Getting the Pitch Right!

My internship at Devahasdin has gone by so quickly and I have been lucky to learn and experience so much about public relations and working in consultancy.

Over my placement I have worked on a range of different tasks for various clients but one task I have been doing regularly for the client Waterford Plaza is pitching stories to the local community newspaper, The Southern Gazette. I have had two pitches; one for Burger Edge and their fundraiser for paralympian Nigel Barley and the other for Supa IGA’s International Food Festival appear in ‘The Fast Lane’ section of the paper.

More recently I was responsible for preparing a pitch for Mo’s Mobiles Waterford Plaza and their ‘Recharge and Reach Out’ fundraiser that was running from June to August. First I had to contact Aloysius the store manager and conduct a brief phone interview to gain further information about the fundraiser which he was more than happy to provide knowing the coverage from the local community newspaper would encourage more shoppers to get involved and help reach the fundraising target. From there I compiled the information and prepared a short pitch, which was approved by Kat my mentor before I sent it off to the journalist at The Southern Gazette.

The pitch was successfully picked up and the next stage was the fun bit - attending the photo shoot at Waterford Plaza! I really enjoyed overseeing the pitch, which turned out great appearing in this weeks Southern Gazette:

Writing a pitch was new to me when I first started my internship and I was surprised to know that I only had to write a couple of interesting sentences with all the key facts. At first I found it challenging to achieve less is more with the pitch as I was used to writing longer media releases for university assignments. After a few attempts and edits by my mentor my pitches were good to go!

From being responsible for pitching stories I quickly learnt the importance of media relationships and respecting the journalist’s time and deadlines. It is always best to pitch earlier in the week and if a journalist responds or asks for further information always provide it promptly otherwise they will move on to another story which means your client misses out and that journalist may be reluctant to pick up another one of your pitches.

My internship is fast coming to an end but I am sure there will be plenty for me to do and learn before I finish up!

Caitlyn