What are the best ways to pitch Business Services stories to the media as a PR professional?

First and foremost, determine if there's a compelling story within the pitch. Clearly outline the key points for the journalist and the associated questions. A common mistake is focusing solely on the story angle without considering the target media's style, audience, and potential inquiries. Ensure precision with your figures and facts. Additionally, consider the journalist's role and expertise in the specific beat; their market knowledge is crucial. Prepare thoroughly with relevant questions, accurate figures, and, notably, emphasize the story's impact.

It's pleasing to see the word value here, it's a commodity that PRs often forget about. What value are you bringing to the journalist and their audience? How can they use the story you're pitching to engage their audience? Don't forget, that 'value' can be giving the journalist a story that will drive SEO for the publication and therefore eyeballs and advertising value. It helps to think of working with the media as a transaction, both parties need to gain value from the exchange. Have that mindset and you will be able to quickly assess whether your pitch is too one-sided and crucially how to address that,

Case studies, case studies, case studies! The media get bombarded with research data (much of it proprietary) and they, rightly, treat this data with a level of mistrust no matter how detailed the study or relevant the subject area to the beat they cover. But if you can bring that data to life with real-life examples, and with real-world impact, then you've got yourself a compelling story that should put you ahead of the hundreds of competing pitches that the journalist you're contacting has almost certainly received. If you can offer a third party comment/interview to bolster your claims, even better.

Chasing a pitch, how often and how hard has been a PR debate for as long as I can remember! I see both sides of the debate - PRs rightly need to understand how something has landed, journalists don't have time to respond to every story that lands on their desk. It's a judgement call. If you have a story that you firmly believe is 100% right for an outlet, then I see nothing wrong in a follow up (or two). But most PRs know the type of story they are working on and whether it's worth perserverence. If you don't secure the story with your target media, think about how else it can be used, and where. Step back and consider if it can be reworked, or offered elsewhere in a different format. This is a skill that has to be learned.

A couple of years ago, I was pitching a business story focused on the coding and data skills of UK and US student. We had a good research sample (1000) and a strong headline story - students considered a coding language to be as important as a foreign language for their future careers. The initial pitch didn't land like we thought it would. This happens. We stepped back, waited and went back to the media a few months later when the news agenda was more favourable...result? Significant tier 1 media coverage for the same story. Timing is everything, and sometimes that is out of our control due to other events.