The founder who wants to be featured in a major publication tends to approach the problem the wrong way. They focus on the pitch. The pitch is the last step. The work that makes the pitch successful happens before the pitch is written.
What editors are actually looking for
The editor of a major publication is not looking for interesting companies. They are looking for stories that their readers will find useful, surprising, or important. The company is the vehicle for the story. The story is the product.
The founder who approaches a publication with “here is our company and why it is interesting” has not answered the editor’s question. The editor’s question is “why should my readers care about this right now?” The answer to that question is the pitch.
The credibility prerequisite
Before the pitch, there is a credibility prerequisite. The editor who receives a pitch from a founder they have never heard of, about a company they have never heard of, with no third-party validation, will not respond. The pitch may be excellent. The credibility is not there to make it worth the editor’s time to evaluate.
The credibility prerequisite is built before the pitch. It is built through smaller publications, through the founder’s presence in the places where the target publication’s editors are paying attention, and through the third-party validation that comes from being covered elsewhere first. The founder who has been covered in three credible smaller publications before pitching the major publication has a different credibility profile than the founder who has not been covered anywhere.
What the pitch actually needs to contain
The pitch that gets a response tends to contain a few specific things. A clear statement of the story, not the company. A specific angle that is relevant to the publication’s audience right now. Evidence that the founder has read the publication and understands what it covers. And a reason why this story needs to be told now rather than in three months.
The timeliness element is the one most founders miss. An editor who is planning their editorial calendar is looking for stories that are timely. The story that is always true is less useful than the story that is true and timely. The founder who can connect their story to something that is happening in the world right now has a more compelling pitch than the founder who cannot.
What happens after the placement
The placement in a major publication is not the end of the process. It is the beginning of a relationship. The founder who treats the placement as a transaction, who does not follow up, who does not share the piece, who does not maintain the relationship with the journalist or editor, has extracted the value of the placement without building the asset that makes the next placement easier.
The founders who build durable media relationships tend to be the ones who treat journalists and editors as people rather than as channels. They read the journalist’s work. They share it when it is relevant. They provide useful information when they have it, even when it does not directly benefit their company. The relationship that is built on mutual value tends to produce more placements over time than the relationship that is built on a single transaction.
Related from Impulsblog: How agencies select publications that truly reach target audiences
