it doesn’t leave much room for us to make it our own. Try to send things that are a little more raw and can be shaped.

Any other tips when making a pitch with video footage?

Having B-roll of anything is always beneficial and means we can tell bigger stories. Let us know at the top that it’s available. If we know there’s a visual component to it, we’re going to push that to the top because we don’t have to think about how we’re going to tell the story from scratch.

What are some do’s and don’ts of pitching you?

Please pitch me things that are relevant to what I cover. Make it concise. If the pitch is too long, chances are I’m going to immediately delete it. Don’t skip out on the details either. The more you can tell me in the fewest words - that makes me happy.  

What type of content do you find most useful for producing your own stories?

Send me anything that’s easily embeddable like embed codes or links to a social media post. If you want your multimedia in my story, make it as easy as possible. Journalists all have a basic knowledge of how to use HTML, but anything too complicated and we’re just going to ignore it.

How does a story go from start to finish at your publication?

I either end up with a story because I pitch it or it’s been assigned to me. Once I have latched onto a story, I start off doing a little bit of research. If a story requires interviews, I immediately start reaching out to figure out who I need to talk to and how best to reach them. Then, I sit down to write. I’ve always tended to look at writing like putting a puzzle together.  I have all these different elements that fit together in a very specific way. I just have to figure it out.  

I make sure all my stories are as produced as possible. Sometimes we have photographers shoot video and photos for us. Once the story is written and I have all my elements together, I email my editors. Then it’s out of my hands unless they come back to me. 

What are the expectations of content and information for the beat you cover?

We cover anything that’s important for Chief Information Officers and their staff regarding government technology. That could be policy, new legislation, or new contracts or RFPs that the government puts out for government services. It could be testimony on the Hill, or general information delivered by CIOs about technology advancing the business of government.  

What are some do’s and don’ts of pitching?

I think it’s super important to pay attention to the specific publication that you’re pitching. If I’m spending time reading your pitch, you spend a couple minutes on my site to understand who my publication serves and what would be relevant for them. In your pitch, even if it’s just a sentence or two, have a little bit of a connect-the-dots moment for us. Don’t overlook the finer details. Show a little bit of care in what you’re doing. It goes a long way.  

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the PR/Communications field?

Reading voraciously is important. When you start out in PR, especially if you’re in an agency environment, you might have a broad range of clients. The more that you can get to know what makes those industries tick, even if it's just Google Alerts, is good. Diving in headfirst into that industry and knowing who eventually your counterparts are on the media side is going to help you a ton. 

What are some do’s and don’ts of pitching?

Do: know what I write about. I cover media in advertising and its very surprising how many pitches I get that aren’t related to that at all.  

Don’t: expect an unrealistically fast response. There is a tendency for people to email me and be surprised that I haven’t gotten back to them an hour later. That generally doesn’t make a good impression.

What is an email pitch subject line that will made you open it?

My recommendation is to have a subject line that’s as clear and straightforward as possible. Reporters don’t remember the good pitches because, with a really good pitch, what you remember is the story, not the pitch. Whereas a bad pitch, you remember. The key is to make it as clear as possible what you’re pitching. If you get fancy or funny, it’s much more likely to backfire.  

Do exclusives or pre-briefs work better than email blasts?

I try to get back to everyone, but I will feel especially bad if I don’t get back to somebody who is offering an exclusive. Ultimately, if a story doesn’t interest me, the fact that it’s exclusive isn’t going to make a huge difference. But if it’s a story that’s on the borderline, the fact that it’s exclusive might make me a bit more inclined to take it.  

What assets should be available when making a pitch?

I don’t have terribly strong preferences. Certainly, a press release is helpful, and specifically, a press release that has the basic facts that I can consult when writing.  

When pitched, why do you choose not to write a story?

Something can still seem like a legitimate story to me, but it must stand out. That doesn’t mean it must have many bells and whistles, but it does need to feel like this is a story that must be on TechCrunch or that I’m very excited to write. My default is always “no” just because I only have so much time in the day, and I get so many pitches that the answer is mostly no. 

What are your do’s and don’ts of pitching?

I think when it comes to pitching, it’s important to think wide and think local. Pitching a very narrow topic doesn’t necessarily get the coverage you’re looking for, but pitching a broad topic with a local tie is a different story. You'll have a better shot of getting coverage with that. When it comes to pitching, I don’t mind an email or LinkedIn message, but keep in mind, broadcast journalists get tons of emails every day.  

What are some of the misconceptions PR professionals have on how TV newsrooms operate?

Most newsrooms work on a scattered schedule. So, when you’re pitching to an individual person, you have to know their schedule and their life. I work nights so if you pitch me at 6:00 a.m., I may never see it. By the time I start my day, I’m already 500 emails behind.  

What are the best times to pitch a TV station?

Between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. is the sweet spot. You may have a great pitch, once you get past noon, we have to get our early evening newscast on the air. 

What are some common misconceptions people have when pitching to African American/Black media?

Most African American publications aren’t published daily; they come out bi-weekly or monthly. They also require information to be sent to them well ahead of time—at least two weeks.  

All the news also isn’t relevant. Just because a story may involve or include African American people, doesn’t mean it’s relevant for audiences African American media outlets represent.  

Lastly, African American media may not always be willing to promote certain events pro bono, especially if there are advertising opportunities available. We need to make sure we’re connecting with our audiences, providing information in an appropriate manner, and engaging African American media as best as possible.

What are some of your do’s and don’ts of pitching?

Diversify your content. Focus on content that’s relevant to the specific media outlets you’re trying to address. Speak their language, research their deadlines, and identify the right representatives to best pitch your story. Last, it’s always important to include multimedia. You want to have that visual effect to better resonate with media outlets and their audiences.  

Don't take for granted that because you are a big brand they’re just going to run whatever you may share. Hopefully, your messages connect and resonate with that audience effectively.

What is important regarding tone, timing, and authenticity of the message?

You’re sharing some important information, so it’s critical to deliver that message as effectively as possible. You want to make sure it’s authentic in the writing aspect. Of course, we cite our sources, while maintaining the right tone. We want to be timely and ensure our messages and supporting elements are consistent with your brand's message, mission, vision, and values.

We also know it’s important to make it meaningful by focusing on topics of interest to the audience that you’re trying to reach. How is this going to affect me as an African American consumer? What in your message is going to connect with me? One way to do that is to include a catchy treatment or message. That could be statistics, places, and activities that are relevant to us.  

What are some of your do’s and don’ts of pitching?

When you’re pitching a writer, it’s important to include as much information as possible. We get several pitches throughout the day, so we have to prioritize whichever pitches are the most organized and contain the most information, like photos or links to source information.  It's important to know that we see your pitches, and we want to continue to maintain a relationship with different clients, but we have to prioritize.  

What should PR professionals know about pitching to parenting outlets?

It’s important to know the voice of a brand because you can have three different parenting outlets but have three different voices. One may have an African American niche, one may be universal, and one may be comical or sarcastic. It's important to know the voice of a brand you’re pitching. I think within the pitch, the content that you’re pitching should be relevant. So, if you’re pitching an outlet that’s more comical than informative then you’ll have something that ties into comedy. But if you’re pitching an outlet that’s large and has a large demographic, you want to draw from topics that are current.  

Do you have any recommendations for PR professionals when it comes to sensitive content?

It's important to be timely, but also be sensitive to verbiage and know who we’re pitching. Cultural sensitivity is important right now. With what we have happening in America and just globally, oftentimes you’ll have people with a platform who are not necessarily sensitive to the experiences of a broad spectrum, so I think it's important to be sensitive to language.  

As a freelancer, how do you balance writing for multiple publications?

Something that I’ve employed since college is time-blocking. I pre-plan what I’m going to do in the day and prioritize what article or what outlet I’m going to write for at a particular moment in time or space throughout the day. It's important for me, as a writer, to be organized and specific about what I do with my time.  

How do you measure the success of a published piece?

I measure the success of a piece based on the private and public conversations that follow. It’s one thing for an article to go viral or for something to be popular, but when you have people who DM or reach out to you because they want to know more about a topic, that’s how I measure success.

What percentage of ideas do you find organically vs. being pitched to you?

About 70% of the articles I’ve been writing have come from direct pitches from publicity houses. I’m starting to get more pitches than I have time and the ability to disseminate the information. I pull from these pitches because I currently don’t have the time to dig, but if there’s something happening as part of a larger conversation, I will lend my voice to that to get it published.