Pitching Local Media: Master the Art of the Perfect Local Media Pitch
Learn How with a Pitch by Evocati PR that Secured Local Media Coverage Featured by Yahoo! News
In previous posts, we talked about pitching yourself or your business to gain media attention and four red flags that will send your pitch to the trash bin. You'll want to read them before we get started below.
All caught up? Great, let's get started.
Today we're going to review what to include in your local pitch and how to frame it for maximum success using a pitch we sent to a local media outlet that garnered national attention on Yahoo! News.
Background: Our clients at Soldiers' Angels host monthly food distributions in cities across the US like Orlando, Florida. They had plans to open a distribution at a new location and were seeking local media interest to highlight the location and community need. Enter our team which went to work pitching the story.
Here's what we wrote in our pitch to a local reporter:
Source: Evocati PR
This pitch and subsequent story worked well because it included three crucial elements. Here are the elements and lessons you need to know to master the art of the local pitch:
Source: Giphy
Relevance: Our pitch went to local media in need of positive community-based stories.
Lesson: Ensure that your pitch is relevant to the local audience and focuses on issues or stories that directly impact the community. Local media outlets prioritize content that resonates with their readers, listeners, or viewers, so tailor your pitch to address local concerns or highlight local achievements.
Click to Watch an Orlando Area Veteran Talk about Soldiers’ Angels’ Food Distribution (2023)
Timeliness: We sent our pitch 10 days out to give the producer time to accept, plan, and cover the story.
Lesson: Make sure your pitch is timely and newsworthy. Local media outlets are interested in covering current events or stories with a sense of urgency. If your pitch is connected to a recent event, trend, or development in the community, it increases the likelihood of grabbing the attention of local journalists and editors. At Evocati PR, we like to pitch stories about two-weeks out.
Source: Giphy
Human Interest: We made sure to emphasize the human impact of Soldiers' Angels' work in our pitch.
Lesson: You must incorporate a human-interest element into your pitch. Local media outlets often appreciate stories that evoke emotions or showcase personal experiences of individuals within the community. By presenting a compelling narrative or human angle, you can create a more engaging and relatable story for the local audience.
By focusing on these three elements - relevance, timeliness, and human interest - you can significantly increase your chances of successfully pitching your story to local media outlets and securing coverage for your brand or organization like Evocati PR did for Soldiers' Angels.
If you’d like our help pitching your story to the media, contact us today to get started.
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