As a writer, pitching has a totally different meaning for me than for those baseball pros out on mound. Pitching an idea can sometimes be the only way we secure a writing job. It’s for when the door is open, but the suggested topics to cover coming your way are limited.
If you’ve got an opportunity where pitches are accepted, don’t hesitate — pitch. You’ll not only get more writing assignments, but you’ll be able to control what you write, keeping things in a comfortable place and maybe even saving you time.
THE TWO TIMES I’VE HAD A CHANCE TO PITCH IDEAS
I’ve had two clients where it has been asked of me to pitch content. One was a client who needed to keep content fresh and connected to current events. The ask was to review news coming out of a few sources and then pitch relevant ideas for original content. This opportunity felt more like a race to get my pitches in first. Multiple freelancers were looking at the same sources, so suggestions overlapped and you could miss out if you weren’t fast enough. I didn’t love this, and honestly, I don’t believe the system continued working after I moved on to other jobs.
My current role where pitching is asked for, and appreciated, is with my local newspaper. This is the ideal environment for pitching content if you ask me. You know the overarching topic area/section of the paper, the audience and what content areas are popular, but that’s it. You then have this wide-open space in which to think about ideas and toss them into the ring.
Every time my editor accepts one of my pitches, I’m excited to write the story. I feel a sense of ownership over it that increases my gratification levels because not only is it my content, but my idea.
For those looking to have some creative control over what they write, I highly recommend finding a pitch-friendly environment that’s more like a local paper than a content factory.
PICKING WHAT TO PITCH
For me, starting with something familiar is always the best way to get into a pitch. Even if I’m not an expert on the subject, if it’s something that relates to me personally or if I already know an expert I can talk to, it makes for a good pitch. This is because I won’t have to start from scratch with my research. I’ll already have an idea of what I want to say and what’s relevant.
Even if I don’t know an expert already, knowing it will be easy to find people to talk to helps as well. I often rely heavily on my network of friends and social contacts to get leads for interviews. Sometimes I even pick a topic to pitch because I already have 3-4 people who I know can discuss the topic, even if they’re not technically ‘experts’.
When it comes to what I know influencing a pitch, it doesn’t have to be information I’ve stored up for years waiting to share. It can be something I’ve just learned or just seen. For example, my mother-law recently went on a cruise and I pitched a piece on cruising as a senior adult. My pitch was accepted. I still had to talk to experts, but the idea of the experience being something that would interest a senior audience came simply from listening to my MIL talk about her trip.
SUBMITTING A PITCH
No matter how much information you already have before sending in a pitch, you should understand what our lead is beforehand. Know what’s going to hook in the audience and make this piece stand out. For that reason, I believe that a good pitch should start with a solid headline for the piece. It’s fine if it ultimately changes, but knowing what your headline would be helps clarify your pitch a lot.
Next, there should be 2-3 sentences on what the piece will include. You don’t have to get into the details here at all. You can talk about what problem your piece will solve, the area of information you’ll cover, what the audience will walk away with after reading it. I like to be vague here while still informative just in case my research takes me somewhere unexpected but appropriate.
If you already have specific people to interview, I’d mention that in your pitch as well. It helps reassure your editor that the content has legs. You don’t have to give names, but if you’re writing a piece on when to see a doctor about your foot, and you already know a podiatrist that will talk to you, include that tidbit.
The goal of the pitch is to get your story approved so you not only want the subject to be interesting, but you also want to show you’ve got this covered.
DELIVERING STRONG CONTENT
No matter what, once you pitch a story, and it gets accepted, it’s all on you to deliver a superior product. You don’t want to put in the effort in to come up with the story and then turn in something that’s subpar. Your editor won’t trust your future pitches as much.
This is why it’s important to really think through what you want to write about rather than float as many loose ideas as possible. Your pitches should matter because they’re ultimately a reflection on you as a storyteller and content creator.
Image by Chris Pastrick from Pixabay
