An author I know recently pitched a media outlet that made complete sense. It fit their “This outlet is perfect for me” test, which includes the following:
The topic was right for them. The audience was right. The timing was good. The author had the expertise. It was the kind of match that makes you think, “Of course they are going to be interested.”
And then…
Crickets. Nothing. No response.
That can be enormously frustrating, especially when the fit seems so obvious. The natural conclusion is usually that they must not have liked the pitch.
Maybe.
But not necessarily.
One of the things people outside the media business do not always see is how many decisions are happening behind the scenes, so as a media insider, let me give you a little peek at what may be going on.
You see, a pitch does not arrive in a vacuum. It arrives in the middle of somebody else’s day.
That editor may be buried in another story. A producer may already have a similar segment in development. The editorial calendar may have shifted. Someone on staff may have left or be covering for someone who is out. A breaking story may suddenly change everything they thought they were doing that week.
And there is something else happening now that I believe is important to understand as well, and that is that there is simply so much information coming at everyone these days. It’s a lot to process.
Media professionals are reading pitches, emails, news alerts, internal messages, research, social media, press releases, articles, and everything else required to do their jobs. The amount of material competing for their attention is enormous.
Which means a pitch has to accomplish quite a bit very, very quickly.
It is not enough for the idea to be good or even great. The pitch has to make clear that the idea belongs with this particular outlet. It has to give them a reason to care right now. It also has to establish why this author or expert is the right person to talk about it.
But things don’t stop there. Your pitch should make the story, interview, or segment easy to envision. And it needs to do all of that without making the media person work to figure out what you are trying to say.
Haha…that’s a big one.
They have plenty to do and are not going to take the time to try to understand what you are trying to say.
So when a pitch gets no response, you absolutely need to take another look at it. Was the hook strong enough? Was the idea immediately clear? Was there a compelling reason to cover it now? Was the contact really the right person? Could the story have been framed more sharply?
These are very useful questions. But they are very different from automatically concluding that this was a bad pitch.
Sometimes the pitch needs work, or the timing was wrong. It could be that other stories took priority, or the inbox was simply overwhelming. And sometimes you may never know why there was no response. And that’s just the way it is.
It is also true that publicity requires judgment along with persistence. You follow up when it makes sense. You could decide to try another appropriate contact. You might want to wait for a stronger news hook, or you may decide to move on to the next good idea.
That silence gives you information. Pay attention to it, because it may not be telling you what you automatically think it means.
Media Darling Moment: No response does not automatically mean no interest.
To your success!
Joanne
P.S. In honor of all those pitches that disappear into the void, a little musical commiseration.
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