Here’s a top tip if you want to pitch something to the press. No, scratch that, this isn’t a top tip, calling it a top tip downplays it. 

This is the mother of all pitches, the Holy Grail of pitches, the creme de la creme of pitches, the tippety toppety grand prize of the pitchery lottery.

Best thing about it is you can do it with just a couple of sentences. You don’t have to write a white paper or even a press release.

And I’m about to show you how one Newspager did it.

Robert Bolohan of Lotuly® (Human Translation) achieved this zenith of media tartery last week with his pitch to a journalist (no, the Newspage crew had nothing to do with this one, Robert achieved it all on his lonesome). His pitch was this:

“My wife and I bought a minivan and converted it into a fully electric self sufficient and off grid campervan. We’d love to talk about how we save money every month.”

There. That’s it. Two sentences.

What’s so special about those two sentences? That’s what you’re thinking, right? Well allow me to open the door for you and let you into the room marked “Dark Arts of Media Mastery”

The perfect pitch has to contain three things. If it contains these three things, you’re guaranteed to have a line of journalists outside your door, a few climbing in through the windows and at least one stuck in the chimney.

The three things are:

💡Touch on a megatrend

💡Have a unique angle

💡Be current

Let’s look at Robert’s pitch again. 

Sustainability and the environment are megatrends. “A fully electric self sufficient and off grid campervan” is all about being environmentally friendly. Boom! Point 1 taken care of. 

The campervan is a unique angle in the context of what the journalist was looking for. In this case an article about solar panels for the home. A campervan is not what you first think of when you hear home, but it could be a home, hence a unique angle. Boom! Point 2 taken care of.

We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and people are struggling to pay their electricity bills. “We’d love to talk about how we save money every month” hits our current circumstances right on the button. Boom! Point 3 taken care of.

Okay, so most people are unlikely to go out and buy a minivan and turn it into a Tesla but an article about it hits the megatrend, has a unique angle and is timely. 

What’s more, the thought of living off the grid, cruising along the highway with the summer breeze flowing through the windows while you sing carpool karaoke to “Me and Bobby Mcgee” sure sounds like an enticing dream. Especially if you just opened your electricity bill.

So next time you want to pitch an idea to a journalist, make sure it hits a megatrend, has a unique angle and is current.

Now sing with me:

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free, now, now.”