Please stop pitching like that: PR guide for the chronically archived

With tightening resources and a world that never stops delivering topics for news – from global crises to a certain Pedro Pascal wearing a scandalous cutout shirt in Cannes – journalists are juggling more work than ever before. Newsrooms are shrinking, inboxes are overflowing, and somehow they're still expected to crank out sharp, accurate stories – sometimes as much as 6 to 8 articles per day.

I wholeheartedly empathise with journalists. And if you work in PR or want to get a story out of your company, you really should too. Especially when it comes to pitching. 

The inbox from hell 

Some years ago, my journalist friend described their inbox as a place where good moods go to die (“a party, where you are cornered by 300 people who all want to tell you about their app”). To cut through that noise, you have to be thoughtful and deliver something genuinely relevant to both the journalist and their readers. Just like we as a PR agency serve companies with stories, journalists serve their readers. 

In this post, I’ll dive into these three pillars and share some practices that can (hopefully) make your life in PR (and journalists’ work) a little easier. 

So… is this even a story?

The biggest challenge for most companies is nailing down the story itself. A good story needs to be something that people are actually excited to read. It needs to be timely and talk about matters that, well, actually matter to readers. We spend a considerable amount of time with clients just talking through what they do and why they do it, both to clarify it for us and for the client. While there are some whoppingly exciting workshops we run to uncover our clients’ stories, we often come back to the following questions with pitches.

• Is there something new here? What makes this newsworthy?
• What bigger trends does this tie into?
• Is there something that makes it interesting beyond your company – even outside your industry?
• Why is this timely now?

At first glance, these questions look innocent and simple. But the more you start to think about them, the deeper you go into complexity and “wanting to make sure no angle is being missed in the story.”

The second part of this brain game is looking back at the story you’ve created. Does it make sense for someone who has never heard of this particular technology or industry? Would an average 16-year-old understand it? Not to say that journalists are teens but because simplifying your message is key. Journalists are very busy, and they want to quickly grasp the essence of your story. 

The third and final step of the process is called "tough love" – in other words, editing your story like your most brutally honest friend would. If something feels vague, boring, or irrelevant, it probably is. Fix it or lose it. 

After these three steps, if you’re still happy with your story, you can move forward. If not, go back to the beginning. Rework the angle, rethink the delivery, and don’t be afraid to scrap parts that aren’t working. A strong story often takes a few rounds of sharpening and that’s part of the process.

Stop swiping right on everyone, PR is not Tinder

Pitching your story isn’t about throwing out as many messages as possible and hoping someone matches with you. Again, just like with the story, the first step in pitching is asking the basic questions. What is the goal of this story? Who would benefit from reading this story? Which media outlets do they read?

A key part of PR success is finding the right media outlets and especially the right journalists to pitch to. Instead of blasting press releases left and right, lean into the slightly uncomfortable (but way more effective) task of pitching your story directly to the right people. PR is nothing if not targeted sales. We literally sell stories.

Let's say that you are a sustainable material company looking to build awareness for your new innovative lamb wool packaging materials in Finland. You might first think that Kauppalehti and Helsingin Sanomat are the way to go, as many do. But how about the Finnish Sheep & Goat Magazine? One of the hidden national treasures and one of my favourites, this niche industry magazine is sent to every lamb and goat farmer in Finland. That’s one of your target groups, served on a platter.

At this point, it goes without saying that you’ll also need to rethink and possibly edit your story to answer the exact needs of this specific media’s readers. What would be the most interesting angle in your story for them? An easy way to do this is to benchmark other stories in the same media outlets.

Well, how to find the right journalist then?  Start by checking what different journalists have written about before. If they’ve ever covered similar tech, they probably are open to pitches around it later on as well. Have they covered your competitor? Go ahead – see if they would be interested in a new perspective on the topic.

On top of that, the more you read the news, the more you will start to catch familiar names and faces. Being authentically curious about journalism and media helps tremendously.

But how do you really get to know a journalist? Unfortunately, there are no quick ways to do so – as is the case with most human relationships. To get to know someone, be it a journalist or a lamb farmer, you will actually need to get to know them as people. 

As a self-declared introvert who finds networking events only marginally better than dental work, I’m a big fan of the one-on-one lunch. During lunch, you get the chance to offer the journalist some new perspectives and insights, while getting to know them over food. Nothing brings people together like an overpriced lunch salad, I always say.

How to not ruin your story with a terrible email

Once you’ve found the right journalist, the next step is pitching your story. This is where many good ideas go to die, so it makes sense to put some effort into the pitch itself. 

Let’s get concrete: a pitch is usually an email where you outline the essentials of your story.

The magic of a good pitch (or any email, am I right) is that it’s:

• Short (we’re talking 150–200 words, not the whole company backstory)
• Clear (no jargon, no buzzwords, no "industry-leading synergy solutions")
• Interesting (why this story, why now, why you’re telling them)

I sometimes see posts asking about the right time to pitch. To be honest, never and always. Newsworthy stories will most likely always go through, bad pitches never will. That said, if you're trying to avoid getting lost in the Monday morning doom-scroll or the Friday inbox purge, mid-week mornings (Tuesday–Thursday, 9–11am) tend to work best.

Treat timing like a flexible thing. Just because you pitch on a Wednesday doesn't mean you'll get coverage by Thursday. Some stories take weeks or months to shape and that's just the name of the game. The earlier you start the better. Follow up once or twice (the most). 

A good pitch isn’t about using the fanciest words or writing the cleverest subject line. It’s about respecting the journalist’s time, knowing what they care about, and offering them something useful, timely, and actually interesting. Do that, and it’s much more likely the journalist will remember you as someone who gets it. 

And here’s the thing that I really hope you don’t forget: journalism is not marketing. Journalists don’t owe you a reply. They don’t need to write about your company or your news. Journalism exists to explain the world, inform , ask questions, and sometimes hold power to account.

If you’ve taken the time to shape the story, think through the angle, and send it to the right person, you’ve already done more than most. And that effort doesn’t go unnoticed. Not by the journalist, and hopefully, in the end, not by the readers either.