Our free PR Pitch Scorecard will evaluate your pitch to help you build more buzz.
If you’re launching a breakthrough product the likes of which the world has never seen. And you’re leading one of the hottest new trends. And you have an A-list celebrity teed up as your spokesperson. Well, then this article isn’t for you – the media is likely already beating down your door.
Everyone else: please read on.
Today’s journalists, producers, and editors are facing a double challenge. Their workloads have increased due to smaller team sizes (but unchanged deadlines). Plus, the number of pitches they receive continues to grow – via email, social, you name it. The result: it’s harder than ever to get their attention.
The most successful pitches go beyond a clever headline. They combine a variety of strategic elements that make a member of the media stop and think: this could be a great story.
How can you objectively evaluate the strength of your own pitch? And what can you do to dial up that X factor to make your pitch more likely to get through the media gatekeepers?
Introducing the PR Pitch Scorecard, a free tool designed to help companies improve their chances of earning meaningful media coverage.
The PR Pitch Scorecard was developed by S3 McMillan’s publicity team for internal use, drawing on decades of experience helping challenger organizations earn outsized coverage online, in print, and on air.
Now we are making it available to the public. Why? Because we want to help more brands – even ones we are not directly working with – and PR remains one of the most powerful tools for amplifying awareness, strengthening reputation, and driving sales.
The PR Pitch Scorecard looks at several of the elements that often determine whether a pitch sparks a journalist’s interest or gets overlooked. It then ranks your pitch on a scale of 1 to 100 – and if it’s at least an 80, you’re ready to get pitching. (If not, just revise and resubmit until you get there.)
No single factor guarantees coverage. But when several of these elements come together, the odds improve significantly – and that’s what our PR Pitch Scorecard is designed to do.
Before you pitch, score it. (And if you need help with PR, just give us a shout: hello@s3mcmillan.com.)
