8 Media Pitch Examples to Get You Press Coverage in 2024

What makes a good media pitch?

Is it…?

• The subject line
• Having a powerful idea
• Sending the right follow-up emails
• Sending emails to the right target audience
• Writing perfect pitch copy that will spark your prospect’s interest
• Illustrating previous work you’ve done with other journalists

These 8 media pitch examples will answer this question.

So, if you really want to know how to write media pitches that get press coverage, this guide is a must-read.

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What is a Media Pitch?

The obvious question we need to answer before moving on to the email templates I have for you is, “What is a media pitch?”

In other words, why should someone consider using media pitching and start cold-emailing people as part of their marketing strategy?  

Before answering that question, let’s consider this:

As most top-tier publishers receive between 50 and 500 pitches per week, it’s all too easy for your email pitch to get lost in the noise.

It’s crazy, right?

Imagine if you had to read somewhere between 50 and 500 email pitches—mostly from total strangers—every single week.

Assuming you do read some of them, how would you pick the ones to reply to and spend more time examining?

To put it plainly, what makes a cold pitch stand out from the noise and have a chance of further exploration?  

To begin with, media pitching isn’t a new thing.

As you can see from the below table, the interest for the term “media pitch” has remained fairly steady for the last five years.

So, before delving any further, let’s try to give a proper definition to media pitching.

Media pitching is the process of promoting (pitching) information about your products and services to journalists, bloggers and people with influence in your industry, with the purpose of getting press coverage, brand mentions and extra exposure for your business.

Now, you may be wondering: why is this important?

The answer is simple: media coverage from the right journalist or PR professional can really help your startup or established business raise awareness and grow.

As TechCrunch states in its article “Finding the right PR pro to cover your startup”…

You’ve read correctly.

TechCrunch—a target publication for most tech startups—stresses the importance of pitching the right publication and the right reporter in order to see your article, story, content piece or product get published.

Rest assured that if you do pitch the right reporter or publication and get press coverage, your whole business can be transformed.

There are many examples of companies that have been featured in publications such as TechCrunch, Forbes, Business Insider, Mashable and WIRED, and witnessed a significant uplift in their traffic or sales.

Media Pitch Vs Press Release

A media pitch and a press release are not the same thing.

A media pitch is an email or letter sent to a journalist or media outlet in an attempt to get them to write a story about a particular topic.

It includes background information, angles, and compelling reasons why the story idea is newsworthy.

A press release, on the other hand, is a formal statement issued to the media by a company, organization, or individual.

It contains information about events, products, services, or other announcements. It is typically sent out to media outlets in order to get the story picked up and published.

The primary difference between a media pitch and a press release is the goal.

A media pitch is an attempt to get journalists to write about a particular story (usually about a notable achievement), while a press release is an attempt to get the success story published without any additional effort.

A media pitch is also more personalized, tailored to the journalist and the story, whereas a press release is more of a blanket statement.

How to Write a Successful Media Pitch of Your Own?

The answer to this question will vary on the type of pitch you want to send.

However, generally speaking, there are five components to a successful pitch for the media.

Presentation

The presentation should be concise and well-crafted, highlighting key points of the pitch and explaining the message clearly.

It should be visually appealing and engaging, with visuals to help emphasize the message.

For example, a presentation for a new product launch could include slides with product images, product features, customer testimonials, and other visuals that help illustrate the message – similar to a pitch deck in a sales pitch or even an elevator pitch.

Messaging

The messaging should be tailored to the audience and should clearly articulate the benefits of the product or service.

The message should be compelling and creative, as well as accurate and honest.

For example, a media pitch for a new product could highlight the product’s unique features, its competitive advantages, and its potential to revolutionize its industry.

Contact Information

The contact information should be included in the presentation, so that the media can follow up with questions or requests for more information.

This should include the name, email address, and phone number of the primary contact person.

Supporting materials

Supporting materials such as fact sheets, brochures, press releases, and videos should be included in the presentation.

These materials should provide additional information about the product or service and should be designed to be easily digestible and accessible to the media.

Follow-up

After the initial presentation, a follow-up should be conducted with the media to ensure that they have received and understood the message.

This follow-up should include any additional information that the media may need, as well as an invitation to follow up with any questions or requests for more information.

So, what makes a good pitch? 

We’ll try to answer that question through a list of 8 media pitch examples—all of which have been tried and tested by people trying to promote their small businesses, new products or articles to the most prolific publications online.

Example #1: The “Have Some Data For You” Pitch

According to a survey by content marketing agency Fractl on 1,300 top-tier media publishers, only 52% of these publishers believe the pitches they receive are somehow valuable.

That leaves us with 48% of top-tier publications believing that they don’t get any value out of the media pitches they receive.

This could also explain why most PR pitches go unnoticed.

However, if we look closely at the data from this survey, we’ll come to a significant realization:

If we somehow manage to add value, we have a fair chance of receiving a reply.

One of the best ways to add value is by giving the person we’re trying to reach out to (e.g. journalist, influencer, blogger) something they can’t find elsewhere.

As you might have guessed, that “something” is data.

Here’s our first media pitch example:

After finishing up with our media pitch, we insert it into Respona’s editor and let Respona grade the tool based on four different parameters.

These parameters are:

1. Subject line length
2. Word count
3. Question count
4. Spam words

Here’s our pitch email in Respona’s editor:

The fields highlighted with grey are what we call “Variables”.

Here are some of the default Variables that Respona has.

Based on the PR pitch software you’re using, before sending your email, you need to personalize it by adding relevant information, such as adding a quick article summary that outlines your prospect’s article.

This can be done with an AI variable, such as the “Icebreaker” that will scan through your prospect’s article and pick a snippet to mention.

As we mentioned earlier, personalization in media pitching is very important, so mentioning a relevant content piece or recent article that your prospect has previously published can definitely help you get a positive reply. Additionally, including a unique email signature will help put a human face to the pitch and further personalize your message.

Why we like it: It adds value right away and thus has a good chance of getting a reply.

Ideal for:  SaaS startups that have access to data and conduct their own studies.

Tools to use: Respona

What to pay attention to: Reach out ONLY to people who’ve expressed interest in data and studies in your field of expertise.

Example #2: The “Thank You for the Help” Pitch

Let’s face it.

Everyone wants to feel valuable.

Everyone wants to feel like they contribute to helping someone find a solution to a problem they may have or to inspire someone to change their life.

This is why reaching out to someone and thanking them for the help is more likely to result in them reading your message.

Of course, it’s one thing to read an email and another to actually send a reply.

Nevertheless, this type of media pitching is great if you’re trying to build relationships with journalists, bloggers and influencers.  

Why we like it: This type of pitch works because it helps your prospect feel valuable through their work.

Ideal for: Small businesses and solopreneurs reaching out to influencers in their niche who had an impact on them.

Tools to use: Respona

What to pay attention to: Don’t overdo it with praising your prospect for their help—always try to be genuine.

Example #3: The “Typo” Pitch

Nobody wants to see typos in their published work.

If you think of large publications or popular journalists who publish their articles in publications such as TechCrunch, Forbes and Mashable, typos are even more important.

Even though most publications have an army of editors and proofreaders making sure there are no mistakes slipping through the cracks, there still may be some that go unnoticed.

This is what makes finding those mistakes and pointing them out even more effective.

Note that the [Topic] and any other placeholders in square brackets are areas that you can edit (or create custom AI variables) and add to in the last step of setting up your email sequence with Respona.

Those variables are different than those you can add while in the “Create a sequence” stage.

For example, to add your prospect’s first name with Respona, all you need to do is move your cursor over the area where you want to insert the first name of your media prospect.

Click on the variable icon on the right side of the screen.

Next, choose the variable you want to add.

Variables are particularly useful for mass email campaigns, as they add an extra personalized touch to your emails.

Why we like it: No one wants to have typos or grammar mistakes in their work—this is why this tactic is so powerful.

Ideal for: Small businesses and solopreneurs reaching out to bloggers who’re publishing long-form pieces and most likely don’t have an editor in their team.

Tools to use: Grammarly/Respona

What to pay attention to: Don’t try to point out the mistake like you’re perfect—try to be modest about it and show your genuine interest in the prospect’s work.

Example #4: The “You Might Wanna Check This One As Well” Pitch

As a business, you want to be present in every conversation that happens in your industry that could help you raise awareness about your products and services.

In the same vein, when someone is talking about something where your business is topically relevant, it’s essential that you’re present and mentioned.

In all such cases, you should be able to reach out to prospects and ask them to include you in their blog posts or articles.

Before discussing how you can do that, let me first share with you how you can uncover such opportunities.

To do so, open Respona, start a new campaign and select a campaign template that works best for your use case (or run an advanced campaign if you already have experience with the tool).

In our example, we’ll be running a blogger outreach campaign getting in touch with bloggers that have recently published content on PR outreach.

Paste your target keywords in the first field. They will be used to find relevant opportunities.

Next, offer an incentive for your prospects to collaborate (such as an indirect link back for them).

Then, hit “Use this template”.

Next, review your email sequence, or create one from scratch.

We recommend using Respona’s AI variables such as “Icebreaker” to quickly and meaningfully personalize your emails at scale.

Click “Next” to continue with the opportunity search.

It’s already all set up based on our inputs in the campaign template.

No need to do much here besides add SEO filters to narrow down the search:

Click “Continue” to enable a simultaneous contact search and provide additional instructions to your AI variables.

Finally, we can also make the search recurring and Respona will automatically pull fresh opportunities for you every couple of weeks.

When ready, run the automation and wait for opportunities to be found.

Here’s the email you can send to your media contact list.

Why we like it: No one wants to miss things—this is why this tactic works so well.

Ideal for: Small businesses and SaaS startups looking for ways to constantly get mentions and earn backlinks for their website.

Tools to use: Respona’s Opportunities

What to pay attention to: You have to be really relevant and make sure that the person who wrote the article or blog post is likely still unaware of the content piece you’re trying to pitch.

Example #5: The “Infographic Version 1” Pitch

Contrary to popular opinion, infographics still work.

In fact, the interest for infographics worldwide seems to have remained steady for the past five years.

This means that people are still looking for ways to create beautiful infographics that will get them press coverage, brand mentions and backlinks.

This explains why infographics are still part of the PR strategy for many companies around the world.

To create a beautiful infographic, you need two things:

1. High-quality data
2. Solid design

To find high-quality data, you need to conduct research or rely on your own data set—if your company collects and analyzes data.

You also need to ensure that the journalists, bloggers or influencers you’re reaching out to are actually suitable for and interested in the content of your infographic.

In other words, your pitch has to be both well-researched and relevant.

Here’s the first version I have for you. (This is part of Respona’s ready-to-use templates.)

Here’s how the email looks in Respona’s editor:

Note: To gain access to the complete sequence, be sure to sign up for a 14-day free trial.

Why we like it: Infographics still work!

Ideal for: SaaS startups with good design capabilities and research teams that are able to combine data from various data sources. (Also ideal for businesses that want to build backlinks, as this type of content usually attracts many links from external sites.)

Tools to use: Visme/Respona

What to pay attention to: Your design has to be solid, but the data itself has to be valuable as well. The combination of the two can get your infographic published on major publications.

Example #6: The “Infographic Version 2” Pitch

This is the second version of pitching infographics to get media coverage.

The difference between this and the previous one is that this is better for companies that have already created a couple of infographics in the past.

Once again, this media pitch template is from Respona.

The subject line remains the same, while the body text is slightly different.

Here’s how this email template looks in Respona’s editor.

Why we like it: Infographics still work!

Ideal for: SaaS startups with good design capabilities and research teams that are able to combine data from various data sources. (Also ideal for businesses that want to build backlinks, as this type of content usually attracts many links from external sites.)

Tools to use: Visme/Respona

What to pay attention to: Your design has to be solid, but the data itself has to be valuable as well. The combination of the two can get your infographic published on major publications.

Example #7: The “Exclusive for You” Pitch

The truth is that everyone’s seeking exclusivity.

Why?

Four words: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

People want access to exclusive information because of a powerful psychological principle called FOMO.

So, when you have exclusive information about something (e.g. a product launch), you can use this type of media pitch to raise even more awareness about your new product or service.

Instead of a template, for this type of media pitch, we’ll examine an email sent by Jason L. Baptiste to a TechCrunch journalist prior to his startup’s launch.

This is a press release that was sent almost ten years ago.

You could argue that people don’t send press releases anymore.

For the most part, you’d be right.

However, if you…

• Have a strong value proposition
• Provide truly exclusive information
• Add extra benefits for people who read your press release

… Then you have a decent chance of getting a response and starting a conversation.

Remember though: the information you provide and the person you’re reaching out to should be truly relevant.

The timeframe for someone to take action should also be as short as possible.

Thus, in the first paragraph of his email pitch, Jason L. Baptiste says:

“Launching PadPressed tomorrow…”

Not next week or next month, but tomorrow.

That leaves his prospect with a really short timeframe to take action.

In other words, it creates urgency and makes it difficult for the recipient of the email not to respond.

One pro-tip here is this:

Try to connect with your prospect on LinkedIn and Twitter a couple of weeks before you send your email.

Interact with their LinkedIn updates and Tweets and try to establish a relationship before reaching out to them.

If used correctly, this tactic can be really powerful.

Why we like it: It can be a great way to get some early traction and establish some media relations that you can leverage later on.

Ideal for: Pre-launch startups that need to get some media coverage.

Tools to use: Respona

What to pay attention to: Be sure that the person you’re reaching out to has a genuine interest in what you’re offering as exclusive information.

Example #8: The “You’ve Missed This One” Pitch

This is a great way to get your product or service listed in list posts and comparison guides by bloggers and industry journalists.

Here’s how it works.

First, you need to create a list of words and phrases that people use to describe your product.

For example, let’s assume you have an online corporate training software tool that helps people create and sell online courses from their own websites.

Some of the phrases people likely use to search for your product are:

• Online Training Software
• Corporate Training Platform
• Online Course Builder
• WordPress LMS Plugin
• Course Creation Software
• Corporate LMS

You can then combine these terms with phrases that are often used in list posts and comparison guides.

Such phrases are:

• “top”
• “best”
• “review”
• “comparison”
• “alternatives”
• “recommended tools”
• “definitive guide”
• “highest rated”
• “tips”
• “list”
• “vs”
• “comparison guide”
• “reviewed”
• “options”
• “paid and free”
• “tools”
• “software”
• “advice”
• “ratings”
• “2024”

The above words and phrases are called search operators.

Combining them with the words/phrases that people use to search for your product will give you a search query.

For example, for the term “corporate training platform”, we’d have:

• Corporate Training Platform “top”
• Corporate Training Platform “best”
• Corporate Training Platform “review”
• Corporate Training Platform “comparison”
• Corporate Training Platform “alternatives”
• Corporate Training Platform “recommended tools”
• Corporate Training Platform “definitive guide”
• Corporate Training Platform “highest rated”
• Corporate Training Platform “tips”
• Corporate Training Platform “list”
• Corporate Training Platform “vs”
• Corporate Training Platform “comparison guide”
• Corporate Training Platform “reviewed”
• Corporate Training Platform “options”
• Corporate Training Platform “paid and free”
• Corporate Training Platform “tools”
• Corporate Training Platform “software”
• Corporate Training Platform “advice”
• Corporate Training Platform “ratings”
• Corporate Training Platform “2024”

Respona’s search engine will automatically apply these search operators to your string if you use the “Listicle” campaign template.

Once again, fill out the necessary fields (there will be a few more compared to the blogger outreach template).

And the tool will handle the opportunity searching for you:

Here’s the email template you can use.

Note: To gain access to the complete sequence, be sure to sign up for a 7-day free trial.

Why we like it: It helps the person who’s published the list post include even more solutions and thus cover the topic more thoroughly.

Ideal for: Early-stage SaaS companies that want to raise awareness about their product.

Tools to use: Respona’s search engine

What to pay attention to: Be sure that you’re relevant—reach out only to prospects that mention competing products or services. Also, make sure to have the description and any screenshots that may be asked for ready, as this will make the blogger’s, editor’s or journalist’s work easier.

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Wrapping Up

So there you have it.

You now know what makes a good email pitch for media coverage.

Before I leave you, I want you to keep this in mind:

Solid research is one of the most important elements of a good media pitch letter.

Simply put, having an eye-catching email subject line or great body text isn’t enough to get you results.

Public relations and making connections with media outlets and influencers isn’t as easy as creating an attention-grabbing email.

You actually have to put in the work into knowing your media prospects before you reach out to them.

This way, you’ll be able to build a genuine relationship with them.

Remember, when you build a relationship with a PR person, it’s much easier to ask for something.

Good luck with your media pitching efforts!