What's a storey pitch? A newsworthy idea written up in a press release, a story suggestion communicated by a telephone call to a journalist, or a quick event notice outlined in a brief e-mail sent to an editor.

Good press starts with your pitch.

There are many aspects of creating good public relations for your company or organization. One of the basic elements of PR is dealing with news media, whether these are newspaper reporters, TV producers, radio hosts, or online news sites.

If you’ve tried placing stories with the media before, you know that people on the editorial side are a different breed than those positive people on the sales side who are happy to book advertising for you.

That’s why, if you want to get the media to write about your business, it’s important to understand who these people are and what they need to do their jobs.

The first thing to know is that editors, reporters, and journalists are starved for time on a daily basis. Most of them work to a daily deadline and are on the receiving end of multiple story pitches each day.

Break out of the pack with news that gets noticed.

To increase your odds of having the media write about your news item or company, make sure your story pitch contains as many of the following elements as possible:

• Novelty or Newness: reporters like to be the first to report on a story; always give them a new angle, new information, or a new product to write about.
• Human Element: people like to read about people; trade and financial media may use straight product or company news but consumer stories always benefit from a real example featuring a real person.
• Conflict or Controversy: contrary to popular belief, it’s good to include elements that might create controversy or dialogue; it gives reporters more to work with and may help your story generate a second story.
• Timeliness: does it relate to today? Try to link your story idea to another news item that’s currently in the headlines.
• Local Relevance: most media consider it their job to cover local news items as well as national and international stories.
• Impact: how many people would be interested? The more people that your story affects or impacts, the greater your chances of the media covering it.

But the more often you can give a reporter news that includes these elements, the more likely it will be that they run your news story. And the benefit of delivering a valid and interesting news story to the media (in addition to increasing awareness for your business) is that the media will be more open to accepting your story pitches in the future.