How To Write a Proper Media Pitch: Tips That Actually Work

What is a media pitch exactly?

Long story short: a media pitch is a brief message or email that you send to journalists, bloggers, or other media professionals to persuade them to cover your story or news. For example, you can offer the recipients to cover your press release. 

The purpose of a media pitch is to grab the recipients’ attention and convince them (for instance, the press) that your story is newsworthy. A good media pitch is clear, concise, and compelling, and it should provide enough information to make the recipient interested in learning more.

The key elements of great email pitches

Great media pitch has several key elements:

• A clear subject line
• A brief introduction that captures the recipient’s attention
• A concise summary of the story or news angle
• Supporting details and facts to back up the story
• Contact information for follow-up

You can use this list for a media pitch email structure, by the way. Of course, structure is not enough to make it perfect. So let’s dive in and check what makes pitch emails convincing.

Tips on writing PR pitch emails

A survey by Fractl shows that more than 46% of journalists receive at least 11 PR pitches per day. Quite a clutter to break, huh?

To make it to the press, your media pitch needs to be engaging from start to finish. So let’s look at some tips on how to write an effective PR pitch email. Ready? Go!

Make sure your story is newsworthy

Before sending out a media pitch email, make sure that your story is truly newsworthy. Ask yourself whether it is interesting to a general audience, relevant, and timely. If your story doesn’t meet these criteria, it’s unlikely that journalists will be interested in covering it. 

It is very similar to marketing sales emails, in a way you have to persuade someone to do what you need.

Of course, you can’t always choose what topic to work with. But it’s in your power to make the existing material as interesting as possible — it’s all about the approach.

Make sure it’s relevant to the recipient

Before sending your PR email, research the recipient to ensure that your pitch aligns with their interests, industry, and recent coverage. Look for any recent articles or social media posts that could give context to your pitch. You are more likely to get a response if you are targeting journalists who cover stories that are similar to yours. 

Ideally, you should know your recipient and their press. For instance, here’s an example of a media pitch for a sustainable clothing brand. This is a general pitch that emphasizes the occasion (Earth Day): 

Here’s how you would want to personalize it for a fashion media. In this pitch, the focus is on the brand’s collection itself, and only after that, there’s a mention of the industry’s pollution issues: 

And here’s the pitch in case you want the attention of a media focused on ecology. The main point of the message is the brand’s mission and commitment to ecology, and there’s no description of the clothing collection:

Always personalize

Use the recipient’s name in your media pitch email and make sure that you tailor your pitch to their specific interests and needs. This shows that you have done your research and that you value their time.

Avoid sending a generic email blast and instead, personalize your email. Address them by name and mention previous articles they have written or topics they have covered that relate to your pitch.

Make sure to clearly articulate why your pitch is relevant to the recipient and their readers. Focus on how your story can benefit their readers or provide unique insights that align with their interests.

Remember to check that every i is dotted and every t is crossed — the recipient will notice an error and won’t take you seriously. 

Keep your pitch short and simple

Keep your media pitch short and to the point, and make sure that it can be read quickly. A good rule of thumb is to aim for no more than 200 words — the study shows that 100–200 words are preferable for most journalists.

Use bullet points

Bullet points make your pitch easier to read and help to break up large blocks of text. Use them to highlight the most important information in your pitch.

Without bullet points, it’s difficult to grasp the email quickly, which is crucial if the recipient does not have much time. Consider this example:

And here’s the same email with bullet points: reader can instantly comprehend the message and consider it quicker: 

Keep your subject line to the point

This is, of course, a universal email marketing tip. Your subject line is the first thing that the recipient will see, so make sure that it’s clear and to the point. Avoid using vague or clickbait subject lines that don’t accurately reflect the content of your email. Remember: sometimes less is more (especially in the media pitch email subjects).

Send from the right address

When sending out your media pitch, it’s important to do it from the right email address. Make sure that your email address is professional and clearly identifies you and your organization. Avoid using a personal email address or one that is associated with a non-business-related website.

✅ From: [email protected]

⛔ From: [email protected]

Send to small, targeted groups

Avoid sending your pitch to a large group of journalists at once. Instead, send your pitch to a small, targeted group of people most likely to be interested in your story. It is tempting to get a better reach, but if you spam your media pitch to every contact, it will most likely affect your credibility.

Do not use BCC

When people want to send an email to multiple recipients without them knowing, they use BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). But it’s one of the worst things you can do when sending a media pitch. This can make your email look impersonal and unprofessional, and it may even cause your email to end up in the recipient’s spam folder. Instead, take the time to personalize your pitch and send it to individual recipients.

Focus on building a relationship

While all of the above will help you make better pitches, the best way is to build connections in advance. Follow your favorite authors on social media, attend industry events and network, and be open to media inquiries. The more familiar you become with journalists, editors, and their work, the higher the chances your story will be picked up.

Don’t forget to follow up

Following up is an important part of the media pitching process. If you haven’t received a response within a week or so after the initial message, it’s perfectly acceptable to send a follow-up email. Keep your follow-up message brief and to the point, and provide any additional information that may be helpful. With that said, keep in mind that editors and journalists receive a lot of emails and are short on time, so don’t expect an immediate reply (or any, for that matter).

Use Selzy to reinforce your email marketing game! Selzy email marketing tool helps you with everything ― from deliverability to email clicks, openings, and other analytics. It integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics and helps you track your goals. 

Using Selzy you can check who opened your emails and pick the list for the new follow-up email — or you can set it up automatically after some time. Try it now!

Brilliant media pitch examples

To help you create a successful media pitch, we’ve compiled a few examples:

Media pitch example for a product

Let’s start with a pitch from a well-being app to a lifestyle media journalist:

Media pitch example for a new book

Next up is the media pitch of a new book, intended for a reviewer for an online media or YouTube blogger:

Media pitch example for a story

This is a media pitch example for a general topic — we used AI in education as a main theme for the message.

Final thoughts

Let’s review how to turn your pitch or story into an actual media article: 

• Your pitch should be newsworthy and relevant. Yes, interests might differ, but pitching rules are pretty much the same. 
• Focus on building relationships. Get to know people who cover topics relevant to your audience and try to connect with them in advance. This might help you to pitch better and more effectively. 
• Find the right authors, media outlets, bloggers, etc. Make sure you personalize your email pitch. And if you want to pitch a press release in a group email, keep the groups small and targeted (and don’t use BCC!).
• Craft short and simple messages: keep the relevant details and don’t go overboard with excitement. And yes, go straight to the point with your subject line. 
• Follow up, but remember to value the recipient’s time.

We know the PR game is hard but worth it: you will reach a wider audience, boost sales, and get the recognition you deserve.