The one thing to remember when you pitch to the media
Do you sometimes get a knot in your stomach at the thought of pitching your business to the media?
Media people seem a bit glossy and intimidating, right?
OK before I dive into the world of media, I want you to understand why you need to pitch your business to the media.
Why you need to pitch to the media
Imagine walking into a room and feeling super confident. You’ve just had your business featured on a page in the New York Times and all the entrepreneurs in your network are suddenly paying a bit more notice to your emails.
You’ve had a couple of journalists reach out to you from other magazines wanting to schedule a call and your customer orders have suddenly increased.
That’s the power of being featured.
You’ve been proven.
I know because I had that with my fashion business when I was featured in 14 pieces of online press, including the Harvard Business Review.
It made a huge difference.
Here’s a freebie showing you exactly how I did it!
But wait! What happens if you’re simply too scared to pitch media people in the first place?
OK…I’m going to peel back the curtain for you.
Here’s the one thing you need to remember when you pitch to the media:
There are so many journalists out there waiting out there to hear your story.
Not convinced?
OK I’ll go a bit deeper.
Pre start up, I worked at Sky Sports News in that snazzy TV studio. A 24 hour news channel that covered the world of sport. Every day famous footballers, F1 drivers, rugby players, sports stars would rock in and be interviewed. If you loved Sport it was heaven.
I was one of those people in the background of the studio who liked sport but it wasn’t my religion. That was a good thing to be honest because I was as a management consultant brought into transform operations.
And you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on your spreadsheets if you loved football and David Beckham was 2 feet away.
Why you need to pitch to the media
Every morning I sat in the news planning meeting with the Sky Sports News Director at the head of a long table. All his journalists were seated around him shuffling their notes.
You know what I discovered that will change your mindset on pitching to the media forever?
Journalists NEED content.
They need your news.
They can’t operate without it.
They need something to pitch to their scary editor in that planning meeting.
If you want me to be brutally honest, you’re the answer to their next promotion.
Stories you give them, add up and create brownie points for their personal profile. I know this because I was advising the top management team at Sky Sports on which roles to cut and which to keep.
Not a nice job, trust me.
So slap yourself now and stop thinking that you and your business are insignificant.
It’s not.
If you’re smart and you’re going for a good market or have a product with an interesting angle, then SOMEONE OUT THERE WILL BE INTERESTED in featuring it, because it’s helping them get brownie points.
If you’re not promoting it, then you’re even responsible for them getting fired BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO CONTENT to pitch to that scary editor in the planning meeting!
Pitch to the media and save a journalist’s job
Yes, you pitching to the media will save a journalist their job.
You’re doing them a favour and not the other way round.
So let’s sort your mindset out, save the media industry and get your business some sales.