By Sara Awaleh
When it comes to local TV, I’m not afraid to admit I’m learning new things every day. Despite being in the PR industry for about three years now and having several friends who work in TV, my work has almost always focused on reaching other forms of media instead. Recently, however, I’ve learned that pitching a client to television is an entirely different experience.
As I continue on my journey of learning more about the world of TV, I had an opportunity to take a professional tour of CBS Chicago with Publicity Club of Chicago. I saw where all the magic happens, from the sports department to the studios. I even got a sneak peek at CBS Chicago’s exciting new “Weather Sphere,” a 3D virtual reality tool that First Alert will use to provide better weather forecasts.
Here are three things I learned..
The best pitches are the ones that make a producer’s life easier.
Sounds obvious, right? But how do we make things easier when reaching out to producers? CBS Chicago’s Special Projects Producer, Beth Godvik, said that her favorite PR people are the ones who make her job simpler. Rather than going back and forth via email and phone, here are some of the key things we should be sending producers when pitching a story:
The organization and a very brief background about them
Why this story is relevant to the station’s viewers
Spokespeople information and backgrounds
Spokespeople availability for in-studio or off-site interviews
With these tips, you’ll improve your chances of securing a placement and potentially add yourself to a producer’s “Favorite PR Person” list.
Many TV Stations have a current focus or mission that you may be able to connect with.
Every company has a brand that you can appeal to. Over the summer, CBS Chicago launched a new rebrand: For the Love of Chicago. This latest launch came with a hyper-focus on community impact stories. The station’s new mission and goal is to amplify stories in local neighborhoods. So, some of the best angles to pitch this station would be angles that appeal to this mission and goal. How does your client’s latest event or project appeal to community impact?
You can apply this logic to nearly every station. Find your target station’s brand or mission, and then find a way to connect with that brand.
Contrary to what you may think, TV news is not a dying industry.
With the large move to digital platforms over the past decade, it’s no surprise that cable TV has seen an overall decline in viewership. However, just because people aren’t watching cable anymore doesn’t mean that they’ve abandoned TV news completely. During the tour, we had the opportunity to hear from CBS Chicago’s General Manager, Jennifer Lyons. She mentioned that the station has been adding newscasts to streaming platforms because so many people are consuming news via streaming. TV is still a valuable asset for PR professionals to reach target audiences.
Thanks again to CBS Chicago and Publicity Club Chicago for this wonderful opportunity! I will continue to carry this knowledge with me in my future media relations efforts. I hope that these insights can help other practitioners as well.