Pitching your startup to the media: a checklist

Media publications receive plenty of pitches on a daily basis – from informal friendly emails, to press releases. While there are many mitigating factors that may influence whether or not your story ends up making headlines out of the hundreds journalists receive everyday, running through the checklist below will help elevate your chances of hearing back.

1. Is it newsworthy?

It may seem like an obvious point, but having something that’s worth writing about is paramount to getting featured. Making sure that your story hasn’t been covered before is a good start.

Just for the record, having other journalists pick up your news is not a selling point – even if it’s a prominent publication. Give reporters something fresh to get excited about – either from a new angle, or framed as a follow-up piece as part of a series.

2. Do you have a good subject line?

With plenty of emails to clear, subject lines can be the deciding factor as to whether journalists even take a second look at your story. Work on your subject line such that it gets the core message across, piques interest, and is concise enough.

3. Is it personalized?

There’s obvious appeal in sending mass emails and BCC-ing reporters from every nook and cranny from around the world. While casting your net wide increases chances of getting picked up, the converse is usually true. A well thought-out, personalized pitch is more likely to resonate with carefully targeted journalists who cover your type of stories – rather than spamming mindlessly.

4. Are you advertising?

Nobody is likely to bat an eyelid at your company’s existence – that in itself doesn’t warrant attention. Instead of making it an over glorified advertisement selling your company, pitch a story instead.

Human narratives are generally more appealing than numbers as it creates a connection with readers.

5. Are you getting to the point quick enough?

Get to the point. You can save the prose here – what’s more important are the relevant who, what, where, when, why and how. If possible, run your story by someone who is new to it – if he/she can’t get the gist within the opening lines or first few minutes, it probably needs some refining.

6. Are you ready to follow-up?

Before you hit send, the most important thing is to make sure to leave contact details so journalists can easily follow-up on a story. News have very short shelf lives, so be prepared to handle questions promptly.

7. Do you have the resources to sustain your efforts?

Whether your pitch is successful or not, it’s not the end of the story. Building a relationship with reporters goes a long way in raising your future chances of getting covered in the future. Get to know them as people and face to face where possible, instead of treating them like news-churning machines.

In addition, it helps to continually expand your media list – instead of desperately hunting for contacts during crunch time.

Above all, the most important thing to keep in mind when attempting to get press coverage is a journalist’s motivation: keeping readers happy. You’re on to something if you can offer news of value that would engage a publication’s targeted readers.

See: 5 Mistakes Startups Make When Emailing Journalists

Meet the Media at Tech in Asia Jakarta

If you’re all checked and raring to go, we have the perfect opportunity for you at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2015 happening on November 11-12.

Meet the Media is the place for you meet face to face with journalists from Tech in Asia, CNN Indonesia Online, Express Tribune and local media outlets Merdeka, Liputan, Kompas and Tekno to pitch your startup to and share your company’s journey with.

The confirmed schedule of all participating media outlets and guidelines will be up on the events website closer to the date – so plan ahead and practice your pitch! Each startup will be entitled to 5 minutes with each press.

Get the word out at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2015. We’ve extended our 10 percent promotion until November 8 (code: tiajkt10). Purchase yours today!