Mixed Media

One of the more gratifying and important activities in PR is crafting a pitch that hooks a reporter… leading to an interview that hopefully leads to coverage.  We've all experienced the expectations, and then the disappointment to read the article only to find the CXO or spokesperson entirely absent.  Just like real estate deal, a lot can happen before a contract is signed, or in working with journalists, before the story goes to print, making you or a client feel like you opened an empty gift box.

While you always want to prepare for an interview, sharpening your message points for clarity and brevity, and being armed with good statistics or anecdotes, there can be several reasons for being left out of a story. Some are in your control, and some out of your control.  Here’s a few of the most common reasons for not being included:

BusinessInsider apparently hit their threshold of being bombarded with “STORY IDEA” and “EXPERT AVAILABLE” from PR pitches.

What Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget says they’re looking for isn’t a preamble or teaser, but the actual goods – compelling stories and straight up quotes and outlooks on a timely topic.

Too many PR firms try get trapped into the conscious or subconscious thought process of advancing their client’s interest first. When in fact, working with the media, one serves another master and must flip that mentality upside down to have something of value to help the reporter do their job.  Today’s PR rep and client need to be prescient and quick strike enough to tap into news of the moment and trends, providing a story or quote that actually supports the reporter's coverage.

Authoritative executive bios, while nice on a website, don’t do much to hook a reporter for help with a story. Instead there should be an arsenal of quotes prepared in advance or observations and insights quickly roughed out to offer to a select group of reporters when that perfect tie-in comes about. Why a select group and not a scatter-shot blast to a large media list?  Because context matters, and stories and quotes need to be tightly tailored  to the reporter’s angle and their readers’ hot points.

So, what's Henry and his team, as well as nearly every other media outlet, looking for?