The 2017 Southern C Summit Media Pitch Panel: Perfect Your Pitch

Now that the 2017 Southern C Summit is just a couple months away, we are gearing up for one of the most exciting additions this year – the Media Pitch Panel. Ten attendees will have the opportunity to pitch their brand directly to four of the top names in media and to share their story in front of the Southern C audience. Moderated by Jackie Thomson and Libba Osborne of our team at Leapfrog PR, the panel will include Steele Marcoux, Editor-in-Chief of Coastal Living, Tori Mellott, Senior Design and Markets Editor of Traditional Home, Jessica Romm, Editor-in-Chief of Domino magazine, and Eugenia Santiesteban Soto, Senior Style Editor of Better Homes & Gardens.

Whether you’ll be presenting your pitch in person at the Media Pitch Panel or drafting an email to an editor on your own time, we’ve pulled together our best advice for making a successful pitch!

1. Do Your Research – A great pitch is only great if it’s pitched to the right publication and to the right editor. You could have a well-crafted pitch, but if your product is not a fit for the magazine or you pitch to the wrong editor, your email will likely not get answered. Create a target list of publications whose content and readership are good fits for your brand and then research the correct editor. The best way to do this is to look at the masthead as well as what sections or articles the editor has previously written. Become familiar with your target publications by reading them month after month and taking note about what brands they feature and what stories they are writing. Also take note if an editor has covered a similar product to yours or writes an ongoing series that you would be a fit for. An editor is more likely to respond if you’re able to be specific about the section you’d be a fit for and can reference their previous work.
2. Craft a Compelling (Short) Story – Whether you’re pitching in person in February or crafting an email pitch to an editor anytime throughout the year, the most important thing to remember is to keep it short and succinct! Participants in the Media Pitch Panel will each have 3 minutes in front of the panelists to introduce themselves and pitch their brand/product. In this limited amount of time, it is important that the introduction is brief and that the pitch is engaging.
3. Anticipate Questions – Once you’ve gotten the editor’s attention, don’t risk losing it by being unprepared or uninformative. Make sure your pitch includes details like pricing, retailers, availability, and most importantly a high quality image in the body of the email. Also be prepared with hi-res product imagery and samples so that you can send them without delay at the editor’s request. The difference between a successful pitch and an unsuccessful one could simply be the fact that someone else was able to email the editor back more quickly!