PR Tip from Jeff Crilley: Pitching Your Story By Phone

Are you trying to get your company noticed by pitching your story to the local news? Having any luck yet? Well, Jeff Crilley has some great tips for your PR needs.

Pitching Your Story By Phone

Emails may be easy, but you can't beat the phone when it comes to selling a journalist on your story.

Here are some simple rules to make sure the call goes well:

Make Sure You're Pitching the Right Reporter

Read what the reporter has written in the past. With Google, there's no excuse for not doing your homework. In a matter of minutes, you can locate the right reporter on the Internet and start looking at stories the journalist has done in the past.

Be Sure You're Calling at a Good Time

Often when I'm pitching a story to a journalist, my first question is: "Are you on deadline or do you have about 2-minutes to talk?" You want their complete attention. If you're calling at a bad time, reporters will have no trouble telling you. Simply ask when a good time to call them back might be.

Be Persistent without Becoming a Pest

There's a fine line between being persistent and becoming a stalker. You may have to leave two or three messages to get a journalist to call you back. Just reassure them that it won't be a waste of time to call you back and if you've done your homework on them, it won't be.

Don't Sound Like a Commercial

There's an old saying in the sales world--"Everyone likes to buy, but no one likes to be sold." This rules goes double for the media. If you mention the name of your company, product or service 5 times in the first 30 seconds, the reporter is either going to hang up or transfer your call to the advertising department.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

If you get rejected, it's no big deal. You haven't asked the reporter for their hand in marriage, you only pitched them a story. It doesn't mean the reporter just down the hall won't do the story. Before you move on to another media outlet, ask the journalist if there's another reporter they might suggest.

After 25 years in TV news, Emmy winning reporter Jeff Crilley left the news business to start the country's first PR firm staffed exclusively with former journalists: www.RealNewsPR.com