From Crickets to Camera Time: The Secret Ingredient Behind Every Great Pitch

You have a great story to tell and your expertise is valuable, yet every time you pitch yourself to the media, you’re met with silence. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Eventually, the silence can leave you questioning whether you’re the voice of authority you thought you were. Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you are likely correct in assuming you’d be a great guest and contributor. The bad news is that you’re probably not landing those placements due to a bad pitch recipe. Let me unpack that for you.

Recently, I was on a group tour of CBS 3 Philadelphia and chatting with my former TV mentor and friend, Philly TV news icon Jim Donovan. Jim mentioned that when he reviews pitches, he’s looking for the ones that require him to “just add water and stir.” Think of a pitch as a soup, if you will. The producer or the news team is looking for a perfectly packaged pitch with every ingredient in the right amounts. The publicist puts all the ingredients together, doing the heavy lifting for the newsroom, and the news team just has to—as Donovan put it—“add water and stir.” 

Whether you’re self-pitching or working with a PR agency, it can be easy to underestimate the importance of perfectly packaging every pitch to maximize your chances of landing coverage. It’s estimated that there are 6.2 PR professionals to every one journalist! Needless to say, their inboxes are inundated with hundreds of pitches every day. 

Get your recipe right

I often share with clients and colleagues that one of the best ways to get your recipe right is to look at it through both a journalist’s lens and a producer’s lens. Ask yourself: What does a producer need to tell this story well? When you deliver a ready-to-air pitch that they can metaphorically “just add water and stir,” it can be the difference between a producer choosing you over the next, equally qualified guest. 

So, what’s off in your recipe? It could be anything. Aside from the foundational elements of any solid pitch, you need to understand what ingredients the news team is looking for. Sometimes, it’s as nuanced as adjusting your wording so outlets can cover your topic all month instead of just one day, giving newsrooms more flexibility when scheduling. Sure, you’re sending producers images, but are you sending them the ones they need?  

One of the keys to creating an “add water and stir” pitch is to ask yourself if you’ve eliminated as much friction as possible in the production process. Most media teams, especially local news, are lean, mean, and incredibly efficient. From the soundbites to how it plays into the news cycle and beyond, it all needs to effortlessly click for the team. You have to give the media outlet everything they need to take the story from concept to camera. 

It takes a team

That’s where a seasoned PR team, one that knows how journalists and producers think, is vital. We know how to expertly adjust the ingredients of your pitch and serve them up on a silver platter, giving the news team everything they need to simply add water and stir. 

Your expertise and story are valuable, but it’s essential to remember that you’re not the only one trying to get in front of a mic. If you want to stand out among an incredibly talented and competitive crowd, you have to give the media outlet everything they need to set the segment up for success. Think of it this way: When you put in the extra effort up front, you equip the news team to run with your story immediately, giving you the best chance to make a lasting impact and ensuring you don’t miss your moment. 

Originally published at Inc.com