Pitch Strategy: Identifying Reasons to Believe

Your pitch is the stimulus driving an editor to Google the subject of your pitch.
What does the editor's zero moment of truth look like?

From supporting creative briefs to fueling message tracks, reasons to believe are a critical part of any campaign or plan, down to an individual pitch.

This is because reasons to believe are proof -- the facts keeping the wings on the creative plane giving your pitch altitude. But as you build your media relations strategy, keep in mind that proof comes in various forms and is needed at various stages of your pitch.

After a pitch has gotten an editor's interest, a more esoteric but equally important type of proof is required to keep it. Let's call it provenance.

Antiques Roadshow
PBS' version of reality TV lets us watch people present objects for inspection by an expert who determines each object's value. One reason this isn't painfully boring? We get to watch each person learn if they're a millionaire holding a priceless piece of history or a schmuck who wasted their day hauling around a gimcrack.

It looks like Aunt Tilly is learning her robo-clock is worth some bank.
But it's also possible she's learning this retirement investment is bunk. 

Similarly, if you're media relations strategy expects to take something from unknown to being featured in national media right away? You are probably a schmuck. That strategy is probably a gimcrack.

The Price of Age
One of the things that can help detect if someone hit the jackpot or not is provenance. It's an object's back story that turns an old table into the table on which the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Many media relations scenarios start locally or in the trades. They build momentum and introduce the client or company to national media to open lines of communications. And when the time is right, they pitch national media.

And this is why many professionals note that local and trade media coverage can garner national media coverage. The previous coverage is provenance. It takes time to build. And many companies or clients do not always want to take the time, much less spend the money, to build out their provenance.

But a pitch is like an object without provenance. "They are of very limited value unless we know where they were found."

Not a Fan?
If your company or your client isn't a fan of Antiques Roadshow, there’s another way to get your point across.

Print out the first page of Google search results and/or Google News results for your pitch’s topic. Do the results prove out your pitch?

Editor's need reasons to believe throughout the pitch process, not just in the pitch itself. A sound strategy accounts for the hard-earned proof, that will help get an editor's attention and keep it.

:: By Kevin Dugan, @prblog
Speaking at #PRSAICon