Crafting the perfect pitch: Journalists spill the secrets
Industry Trends & News, Journalist, PR
In the fast-paced world of journalism, crafting a compelling pitch is an art form that can significantly boost your chances of getting your story picked up. Here are some essential insights from industry experts on Synapse, who share their top tips on how to create a pitch that stands out.
Timing is Everything
Timing your pitch can make a world of difference. The LADbible team suggests planning ahead for their Wednesday PM and Thursday AM meetings. They also recommend steering clear of time-sensitive requests, as their focus is often on current news events.
Expert Insights Add Value
Sophie Law from Reach plc highlights the importance of including good quotes from genuine experts. Engaging topics such as gardening, cleaning, health, beauty, and travel are always in demand. A strong expert endorsement can elevate your pitch from good to great.
Catchy and Clear Headlines
A strong headline is your first impression. Felicity Thistlethwaite from The Stylist Group advises against waffling. Instead, make your headlines succinct and self-explanatory, like “Ronseal, as we’d call it.” A headline that clearly conveys the essence of the story is more likely to capture attention.
Be Newsworthy and Useful
The SEO team at Newsquest is looking for content that is practical and informative. Whether it’s an explainer, a listicle, or an update on a trending topic, content that readers find useful is more likely to be shared and engaged with.
Targeted and Timely
Rachel Sloper from Reach plc suggests that PRs focus on affiliate content with high commission potential. Timing your pitch to arrive before the morning rush increases the likelihood of it being noticed.
In summary, the secret to a successful pitch lies in targeting your stories to fit the specific needs of each outlet, crafting clear and compelling headlines, and ensuring your content is timely, useful, and backed by expert insights.
By following these insider tips, you’ll be well on your way to crafting pitches that capture journalists’ attention and get your stories published. Are you ready to change the game?
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Our team hand-verify every single one of our users. Synapse is designed for journalists, reporters, editors and those in the media sourcing stories. It’s also designed for PR professionals. We have our own verification process, but if required, we’ll always get in touch with you directly to get some more information on your day-to-day role and to make sure Synapse is right for you.
There are over 3000 amazing people on Synapse; all of whom want to revolutionise the media relations industry. Our PR user base is from across the UK and covers a mix of agency, freelance and in-house professionals. Our journalist user base is similarly broad. There are national publications, trades, regionals and freelancers all using the platform.
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We’d love to. But we’re not quite there yet.
Synapse believes that journalists have the right to their own data, and that by giving journalists control over their data, PRs will receive more accurate and timely information that isn’t currently available on any other database.
This means that we need to work with journalists to register them on the platform, rather than adding every UK journalist without permission. This is something our team is working on every single day.
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We launched on 21st September 2023 with over 1800 users already pre-registered. Since then we’ve grown to over 3000 users, onboarded national publications and have more news to come. Watch this space!
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Depending on whether you have a journalist profile or a PR profile, you’ll have access to slightly different AI tools.
For PRs, you can save time by exploring our intelligent recommendations of which journalists to pitch to. Our AI will make recommendations based on proprietary data, saving you hours of research time.
For journalists, our secure AI assistant is there to help you as you write your stories. You’re in control of whether you use the tool and to what extent with options of a bulleted summary through to a full generative article.
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