PITCHING THE MEDIA LIKE A PRO: 27 MORE TIPS

Okay, sometimes we get into a slump in our pitching or maybe we just hit a bad streak with the media. Perhaps you feel overloaded. Maybe our busy outside lives have clouded our minds from doing our best job here. Whatever the reason, you just find you want to perform at a higher level, so what can you do?

I recently put together a list of things to remind you of how to pitch the media (http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/24-tips-to-pitch-your-book-to-media.html). I find it useful to refer to, even though it’s all inside of me, it’s nice to look at something tangible. I thought perhaps you might benefit from some of these additional suggestions. 

Here’s my take on pitching. Ideally, here’s what you want –

1.      Something great to pitch – the perfect product, person, company, book, or idea. 

2.      Convert what you have into the perfect person – believe in what you are promoting – find some way to relate to it, to like it, to own it – the enthusiasm will show in your voice, in your efforts, and in your creative juices.

3.      Brainstorm with others, and then by yourself, on crafting all possible angles upon which to connect what you have to what the media wants; be creative; free-think – just jot down what comes to mind, without any deep analysis or filtering – just let it flow – associate words, images, events, etc. to your book until you have created a pitch that not only fully sells and represents who you are, but something that exceeds it. Don’t misrepresent or lie, but stretch out the message to bridge the gaps.

4.      Do not make assumptions that lead to dismissing you from trying a given media outlet on the mistaken belief that “they won’t be interested.” Try everything and everyone; you have zero to lose; it’s a numbers game. This is a contact sport – make contact!

5.      Be persistent. Keep making contact until you get an answer. But don’t just shoot for getting an answer. Look for a way to get a yes. And if it’s a no, confirm why, to learn for next time, or to re-pitch the same person at a later date, with a new spin. Every contact you make with a journalist is a progression in your career. Make the most of everything. Take good notes.

6.      The military attacks by land, sea, and air, although they have four branches, right? Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy – and Austin Powers. Okay, well, you have the phone, the fax, email, messenger, Fed Ex, mail – try everything. If you can’t reach a journalist at work, try another means, including: home, meeting them at a conference or event, getting it to someone who knows that journalist, etc. Don’t just leave a message and think you’ve done your job.

7.      Remember, you are a matchmaker – you are trying to get in touch with the media – your job is to seek relationships, to try and strike up a connection – find something in common – be a friend, or at least friendly. Try humor or comment on something on which they just reported.

8.      Think like a journalist – know their demographics, their pressures, their schedules, their personal lives – create a dossier on everyone.

9.      Be brief, focused, and to the point. No one wants a long pitch – get to the point, and have a few ideas to go with it. Be ready for anticipated responses and questions. A knowledgeable publicist is a confident, resourceful one. 

10.  Get your lists together and updated. Every single second, a new publication is being published, a radio station is going under, a television show is being reformatted, a newspaper editor is being relocated, and an Internet site is changing. Good pitching requires good lists. And when a journalist says no, find out who he or she recommends you contact at that publication. Ask them for a cross-media reference – does a radio guy know of a TV person who’d like you as a guest? Call the operator/secretary, and ask who else covers a given topic that you are pitching. Ask them about freelancers and how to reach people who normally are not in their offices. Act naïve – just ask them, point blank, to reveal any information that can help a damsel in distress.

11.  The pitch needs to use words like “new” or “surprising.” You are creating a story and thus, they need to feel there is something worth looking into. Be careful with promising exclusives, but this could be a useful tool.

12.  When you follow-up your pitch with the sending of materials, make sure it’s clear what took place in your conversation, what you are seeking to do, give a time deadline of some kind, or promise to check back within a few days, week, whatever, and send something that is memorable so you can easily refer to it – perhaps a promotional item like a bag, shirt, etc.

13.  Develop an image of yourself as a publicist. You become a character, a super hero – you are no longer Joe Blow, human being. You are now Super Publicist. What are your strengths? How do you want to come across or be perceived? Reinvent who you are and become who you want to be. It’s a role that you play. Have fun with it.

14.  Be assertive, aggressive, tenacious – even a bully at times. But don’t be a jerk. Remember, it’s all about relationships. You are a salesperson in this situation, and you want a customer for life.

15.  Clear your head when making outreach to the media. Forget about what you are doing tonight, what you ate for lunch, what argument you had with a friend, what your boss said to you. Forget everything. The only thing you can and should be doing when you pitch is thinking and acting on that pitch. You can’t correct the past or live the future at the present. You can’t let other lives of yours collide in the office. Just close the doors in your head, and surround yourself with only the pitch at hand. By freeing up your mind, you will function at a higher level.

16.  If you are in a rut, don’t give up. If you need a break, screw it, just take a long walk or take a day off. Get your shit together, and come back strong. We all get into mental slumps. Dysfunction happens to the best of us, so don’t worry about it.

17.  If you feel pressure to produce – and who doesn’t – do a reverse. Say to yourself, “Let’s make believe I wasn’t in today. Let’s say I had a meeting, a conference, or was out sick, and just didn’t get to do anything today. Nothing bad would happen, and the job would wait another day.” So, now, you feel like whatever calls you do make today, it’s all icing on the cake, all extra stuff. Now, instead of expecting or demanding several bookings today, you eliminate all pressure and start saying whatever you get today is a bonus. Suddenly, you get a booking and it steamrolls.

18.  If you need help, test your pitch on others. Whatever you are doing, if it isn’t working, just change something. Anything.

19.  Try small media outlets to practice and perfect the pitch – and to build momentum with some “gimme” bookings.

20.  Get a big hit early, and buy some time for yourself. Then parlay or leverage that hit to get other media.

21.  Attach your pitch to what’s in the news. Look for the positive, even if you are warning about something negative – always find something good or useful to report. For instance, if you are pitching something, like a book that says there will be a depression next year, turn it around to say the author will talk about how you can prepare and insulate yourself against it, and what things will thrive in hard times, as opposed to saying, “We have a guy who tells us the world’s about to end.”

22.  Change your voice and tone from call to call, and even within a call. People respond to inflection, pitch of voice, and changes in sounds. Avoid the monotone sound. If you’re too chipper, they think you are a telemarketer; if you are down and boring, they are not too excited to listen.

23.  Don’t use speaker phone to pitch. No one likes it.

24.  When making calls, be aware of the editorial calendar, and the day-to-day deadline of a media outlet. Learn your time zones, and remain sensitive to whether or not the reporter is free to talk or tied up with something.

25.  Err on the side of effort. You can’t go wrong in reaching out to as many people as possible. It isn’t how many ‘no’s’ that you amass that everyone cares about; it’s how many ‘yesses.’ We don’t count failure rates – only the total number of placements. There’s no penalty for trying, or for being rejected.

26.  Meditate. Be at one with your booking. Be the Buddha of books.

27.  There’s a sale going on with every contact you make – either you sell the reporter on booking what you have; or they sell you a ‘no.’ Are you ready for your next sale?

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014