A Perfect Match: Who to Know and How to Pitch

During my second semester as a public relations student, with limited experience in even identifying a target audience, my internship with The David Brand placed a new challenge on my plate: media lists.

While my boss, David, handled client relations, seeking out contacts and establishing a conversation quickly became one of my primary responsibilities as an intern and junior account associate. Here’s the guide I developed to find the proper connection to pitch to:

1. Determine Your Angle(s) and Audiences

Consider a book release and reading event in Philadelphia. Who would be interested in the event? Say the book is titled Rust and Rainbows, and it’s a queer coming-of-age story that also deals with themes of generational poverty. Immediately, there are three demographics you’ll want to market to: the LGBTQ+ community; the young adult and older teenage age group; and possibly those who are dealing with poverty, those desiring to break cycles and build generational wealth, or any young people who enjoy fiction and have an interest in financial literacy. If a group of people have some sort of personal connection to the book, or any product, they should usually be included in the target audience. 

2. Check Your Phone Contacts

Figure out who you (or your boss, account executive, etc.) already know. Have they run content on similar topics? Do they tailor their content specifically to an audience you’re hoping to attract for your event? Are they local to the area where the client is headquartered? In this instance of Rust and Rainbows, you’d want to spotlight any LGBTQ+ or finance-focused contacts you know, as well as any book lovers who are looking for a new author to endorse. 

3. Branch Out

Here’s where it gets tricky and time-consuming. Many platforms exist for searching media contacts, including Cision, SourceBottle, and more. Search engines such as those can remove steps, such as finding specific individuals to contact, and speedily delivering you straight to emails or phone numbers. However, there is still quite a bit of legwork to be done. Often, it’s still essential to manually find outlets, such as local radio stations or periodicals, as well as finding subject-specific publications. With a book-related event, you may even find yourself on meetup.com, searching up every book club within a fifty-mile radius that might be interested in attending or reading the work once it’s published.

4. Become Besties with Google Sheets (or Excel, etc.)

As soon as you locate potential outlets and dig for the proper people to phone or email, develop your media list. You’ll want to track the name of the media outlet; the ideal connection within the organization; their phone number, email address, LinkedIn, or any form of contact; their audience ratings and/or engagement rates (make sure it’s worth your/your client’s time!); and the progression of the relationship. This will help you recall who you’ve reached out to, who you need to follow up with, how many people you can expect your promotional efforts to reach through their platform, and so much more. 

5. Make Initial Contact (Pitch Like it’s Bottom of the Ninth Inning)

Cold emailing is less scary than cold calling, but both will probably be necessary at some point in your career. At this point, it’s safe to say you’ve created or received a press release from your client or for the event that’s being held. Now, it’s your job to boil it down and be able to give the highlights to the people you’re reaching out to. For media outlets such as radio stations, blogs, or newspapers, you have to be convincing. Why should they want to promote your client’s book or event? Why does it matter to them, and how is it relevant to the content they share? It’s your job to make them understand. The press release should still be attached or included in the email, but it shouldn’t be the first thing they see, especially if your goal is to grab their attention. For interest groups who you want to invite to attend, it’s often easier and looks more like a short synopsis of the book, as well as the details for the event. 

While contact research and media lists can seem daunting, they’ll soon transform from a dreaded task to a powerful instrument in building meaningful professional relationships and ensuring your client’s message reaches the right audience. With confidence and a clear plan, your pitch will be consistently received as the compelling story you portray it as. Good luck!

Sara Bagley is a senior studying Writing with a minor in Advertising and Public Relations. She currently works as an editor for GVSU’s Lanthorn, GVSU Housing as Lead Marketing Assistant, and as an Account Associate for GrandPR. She has served in multiple internships in the past, including nonprofit marketing, entertainment public relations, and ghostwriting. After graduation, she hopes to work in a marketing or public relations role in the entertainment industry.