What journalists don’t want you to know about “how to pitch them”
I was reading a piece recently where the journalist emphasises they will need more detail to write up funding announcements.
I love journalists, they’re a funny bunch. As someone who has always written, it’s a personality type that I relate to. I also greatly respect it – speaking truth is a noble cause.
But you also have to know when to take them with a pinch of salt.
Many of the best have explicitly laid out “how to pitch me”, helping you understand the best way to collaborate.
Often, it’ll include references to their favourite, rarest beast: exclusives, and with candid unfettered access.
You can’t blame them for trying (it’s literally their job) but think carefully about whether you really need to do this.
Exclusivity can be valuable, but it’s better brought in later in a negotiation. Pitch the story purely first, under embargo, and if you’re getting a low response, *then* it’s time to try sweetening the deal with an exclusive offer.
As to whether you should supply more detailed info, if your story is really so marginal to them, you’re probably looking at a one-off rather than a long relationship anyway. Do you really want to pop your most valuable secrets to secure that, vs the contact you’ll work with for years?
It’s more beneficial to pace out stories about your business in a healthy regular cadence over the months than lump them altogether and end up flunking because it happens to be the same day Apple does something.
Don’t lose sight of what it is that creates a mutually valuable long term relationship. Yes, you want them to understand what you do – but they actively WANT to write about great companies like yours. And if they don’t, you shouldn’t bend over too far to make the relationship work for them.
Equally, this doesn’t mean you should be a “master of the dark arts” and try to play some Machiavellian stupidity. And certainty, you should be responsive and helpful in collaborating, as you would with any other valuable relationship.
Funding announcements are particular vulnerable to this kind of perception, because they can seem so generic. If your headline simply reads “X raises Y from Z”, then no wonder you’re stuck in this mess.
The trick to funding announcements is that they are simply an excuse to speak. The story must be something bigger than just the money – it must be what it’s allowing you to do or what caused those investors to take a punt on you.
Do not use the words “we’re excited to announce”. Nobody cares if you are excited, they care about WHAT IS EXCITING. Make them excited for you by describing a situation that’s surprising and… (you guessed it), exciting.
Otherwise it’s not a story, it’s just a prosaic fact. And really, it’s that lack of substance that prompts the journalists to ask for more detail like this, whoever it serves.
Get ahead of the game on this and you won’t be clutching at straws to generate interest for your news.
