Getting Great At Making A Media Pitch

If you haven't recognized it by now, people are very influenced by what they see, hear, and read in the media. Getting yourself quoted in media sources may not give you a direct correlation to getting leads, but you'll notice the buzz about you and your business steadily increase.

In 2017, I was named as the #4 most influential financial advisor in the country (http://bit.ly/2y2C8ok). This hit in the media helped to propel my business to even greater heights by increased my close rate to almost 100%.

You can use many sources to make media pitches, but the main one I used for FREEE to grow my media influence to getting quoted in over 100 publications is HARO (www.helpareporter.com).

If you make a media pitch correctly and understand how reporters operate, you'll have a much better chance of being a consistently quoted outlet in the papers. Since all media is now digitized, you'll also have content that you can consistently repost into many other social media platforms as well.

Here is how you handle making a media pitch to HARO. It will take you roughly five media pitches to get one hit until you learn to get good at this.

1. FIND A STORY

HARO organizes the stories into different categories. Business and Finance will be the section you should look at every day. You should also review every single section because there may be another story for business owners, a geographical story, or a human-interest story that you can potentially respond to for a reporter.

SAMPLE LIST

Business and Finance

4) How to Negotiate a Higher Salary (Confidential)

5) Smaller E-Retailers Managing Their Storefronts (Internet Retailer)

6) What does your homeowners insurance really cover? (Cheapism Blog)

7) Top CPA's Needed for book (book)

8) What's the best way for managers to motivate field service employees? (clicksoftware.com)

9) What's the top trait of successful electrical engineers? (pannam.com)

10) Biggest challenges in selling financial services? (docurated.com)

11) Have you paid off a large debt? (creditsesame.com)

12) Small business owners, what's your best tip for creating or maintaining partnerships? (MyCorporation.com)

2. PICK STORY AND WRITE INITIAL E-MAIL

The next part is to follow these directions explicitly on how to send in your ideas for quotes for a story. If you follow this pattern you will get quoted more often and reporters will come to you more often.

Let's choose story number 6- "What does your homeowners insurance really cover" story. When you click the link, you will get back something that looks like this.

Query:

Looking for a homeowner's insurance broker/provider that can give
a few insights into the benefits of a homeowner's insurance
policy. What are some commonly overlooked benefits? What should
people check the fine print for?

Requirements:

Insurance broker/provider/expert

Click on the e-mail link and the follow the instructions below.

E-mail outline

• Subject line: What Does Your Homeowners Insurance Really Cover? (You always put the summary line in the subject line)
• When you title the e-mail, put it to the reporter/bloggers name. For example- you would say Dear Louis in this example.
• In the first sentence, introduce yourself to the reporter and give them the 10 second bio on you.

For example:

Dear Louis,

Thanks for considering me to be quoted in the cheapism blog. I have been giving financial advice for more than 20 years and am a Certified Financial Planner. I have been quoted many times by reporters.

• Give BULLET POINTED answers to the response. If you write paragraphs, you will NEVER get quoted. Reporters don't have time to read. They have time to scan.
• For example:
  Louis,
  Here are three of my tips on what people should check the fine print for in their homeowners' policy. (Remember, keep it simple, short, and quotable and highlight your best point)
  • How much basic coverage is there on jewelry and collectibles? Often, policies won't cover more than $1,000 to $5,000 unless you add a rider.
  • Do you have actual replacement coverage? What will the policy actually replace (i.e. furniture, building structure) if you have a claim?
  • Do you have flood insurance? This has become a big one to look for in the fine print since the past few massive hurricanes.
• Close the e-mail with your information.

Louis,

Feel free to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you want to talk more and my information is listed below in this e-mail. Please let me know when you run the story so I can share with all of my social media network.

Sincerely,

xxxxx

3. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE DATE WHEN THE ARTICLE WILL RUN

If the journalist decides to use your quote, you want to make sure you get an embedded link or a back link to your website. The article to a degree carries much less value if you cannot get a backlink. You should try to include your website, your Linkedin profile name or Twitter handle if at all possible. Share the quote on your website, with your clients, and add to the in the news section on your website. With Hyperchat Social (www.hyperchatsocial.com) we do this through by tracking your brand daily and then making strategic reposting to boost the brand of your company and engage more followers