How To Pitch Your Brand To Newspapers
Do you have your eye on a specific newspaper that you would just love to get featured in? Perhaps the New York Times or the LA Times?
One of the biggest questions that I get asked is – how do you get noticed by reporters? As a former TV news anchor, I can assure you that there is a way to find the right person. You will also want to make sure that you’re sending the right story to the right reporter.
Newspapers and Reporters
When it comes to newspapers, reporters are often given specific beats. This means each reporter is responsible for sourcing, researching, and reporting content for a specific topic.
Examples of specific beats include:
- Politics
- Business
- Health
- Entertainment
From a newspaper’s point of view, this is great because reporters will develop relationships with sources who can potentially share exclusive stories relevant to their focus.
1. Find The Right Reporter
Before you begin blindly contacting reporters, you will want to find the reporter’s beat that best fits your story’s subject.
For example – if your business is in the tech industry, your first step is to find which reporter specifically covers tech.
You can find which reporter covers this by logging onto the newspaper’s website and searching for the tech section. If you see the same name on several tech articles, chances are that’s the reporter’s beat. Click on their name and you may find more information in their bio.
Make sure to send tech stories to only tech reporters and business stories business reporters, unless you can find a unique angle to make it relevant to another beat.
This will make the reporter feel like you are following their work and that it is a more personal interaction rather than an email blast.
If the reporter starts noticing your name and associating you with irrelevant pitches they might start ignoring your emails or worse yet throwing you into spam.
2. Current Event Reporters
Many newspapers have reporters that are focused on current events. If your company has a particularly timely event, you can expand your outreach and pitch to these current event reporters.
Timely events can include
- Grand Openings
- Community-based events
- Events surrounding certain local and national holidays
- Something specific that is of interest to the newspaper’s audience
These reporters will likely have titles such as general assignment reporter or city editor.
3. Local Coverage
Now, getting covered by the New York Times is a difficult task. So don’t be discouraged if they don’t respond.
You can still secure coverage from smaller regional newspapers.
Reaching out to regional newspapers may give you a better chance at your story being featured. These smaller outlets are structured the exact same way as bigger publications.
The thing to remember is that newspapers often divide their reporters into specific focus areas. The key is to make sure you target the reporters that cover the industry you are in.
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