How to pitch a human interest story to the press: the difference between opinion and real-life stories, six pitching steps and an AI prompt to find your angle.
Social media is still blocked on my phone but before I tell you the full thing, I'm trying to pitch to the national press first.
And it is the perfect example of showing a bit of ankle. Or what I call a human interest story.
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In today’s edition: two ways to show a bit of ankle, with a focus on pitching real-life stories. Plus an AI prompt to help you find your own angle, a sneak peek at my draft pitch, and what makes a journalist say yes.
What is the ankle theory?
Most people want to get press for their business. For a lot of us, our business story isn’t that interesting. Sorry. Not Sorry.
At worst, the pitch to a journalist just sounds like they are trying to get free advertising.
I will die on the hill that human interest stories are the best way to promote your business. And that is what I call showing a bit of ankle.
It does not. Repeat. It does not have to be you selling your life for coverage.
But maybe you have a few stories up your sleeve that show us just the right amount of personality to help us connect to you.
Next week, we will do an exercise to help pull these out.
Opinion vs Real-Life Pitches
The difference between a human interest story and an opinion piece is covered in our interview with Jess from the Metro. Both types of stories are run from the same desk.
For other publications, these two different stories are commissioned by different editorial teams.
Opinions tend to hook off the news. It could show a professional or personal take on something. Usually nonconformist, combative, surprising or revealing.
Today, I want to walk you through the steps I have been taking as a PR pro to pitch a human interest story.
The Six Steps I take for pitching a human interest story
Step 1: Identify the story
In my instance, I'm someone who talks about self-promotion and I wanted to highlight the surprising benefits of not using social media. The obvious things like better mental health, less juggling etc are normal. I need a different angle.
Step 2: Where could it go
Some human interest stories fit in career pages and some in lifestyle. So I'm going to need to tweak the pitch dependent on where I'm going.
A lifestyle section of a newspaper is not going to be as interested in what I do for a career, whereas a career section is not going to care as much about how this has affected my friendships.
Step 3: Draft the pitches
Paid readers can access my work-in-progress pitch below. If you want to revise my pitching formula, don't forget to check out my Pitch Perfect class which explains it in full.
A quick Google of 'how to pitch an opinion piece' or 'who is the commissioning editor for real life stories at XX' usually returns the goods.
Step 5: Follow up
Several people sent me this Guardian article this week, which I used in follow-ups to show there is an appetite for this type of story and how mine is different.
I only chase three times max before I move on to the next publication.
If I can't get a response from an unknown contact I will go back to places where I have a relationship.
Lucy, why don't you just go to a site that you have already written for?Because apparently I like to my life hard for myself and push myself to build my press relationships.
Step 6: Recycle the story
There can be 100 reasons why my pitch doesn't land. Something happens in breaking news. Versions of it have already been written or in the process of being commissioned. One failed story pitch doesn't make me a crap PR. It just means I can use it in different ways. A podcast pitch angle. For a blog post on my own site. A guest pitch to another newsletter. It's never once and done.
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