It’s not you, it’s me: Why reporters are rejecting your media pitch and how to move on from it

It’s a fact of life – some of your press releases are going to get rejected. But it may not be your fault. Here’s why things didn’t work out and how to rebound.

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Whether in love or story pitching, rejection is hard.

You think you have something great to offer, you put yourself out there, but alas, it just wasn’t meant to be.

It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with your pitch. It might just mean that it wasn’t the right fit for the reporter.

It’s not you, it’s me (er, … I mean, “it’s them”).

Here are some common reasons your pitch might have been rejected, and some tips for how to regroup and put yourself out there again.

You’re not my type. – There’s nothing wrong with your story. It’s just not the type of story the reporter actually covers. For example, many education reporters today only have the time to cover board meetings, school finance, and items related to district performance and accountability. Other education reporters only cover higher education. So they may not be willing to take a more featurey story about an individual student.

How to overcome pitch rejection: Find a way to link your story pitch to the topics they are already covering, giving the reporter an opportunity to use your story to “humanize” their coverage. Another option is to identify a different reporter who has covered a similar story to yours in the past, and pitch it to them. 

I don’t know you that well. Sometimes a reporter will reject your pitch or miss it altogether because they don’t recognize either your name or your organization’s name when the pitch comes over. When they are literally scanning through the thousands of emails they get each day, an unknown name just doesn’t stand out, and gets deleted before it ever had a chance.

How to overcome pitch rejection: Get to know the reporters who cover your school on a face-to-face basis. If you see them at events, introduce yourself. Invite them to your schools to visit, or just out for a “nice to meet you” coffee at Starbucks. Even if they reject you, they’ll get to know your name. Maybe most importantly, follow them on Twitter, and when it makes sense, comment on their stories (trust me: reporters pay CLOSE attention to who is interacting with them on Twitter). Once the reporter gets to know you and your organization by name, they’ll be less likely to skip your email and phone messages or ignore the call when your name shows up on caller ID.

I don’t like you like that. Most reporters are even-keeled and just want a good story no matter where it comes from. But occasionally you’ll find a reporter who has some kind of bias or beef against you or your school. This is very rare, but it happens. (MUCH more common is a PR professional who incorrectly believes a reporter doesn’t like them or their school.)

How to overcome pitch rejection: Overcoming a personal bias can be a bit of a process. Try to find third-party validation through active social media engagement of community members and other influencers, and be sure to share the good news when other organizations report about you. Eventually, the negative reporter may see you as a hot commodity and be more willing to give you another try. 

I’m not ready to commit. Whether they work in print, TV, radio, or digital media, reporters are being asked to take on more and more all the time and being given few resources to accomplish it all. It could be that the reporter you’re pitching to is too tied up in other projects to take yours on at the moment.

How to overcome pitch rejection: There are few strategies here. One, cut down the amount of effort reporting your story would take by providing contacts and links to information sources along with your pitch. With less work reporting to do themselves, they may more easily find time to work your story into their busy routine. If that doesn’t work, just try to repitch some other time when they’re not as busy, like the holidays, the summer, or just earlier the next week before their schedule has filled up.

You got bad digits. If you keep sending pitches with no answer in return, it’s possible that you inadvertently got bad digits (email or phone) to begin with. 

How to overcome pitch rejection: Try sending out your pitch through a newsletter service like Constant Contact, then check the “Opens” to see which emails are “Bouncing” as bad emails. Or if you’re not having any luck by phone, try the organization’s main line and ask to be transferred the reporter. You might find out that they’ve moved on and no one in IT has bothered to reset the voicemail, yet.

I’m out of your league. Not every story deserves to be on the front page of the newspaper or be featured on “Ellen.”  Sometimes even when those that do get missed because the competition for those opportunities is so fierce.

How to overcome pitch rejection: Don’t let one big target distract you from all of the other opportunities that might be available. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. Also, the more your story is being covered by other outlets, the more likely the big outlet is to see it and recognize it as something people are starting to talk about. At that point, they may come to you! If not, and you really believe your story deserves a chance at the coverage of your dreams, try-try-try again. Just make sure you’re mixing up your pitch strategies (see last week’s #MediaMonday for tips) to give the outlet multiple options for entry at your story.

How do you deal with pitch rejection? Share your best tip in the comments below!