Lesson Info
15. What to Gather Before You Pitch
Lessons
What will we cover in this course?
06:14 2Know Your Why
13:59 3What's the Best Media to Get Results?
10:55 4Define Your Key Message
23:56 5Develop Your Media List
21:57 6How to Discover Media Outlets That Fit
07:18 7Q&A with Journalist Kathryn Janicek
28:10 8How the Media is a Product
14:06Where Does Your Message Fit?
11:36 10Design Your First Campaign
04:26 11Q&A with Artist Megan Auman
25:56 12Find the Right Contacts
20:58 13Transform Your Message Into Headlines
03:52 14Trending Topics with Tara Gentile
26:24 15What to Gather Before You Pitch
06:56 16The One Pitch Template to Rule Them All
35:15 17Pitch Ettiquette
15:21 18Leverage Your PR Coverage
08:53Lesson Info
What to Gather Before You Pitch
Headline writing can be so fun so this lesson is just a couple of extra things that you need to gather before you pitch so you need to know your messages you need to know your headline but before we go out there and actually put your first pitch together which is what we're doing in the next segment there's a couple of other details that you need to pull together before you start your media outreach the best way to know what you need is actually the look att similar story types so you can look at you know those um story examples that you put in your media list and look at them and say what do they need to put this together they need more than just a headline they need more than just a ni idea you know they might need video they might need photos and you can figure that out by looking at the media so it's this whole idea right of looking at the media figuring out they need and giving it to them and not making it so hard that you have to brainstorm something from scratch so a couple of e...
xamples of this we have ah sweet paul magazine which is this really great lifestyle magazine and if you look on here I pulled up holiday gift ideas for the ladies so this is a feature that they did I think there were like thirty of these this really scrolls down and if you just glanced at it you can see if you're going to pitch sweet paul and you want to do something that's a gift guide you can see you know you're gonna want to know what the name of the product is the price point this is really important often when you're pitching product they want to know the price point and so you wanna have that for them and don't try to hide it and then a product image so if I were to be pitching sweet paul I would know I need to pull together you know, an image I can look at these things look like style shots and they would also want the price point so you want to make sure that you have these different components before you reach out before you start reaching out now here's another example where we have ana ramos who had done a contributed piece for upper case magazine for their block so this is one where unfortunately I don't have the full screen shot but you have it's a constructive piece so obviously she wrote that article now you don't have to send over the full article when you're pitching yourself to write a contribution, but what you do need is a couple of bullets about what you would include or a couple of headline ideas that you consent to them. She also included pictures so if you look at this site, they're very heavy on visuals so if you include different pictures, you know that you're giving them a complete package if we could scroll down here to wed also see a headshot of ana so you know, you know when they're doing contributions a head shot they need photos and they need the piece so if you're going to be pitching contributed articles that that's something that you want to dio you know that you want to maybe get some headshots together before you do that so just knowing that you can plan ahead so you have the pieces that you need so the most common things that you'll need to gather our photos photos of your product photos of you at work, er just simple headshots I also recommend that you do either photos that are in this styled shot or on a plain white background so when they do round ups heroes often taking your photos and they're putting them together and so they need to have them on a white background so they can take them out and use them as they are you're gonna want a bio your media ready bio so we'll be talking about that when we look at how to put your pitch together but you know, just know that that's something you're going to need before you send out an email if you have any sort of data, so if you're going to be using the trend idea you want to make sure you're pulling together that data now you don't necessarily have to do the data yourself right? You could just link to the report but you want to make sure that you have that original source so if you read a report that you're like oh my gosh this ties in really great and it really supports my message and it makes it really timely makes sure you bookmark it don't lose it because you're going to need to send it I cannot tell you how many times I have done that so just make sure you have this stuff put together and so you can reference it later and then of course you might need to gather a contributed article right if you're pitching something that you'll be doing especially if you're doing online media or guest posting you're going in that article you don't necessarily need to have that article upfront but you want to make sure that you feel confident that you're gonna be able to turn around so sometimes what I recommend is when you have the idea you outline it so you can come back to it later and it's very easy for you to fill out so these air there really common things inthe e course that we have also in the catalog we have a pr for your product simple pr for your product I talk about how you can put together a media kit or a press kit now if you're not a product based business, you probably don't need it in a digital format or in a physical fermat you could just kind of pull these pieces together put him in a folder on your hard drive put him on a folder you know however you organize your information so it's very quick and easy for you to access so if you reach out to an editor or a blogger or producer and they say I want to include you it's just right there at your fingertips you don't have to struggle to find that information so you just want to pull it together before you start pitching but if you are doing a lot of product fixing you might want to check out that simple pr for your product because it has a lot of information about what your product photography should look like and how you would put that press get together so that's where I want to leave it in this segment is what will a blogger urgent journalists need along with your story idea so you have your headline you have your message what are those other components when we come back erection gonna be talking about how you craft that irresistible media pitch but first we were together all the components you need so that when you start when you implement your media plan you hit the ground running and you're ready to go. What kind of things do you think you might need for for immediate tesh I'm gonna need some product photos so probably styled ones and then also ones on white backgrounds like you mentioned and then probably a few good a few good angles to talk about the coasters and maybe some information about the materials they're made with do you have all that stuff together mostly it's in places yeah yeah won a lot of places it is so common for businesses that this is information is scattered and so what I'll do is will copy those files and put them into one location so that it's really easy to respond because often when you're working with the media there on a deadline and so it's so important you can collect it and pull it together then you had some too as a photographer I always take bio photographs for people but I haven't had mine taken things that's what I will need to dio I will need to do that yeah if you're gonna be out there pitching yourself especially if you're going to be doing any sort of expert kind of pieces were you know we talked about working mother and so you would maybe we working with them or be interviewed by them you definitely will want a photo before you send that out because they're going to ask you for one and if you look at their coverage, you'll probably see that that's true and so you don't want to do that and go oh crap am I allowed to say that I agree with what. You don't want to have that situation where you don't have what you need if they ask for it.
Class Materials
bonus material
bonus material
Ratings and Reviews
Jess Laine
This is one of the best CreativeLive classes I've taken. I knew nothing about PR before this class and after taking it I was able to send my first pitch within a week. If you follow along with the workbook provided you really can come up with a pitch template that can can be tweaked to work for just about anything. I really appreciate how simple and enjoyable Brigitte made this class. No fluff, just great straight-to-the point actionable information. It's obvious she cares very much about helping creative people use PR to grow their business. Thanks Brigitte!
a Creativelive Student
I honestly started watching this class thinking that I didn't need PR for my business. I know Brigitte is super smart, and I wanted to check out the live stream to see if I could pick up any tips for my own clients. I was so wrong! I loved this! Within the first 30 minutes I had taken so many notes and gotten so excited about the possibilities- that not only seemed helpful, but relatively easy and FUN- for my business. I ended up purchasing right away and I know I'll be referring back again and again. Thanks for the great class!
a Creativelive Student
What a terrific, informational and inspiring course! We now have a solid plan to move forward with our PR, and the know-how to accomplish our goals, only 8 hours after logging in to CreativeLive! Thanks in advance to Brigitte for making the murky world of PR crystal-clear and accessible. Best wishes, Lori Covington, Writer, Jeanette Walker Jewellery, Prince Edward Island, Canada