The Different Types of Press Pitches

If you’re just getting started on your press outreach campaign, you may not realize there are a few different avenues for sending a media pitch. Here we cover the most common types of PR pitches:

Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is essentially a content publisher’s production calendar, which includes their upcoming themes, features, and stories. Publishers use these to plan and organize their content to ensure it meets the needs and interests of their audience and advertisers. Generally, a portion of the editorial calendar is made publicly available as part of the media kit provided for advertisers, and can be found on the publisher’s website.

Even though they are geared toward advertisers, many writers and public relations professionals use them to pitch stories to publishers. Because they list upcoming editorial features and topics in advance of their publication date, editorial calendars provide an excellent opportunity to pitch an on-topic, tailored and timely pitch.

Media Requests
Many journalists use online services such as HARO and Profnet to send out requests and connect with potential sources for their stories. Users can also subscribe to these services to view and respond to media requests. Pitches made in response to media requests have a higher success rate because the reporter is already actively seeking a source for an existing story (provided you meet the reporter’s needs). However, they also require a bigger time investment. To be effective with this type of press pitch, you need to monitor the services regularly and respond quickly.

Cold Pitch
A cold pitch is when you pitch a story to an editor or journalist without any prior connection. The purpose of a cold pitch is essentially to convince the media person or outlet to feature a story which will presumably relate to your expertise or business, and result in media coverage. These types of press pitches are generally more challenging, because they require both research and persuasive skill. The advantages of a cold pitch are that you can target your outreach to the specific media outlets that you want, and can play a role in shaping the type of story and media coverage you receive.

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