Learning how to be personable is a huge part of being in Lakeland public relations. After all, in an industry with a primary focus on the public, you are sure to need good people skills. One of the primary responsibilities of your job as a public relations professional involves having to interact with journalists and other media professionals.
This is so that you can pitch them your stories and run it on their platforms. However, these professionals are often swamped with story pitches, so how do you win them over with your pitch? Read on to find out more about how to win journalists over with your Lakeland public relations pitch.
Don’t act like a salesperson
In the world of online marketing, it is common knowledge that in order to make a sale, you shouldn’t be acting like you’re selling. In the world of public relations and journalists, the sentiment still stands. If you want a journalist to listen to your pitch, then you need to leave the sales pitch at home.
Nobody likes being sold to, and this still holds true for professionals. When you start pitching a story to a journalist, make sure that you avoid coming off as too sales-pitchy, as you risk being shut down from the get-go. Adopt a more personable tone when pitching to journalists, and you may get a more favorable response.
Take a risk
One of the main reasons why you might be having limited success with your story pitches to journalists is that, well, you aren’t taking enough risks.
Some public relations professionals shy away from pitching to certain types of journalists, certain that they’re not going to get a favorable response. But if you don’t even try, how will you know? You should always be willing to take a chance.
Journalists are always looking for something new
If you ask a journalist why they don’t want to run a story that’s been pitched to them, they may say that it’s because they’ve heard it a thousand times. Keep in mind that journalists receive hundreds of story pitches, so it’s very easy to see where they’re coming from.
When you’re pitching a Lakeland public relations story to them, do your research into the kinds of stories they usually run on their platforms and see if they have already run the kind of story that you’re pitching to them.
If not, make sure that you present it in such a way that it comes off as fresh, rather than the same recycled pitch that many a journalist has seen before.
