The article “Figuring Out Journalists: 3 Tips for PR Pros” by Jonathan Tombes on Ragan’s Health Care Communication News discusses three helpful clues when it comes to efficiently motivating busy journalists to consider your story pitch:

  • They hate jargon. Being the excellent wordsmiths they are, journalists don’t like industry lingo/buzzwords. They are more responsive to straightforward, clear wording.
  • They’re being stretched thin. Due to the obvious move of most printed material to being digital, there are less journalists, which means they are most likely overloaded with work. So, if you make it as easy as possible for them to consider your story, then they will most likely fit you into their schedule.
  • Sometimes, they’re predisposed to a particular story. Often journalists can be biased, whether it is purposeful or not, and can already possess predisposed notions about a story idea. Per Tombes, not all journalists ‘pre-write’ and go searching for quotes, but most have inclinations.

Are you having trouble hooking a journalist? These helpful tips and strategies in being prepared, presenting a compelling pitch and using unambiguous terminology, will allow the journalist that you are trying to entice to be able to more easily understand and take the time to recognize your angle.

When pitching a story to the media, do you have any tips on effectively capturing someone’s attention? SHARE your feedback with us!

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a PR, marketing or social media campaign, contact Scott Public Relations.

Like what you’ve read? Follow Scott Public Relations on Facebook , Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+. For convenient blog updates, sign up for the Einsight RSS feed!

(Note: Many internet browser platforms are discontinuing their internal RSS reader. If you are viewing this in Google Chrome the RSS feed will not work properly since they discontinued Google Reader. If you have an independent reader set up already you should be fine. If you do not, may we suggest you look to Digg Reader, AOL Reader, or our personal favorite – Feedly to handle your RSS feeds. Happy reading.)