Why Journalists Ignore 95% of Pitches, and How to Be the 5%
Most pitches fail for the same four reasons. Fix those and your hit rate changes overnight.
A busy journalist can receive hundreds of pitches a week. Most get deleted after the subject line. The good news is that the reasons are predictable, which means they are fixable.
Key answer
Journalists ignore most pitches because they are not news, not relevant to that journalist and not ready to publish. The pitches that land offer a genuine story, sent to the right person, with everything needed to write it in one email.
What Makes a Pitch Newsworthy?
A pitch is newsworthy when it tells readers something new, surprising or useful that they did not know yesterday. A product launch rarely qualifies on its own. A finding from your data, a strong opinion on a live story or a human angle usually does.
- Original data the journalist cannot get elsewhere
- Expert reaction to news that broke today
- A person with a genuinely unusual story
- A trend backed by numbers, not anecdotes
Why Does Targeting Matter So Much?
Targeting matters because a great story sent to the wrong journalist is still spam to them. Read what each person has written in the last three months. If they have never covered your subject, they will not start with your email.
A list of 20 journalists you have actually read will outperform a list of 2,000 you bought.
Want this done for you?
Our specialists put this into practice every week for clients.
How Should the Email Be Written?
Write the email so the story is in the subject line and the first sentence, with the evidence underneath. Keep it short, plain text and free of attachments. Offer images, data and a spokesperson, and say when they are available.
| Weak pitch | Strong pitch |
|---|---|
| Exciting news from our company | Half of small firms now pay more for software than rent, new survey finds |
| Attachment-heavy press release | Three-line summary, link to data and images |
| Sent to a general news desk | Sent to the reporter who covers small business costs |
When Should You Follow Up?
Follow up once, two or three working days later, with something new: a fresh data point, a local angle or a named spokesperson. Chasing with 'just checking you saw this' rarely helps.