How to Pitch Your Product to the Press

Last Tuesday I popped in to DoES Liverpool to see Matthew Hughes give a talk on how to pitch your product to the press. He’s a tech journalist at MakeUseOf — so he had some lessons to share from the other side of the table.

In no real order:

• Be as concise as possible - journos receive mountains of product pitches each week.
• Sounds stupid but: There’s a difference between product pitches and press releases. The former is an anchor to entice the journo to sign-up for your product, check it out and write a review.
• If you have notable investors > name drop them. This adds validation.
• You need to entice the journo - lead with the problems you’re solving.
• Personalisation is important. Do your research on the journo. What have they written in the past that might make them want to write about your product?
• Gifts are cool, but not bribes $$$. UPDATE from Matthew: “Should probably clarify I meant gifts with no monetary value though, and after an article has been published. ;)”
• Obvz grammar is super important.
• Journos like phone numbers for follow up - so share yours.
• Don’t talk about yourself (founders) - especially if it’s a product pitch.

Bookmarks:

• press.farm find journalists to write about your product.
• blonde20.com good PR agency. Do retainers from around £4,000 a month — much more competitive that London agencies we’ve spoken to.
• uber.com/presskit Uber’s press kit is a good example.