The #1 thing ruining your pitches right now
Why “good” media pitches still get ignored—and a smart way PR professionals can make their next pitch stand out.
Joni Sweet is a seasoned writer, editor, and content strategist with 15+ years of media experience. In this newsletter, Joni reveals insider tips to help PR professionals sharpen their pitches, avoid rookie mistakes, land coverage for their clients, and build stronger relationships with writers. Join her at The Pitch Fix Live to get immediate feedback on your pitches.
Hi friends,
This week, I went on the BuzzStream podcast for an episode all about mastering media pitches. As I was preparing for my conversation with host Vince Nero, I found myself really drilling down on what’s going wrong with so many pitches right now.
The number one mistake I see is a lack of a real angle. That’s the issue. (And it’s something I’ll help you learn how to nail at The Pitch Fix Live on April 9! See you there?)
The lack of response from the writer or editor you’re pitching isn’t usually about the format of the pitch, or whether you sent it at 8:13 am. on a Tuesday or 2:47 p.m. on a Saturday, or whether you sent three follow-ups or none at all. It’s honestly not even about the subject line (although there are definitely things you can do to help your subject line stand out in a busy inbox!).
It’s just that there’s no real story there yet. It’s like handing a journalist a pile of ingredients and expecting them to plate a finished dish. Could they do it? Sure. But with everything else on our plates, we probably wouldn’t have time to (even if we wanted to!).
If your pitches have been getting ignored lately, I’d really recommend listening to this episode of the BuzzStream podcast. Vince and I talked about what actually happens in a journalist’s inbox right now, my hot take on whether it’s better to shoot for quality or quantity when it comes to coverage, and how I structure my own pitches to editors so they get picked up (it’s a three-step formula you can tweak for use in your media pitches!).
But while I have you here, let’s dig into the problem of a lack of angle in a pitch—and how to fix it.
A topic is not a story
At journalism school, my professors hammered on one important lesson: A topic is different than a story.
A topic is a broad, vague subject that could go in a million different directions. On the other hand, stories have a clear point of a view, a compelling hook, something specific to discuss.
Most PR pitches I get are topics. They sound like:
My client can talk about sustainable travel
This brand offers skincare products that may work for your next round-up
A hotel I rep has reopened after a renovation
Worse than that, some just read like an “about us” page on a brand’s website. Helpful if I’m researching the company. Not helpful if you’re trying to convince me to come up with a compelling story idea to pitch an editor or publish on a platform I write for.
Why topics don’t work
The issue with pitches on topics is that they don’t connect to how this industry actually works.
Editors don’t commission pieces on “topics.” They commission stories. When I pitch an editor, I’m not saying, “I’d like to write about sustainable travel.” I’m pitching something they can quickly evaluate and say yes or no to—a clear idea, a headline, a reason it should exist right now.
Earlier in my freelance journalism career, I (and my colleagues) had more time to sit with a PR pitch and tease out a potential story if something about it was intriguing. But that’s no longer the case. A perpetual decline in the rates freelancers are paid combined with an explosion in PR pitches sent to our inbox (I regularly receive 200+ pitches per day) means I need to work fast in order to hit my business goals.
So when I open a pitch that initially captures my interest, I’m making a quick call before doing anything next: Does this pitch contain a potentially viable story idea—or is this going to take a ton of work for me to find one?
If it’s the second one, I’m moving on. Not because I’m not interested in your client, but because I don’t have the time to research them, build the story myself, and pitch it out—only to maybe get a no. That’s all work I’m not getting paid for.
The easier your pitch makes it for me to see the story—and then pitch and write it—the more likely I am to cover your client.
I’ve seen this play out firsthand. In a past newsletter, I shared how a publicist pitched me something that initially felt like a stretch for my usual coverage. But instead of leaving me to figure it out, she included a list of thoughtful headline ideas. Suddenly, I could see the story—and more importantly, I could see how to sell it to an editor.
I ended up landing a commission, and selling a second story about her client a few months later.