The Art of Pitching Live Events to the Media

The media plays a hugely important role when it comes to the promotion of your live event. With their unparalleled reach and influence, media outlets can reach your target audience in an instant, and at the same time endorse your live event. Resulting in a flurry of positive attention, increased awareness and vitally, driving ticket sales. 

Pitching to the media is one of the best promotional tactics for live events, and that’s because the public continues to place an inordinate amount of trust within these media entities.

If you can convince them to promote your live event using a carefully crafted pitch, then you can capitalise on their coverage for PR purposes.

We’ll discuss what a media pitch actually is and what you need to be mindful of to pitch live events to the media successfully.

What is a Media Pitch?

Media relations is all about communicating with journalists. This includes “pitching” – this is when you reach out to a news or media outlet, providing them with information about your event, and asking them to cover it editorially. 

Your job, in creating an effective media pitch, is to grab the reporter’s attention so that you can convince them to cover your event over someone else’s. 

How to Pitch the Media for Live Events

Pitching can be daunting, especially at first. That’s why we have come up with some key important points to remember when it comes to pitching your event. 

These could be the difference from getting your pitch accepted, or lost in the sea of lacklustre pitches. 

Personalise Your Pitch

If you send a load of generic pitches to many different media outlets and journalists, then the likelihood of them succeeding will dramatically decrease. Journalists receive hundreds of pitches a day – so make yours count. 

A great way to stand out is to personalise your pitch. If you’re reaching out to a reporter directly then do your research on them. 

Let them know you have read their work, even quote some of their work also. Something that will stop and make them think you’re personally reaching out to them and them alone. And something that shows you’ve taken the time to consider what you’re asking of them, rather than a thoughtless copy-paste. 

Spot any opportunities that may allow you to use it as a way to keep your pitch personal to the reader. Nothing is more off putting than receiving a generic email that isn’t relevant or personal.

Know Your Angle

Knowing what angle to frame your pitch is hugely important. The best way to approach this is to think about the angle which will best serve the reporter’s audience, that’s who they serve.

You need to make your angle easy for the reporter to visualise, that way they will be more inclined to cover your event. And of course, take any opportunity to make it newsworthy – what’s in the news agenda at the moment? What’s trending?  

A few angles to use for your live event pitch include:

It’s new

Is your event totally new and so unique that people might get FOMO if they don’t attend?

People are always interested in something new and exciting. Something that’s not been written about before is enticing.  

New doesn’t always mean better but it can be more interesting, so where possible, use this interest as a way to angle your pitch and entice a journalist to cover your event.

Something different

Being different means standing out from the crowd, which is always going to garner attention.

Maybe your event is a unique twist on more regular events – for example, a dog show with the use of augmented reality?! 

Showing your event to be unlike any others can give it the edge over other, more generic events. Play on your USPs!

Solves a problem 

There are endless problems in the world that people are facing on a daily basis. If your live event can help solve some of these problems then it’s obvious that a reporter could buy into it.

A media outlet wants to share relevant and useful stories which their readers can benefit from. Covering your event could be a solution to their audience’s problem.

Keep it Concise and to the Point

When pitching you only have a small window of opportunity to capture someone’s attention. For this reason you need to keep your pitches concise and to the point.

Explain what your event is and why you believe it would be worth the readers while to cover it. Use the power of storytelling to drill home a powerful and impactful message. 

You don’t need to explain every detail, all you need to do is ensure it peaks their interest and resonates with them. Make your email subject stand out, too. This is the first thing a reporter will see and as such, what will get them to open your email and find out more. 

And make sure you make it clear what result you want from your interaction with the journalist. That way, you’re already one step closer to generating some brilliant coverage. 

Timing Matters

Timing is everything in pitching. If you pitch an event to a journalist too early or late then it will more then likely not make the cut.

Think about an event. It’s going to be on at a specific time and date. Pitch it too early and you run the risk of promoting an event long before its due to begin, meaning the buzz around it might not last. 

Pitch it too late and there will be no point in covering what has already passed, you’ll be old news. 

For live events you want to make sure your pitch is being seen with plenty of time ahead until the proposed date. Think about when tickets go on sale, for example – that’s ideal timing and a handy ‘hook’ for journalists to use when writing about your event. 

This can give the reporter sufficient time to get up to speed with you and your event, as well as preparing to come down and witness the event themselves. 

Following Up is Key

Your pitches are more than likely going to be sent to a plethora of media contacts. These contacts will be receiving many, many pitches a day. 

They might actually like your pitch but for some reason or another they don’t reply. By following up you’re staying relevant and in their thoughts. 

You want to follow up consistently but not too forcibly. Leave a bit of breathing space, no one likes to be spammed by the same person every day.

Leaving a few days between follow ups should be sufficient enough. That way you’re giving them time to review and hopefully respond to your pitch. 

GALA PR – Media Relations & PR Tactics for Events 

Pitching your live event to the media can be challenging but when done properly it can pay dividends in terms of reach and exposure. 

At GALA PR we are specialists in producing creative PR and Media Relations strategies for your live events. We have vast experience and huge contacts within the media so we know how to get your live event in front of the right audience.

We’ve adopted effective strategies that are forward thinking and can allow your event to stand out. 
Contact us today to find out more!