Pitching to Military Trade Publications
Exclusive Insights from a Former Executive Editor at Military.com
“You have to stop thinking about military trade publications purely as media and start thinking about them as the people you are trying to reach or serve.”
Why Pitch to Military Trade Publications
The military-connected community in America is a diverse collective, composed of active-duty service members, Reserve and Guard members, veterans, and their families. This community is bolstered by an array of public, corporate, and philanthropic endeavors often referred to as the 'Sea of Goodwill'.
In this digital era, marketing strategies aimed at this community are progressively leaning towards solutions and resources based on community engagement. A growing focus is being placed on strategic planning, the creation of professional content, and fostering community interaction, all rooted in a value-driven approach to PR and marketing.
The objective extends beyond merely offering services; it's about empowering this community, encouraging resilience, and highlighting their indispensable role in serving our nation. To effectively connect with this community, professionals like us and our clients rely on the widespread influence of military trade publications.
A military-trade publication, while lacking a standard definition, can best be described as a nonprofit or for-profit news outlet dedicated to promoting, educating, and sharing narratives about military service, and the military-connected experience in America. Some notable examples include Military.com, Military Times, Military Families Magazine, Stars & Stripes, and Task & Purpose.
READ MORE: The Top PR and Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits in 2024 | Evocati PR
Whether you're a veteran-serving nonprofit, or a Fortune 500 company boasting a team of accomplished veteran employees, understanding how to get your narratives covered by military trade publications is crucial. Our goal is to help you navigate this process, ensuring your stories resonate with the right audience and contribute to the empowerment and recognition of our military-connected community. Which is why we invited a former Executive Editor at a military trade publication to provide expert advice.
About Amy
Amy Bushatz | Former Executive Editor at Military.com
Amy Bushatz is the former Executive Editor and Director of Military.com, the largest independent news publication serving military members and veterans in the U.S.
Today she works in local news, reporting on her community in Palmer, Alaska as she cares for her children and husband, a disabled Army veteran who currently serves in the Alaska Army National Guard.
We sat down with Amy Bushatz to discover the keys to pitching military trade publications and what makes a poor pitch go straight to her trash bin. Here's what she provided to us:
Amy's Advice: Three Keys to Pitching Military Trade Pubs
Military trade publication readers bring a central expectation to every interaction with that type of publication: belonging. From writers to readers, there are no outsiders at a military publication—only insiders. Readers expect the publication to understand their lifestyle and what they want to and need to know. They also expect it to be communicated in a way that makes it clear that their experiences and lifestyles are deeply understood.
READ MORE: Avoid These Marketing Mistakes on Veterans Day | Evocati PR
That expectation has obvious impacts on the people producing the publication. But it also means that when pitching, you can’t treat a military publication—the writers or the readers—the same way you treat any other outlet, especially when it comes to military and veteran-connected topics. You are not speaking to a group about the military and veteran community. You are speaking to the military and veteran community. Speaking about someone while you’re also speaking to them, is a great way to sound out of touch—and that’s not what you want.
Talk Like an Insider
Like me, many military editors and writers are also veterans or military family members themselves. We know what the audience has experienced and expects because we are our audience.
As a military publication editor, I was fiercely protective of my readers. They were relying on me to understand them, to know what they wanted, to ask the right questions to the people in charge of their lives and benefits, to filter out the riff-raff and give them only the information that was worthy of their time. I viewed every pitch with skepticism. Was it worthy of my readers? Did it treat them with the respect they’ve earned? Did it speak to them or about them?
A good pitch to a military publication shows a clear understanding of the audience—that the writer is talking to them, not about them. That’s clear in the tone. Any pitch that communicates a “poor you, military community or veteran” gets tossed out right away. The military community doesn’t want a pity party—they want acknowledgment of their service and empowerment. That kind of thing may play with a civilian audience, but it’s offensive to a military and veteran one.
We’re Your Clients Too
I get it, if you’re a nonprofit or company with a good story to tell about something you’ve done for the military community, you’re probably riding a fine line. You want to tell what you’re doing for them, without seeming to take advantage of them by parading them in front of the media.
But you have to stop thinking about military trade publications purely as media -- and start thinking about them as the very people you are trying to reach or serve.
Almost all of my staff at Military.com had a personal military or veteran connection. When you speak to a military publication editor or writer, you’re speaking both to the gatekeeper who decides if your message makes it to a larger audience and to someone who might personally use your service. I know this because I lived it. I cannot tell you how many times my veteran husband or I have personally used the services or engaged with the company shared with me in a well-written pitch.
Write your pitch as if you’re talking directly to the audience you’re trying to serve -- because you probably are.
Solve a Specific Problem—Or at Least Pretend You Are
Military editor inboxes are flooded with stories of nice things people are doing for military and veteran communities, and all of that is lovely but it’s rarely newsworthy. What gets my attention is a pitch about someone actively solving an actual, current problem, even if presenting it that way is a little bit of a stretch.
You’re not just giving a veteran a mattress; you’re addressing the health impacts caused by poor sleep and working to encourage health and raise awareness of the impacts of comfortable rest. You’re not just sending veteran caregivers greeting cards; you’re recognizing the constant toll of caregiving by gifting them a brief moment of thanks from the mailbox and telling me why that matters. These pitches can become the central focus of a larger story.
Why Your Pitch Goes to My Trash Can
Parks & Rec (Source: Giphy)
Want to have your pitch sent immediately to the trash or, worse, the spam folder? Send me an advertorial instead of a story with a why.
An advertorial tells me all the reasons you think your organization is amazing and great, the ways you as a nonprofit leader or marketing executive are wonderful, and all the reasons I should love you and the organization. It is entirely self-serving. It doesn’t show me a problem and present a solution and it contains no “why” demonstrating a reason I should give you access to my audience—it’s simply an ad with a whole bunch of words.
I will not read your ad. I will delete it. Give me the problem you’re solving and a why—why should I care, and why should I put you in front of my audience? Then (maybe) we can talk.
Our Approach at Evocati PR
We are a mostly military-connected team with several military-connected clients throughout our history. So, let's review the Evocati PR way of pitching media members like Amy using case studies of current clients:
Soldiers’ Angels: Soldiers' Angels partners with big brands like Chick-fil-A, Atlanta United, Girl Scouts of America, and most recently the Bob Woodruff Foundation to highlight their local impact. They served over 1.3 million service members in 2023 and are the largest food provider exclusively for veterans in the U.S. These partnerships make for great feel-good stories that clearly demonstrate a need being met.
READ MORE: Small PR Giants: Uncovering the Hidden Powers of Micro PR Agencies | Evocati PR
MilitaryConnected.org: The MilitaryConnected.org team is one of experts with a multitude of insights into the unique needs of the military-connected community. With that in mind, we secured thought leadership pieces from Jonathan Fermin-Robbins and Dr. Chris Cate in national publications as they detail the unique nature of the new nonprofit and of Dr. Cate's veteran studies research.
Hero's Bridge: Hero's Bridge is unique in its mission. They specialize in veterans aged 65+. Vietnam-era vets face increased challenges due to their age, fixed incomes, technological barriers, and much more. They look to bridge that gap. With a niche service that encompasses over 12,000,000 veterans, Hero's Bridge fills an otherwise ignored need for a huge population of often-forgotten heroes.
You Got This
We just dropped a mountain of information on you, so let's revisit the key insights to keep in mind for your next pitch:
Talk Like an Insider: "Many military editors and writers are also veterans or military family members themselves. We know what the audience has experienced and expects because we are our audience."
They're Your Clients, Too: "When you speak to a military publication editor or writer, you’re speaking both to the gatekeeper who decides if your message makes it to a larger audience and to someone who might personally use your service.”
Don't Send an Advertorial: "It is entirely self-serving. It doesn’t show me a problem and present a solution and it contains no ‘why’ demonstrating a reason I should give you access to my audience."
Every military-connected Story Has a Unique Angle: As demonstrated by the different approaches with three of our clients, each story is unique and matters—make sure you highlight why and how.
Use these key insights in your next pitch to secure your spot in a feature story with a military trade publication. Thanks to Amy, and the many military spouses like her, for their continued dedication to the military-connected community.
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