EP 3 - Claire Pitman FINAL
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Liz Nable: [00:00:00] Coming up television news, executive producer Claire Pittman breaks down what really makes something newsworthy and how TV newsrooms decide which stories make it to air. In this chat, she lifts the curtain on how visual television news actually is, why pictures matter so much and how everyday viewers at home shape the stories that lead a bulletin.
Across this conversation, Claire breaks down exactly what's. Small and medium business owners need to understand before they ever pick up the phone to a newsroom, she explains who to contact, how the chief of staff desk works, and the difference between same day hard news and longer lead feature or promo stories that can be organized and promoted in advance.
If you've ever wondered how to get your business on tv, this episode will give you a practical roadmap for pitching in a way that actually cuts through the chaos of any busy newsroom. You'll hear Claire share specific language, timing, tips and story angles that work, plus what to avoid so you don't [00:01:00] burn important media relationships before they've even started.
This is a must listen if you wanna understand how television journalists think and what they need from you. Also, how to become a go-to case study or expert for future stories. I hope you're enjoying this summer series. Settle in and enjoy this behind the scenes. Look at TV news with executive producer.
Claire Pittman.
Hello and welcome to Medium Magnet, the podcast for female founders and women owned businesses, startups, and side hustlers who want to learn how to grow their business, leveraging the media and free pr. I am Liz Nale, and I'm your host, personal publicist, PR strategist, and dedicated hype woman. My goal with this show is to give you a behind the scenes tour of how the media works to break down the barriers between your business and the big ma heads.
So you can see how [00:02:00] easy it is to get featured simply by giving journalists what they want at Media Magnet. You'll also get access to the top journals, editors, writers, and PR people in your industry and beyond sharing their secrets and expertise on the how, why, what. And when of pitching and getting featured in the media consistently, I will share with you how to build your reputation as an industry expert so successfully the media will be knocking down your door.
When I first started in small business 12 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had spent 15 years as a television news reporter working at several major networks in Australia, and then as a freelancer in the US and around the world. I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and traveling the world chasing stories.
It was unpredictable and exciting until it wasn't anymore. I decided I wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened [00:03:00] next and where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's. There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business, but getting media and great free PR was not one of them.
I already knew what the media wanted. I knew the secret formula for what made news, and I knew how to leverage those media outlets to build my business, get more exposure, and ultimately make more sales. I was featured in every major media outlet in the country, and I never spent a single cent on pr. I took that knowledge for granted until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses.
Let them in on the secret, and they too could build their brands with organic media and pr. Let me help you take your brand from Best Kept Secret to household name. This is Media Magnet. The podcast and I'm pretty pumped to have you here.[00:04:00]
Hi Claire. Thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
Cliare Pitman: It's awesome to be here, Liz. Thanks.
Liz Nable: We, I don't think we've had, um, an executive producer for news on the show yet, so I'm excited to talk to you.
Cliare Pitman: I'm the first exciting.
Liz Nable: So the million dollar question, I think for a lot of the people listening, small business owners, um, is what makes news.
Cliare Pitman: Yeah. Okay. Well, I'll speak I guess from te, I work in television news, obviously, and it may sound obvious, but we are a visual medium. So what makes news for us is pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures every day of the week. So unlike a newspaper, which can sort of run anything on the front page or a really big political story or things, if we don't run at the top of a news bulletin each night, a picture that's going to make someone in their kitchen who's cooking dinner at six o'clock.
Put their [00:05:00] head up and watch and think, oh gosh, that's, that's an amazing picture. We're just not gonna capture those viewers' attention. We have to set ourselves apart. And so what makes good news is pictures every day of the week doesn't mean we don't cover story that don't have a natural picture. So doesn't have to be the building being blown up at the top of the news, although that makes wonderful TV as rim as it sounds.
Um. But we need to be able to tell a story visually. So, um, when we talk about stories that are harder to tell with pictures, you're talking about people, humans, case studies, real life, humans that viewers can relate to. So it's a, so. And I guess a third element is sort of as part of that is stories that matter to our viewers.
We very much know our viewers. We know they live in middle Sydney, out in the suburbs. They're struggling with cost of living. They have all the same, they sit in traffic every day. They can't afford petrol anymore. All those things that you find hard about life, [00:06:00] they find hard. So finding news that talks to them and their experience is what makes a good news story for us.
Liz Nable: So tell me a bit about the process of when, so, you know, business owner, small to medium business owner is wanting to pitch into a TV newsroom. Uh, where, where does that pitch go to? Who should they go to and how does that flow through the newsrooms to get to you? So, and then you decide whether you are going to use it or not.
Cliare Pitman: That's a really good question. I think it depends, um, on if you're pitching something well ahead of time or if you're pitching something that same day. TV newsrooms are buzzing places. There's, we literally have a round desk with all these other desks floating off. It's like a news hub and the phones are going nonstop.
So the first port of call is normally your chief of staff. They are the sort of traffic controller. They take all the calls coming in and then they deploy camera crews and journalists going out. You pick up the phone and you call a chief of [00:07:00] staff desk. So you could ring, say channel nine. You could ring the switchboard and say, please put me through to the chief of staff desk.
The newsroom chief of staff desk. Now you might get someone that's very short with you on the phone because they're very busy people. They're there pretty much around the clock. Fielding calls. So you need to have something that is, it's not just a Hi, I just wanna chat about this. It's not that you need to have something ready to go.
I have something that I'm, I've a shoot lined up today, or I'm your pitch ready to go. There are now in newsrooms though other departments which, um, might be more relevant to the smaller businesses, which are normally your. Features your promos and your investigations departments. I work as part of that.
Um, part-time. I know the other newsrooms like Channel seven and things all have them. We have them interstate. What we, in that department, when you're working on that department, you are looking for stories that you, that are a little bit more timeless. They're not the breaking news on the day. So stories that you can pre organize and [00:08:00] then promote overnight stories that will promote really well.
So when you're watching the block late at night and you see a promo for the next night's news, that's what that journalist has worked on. So if you get in touch with those people, perhaps by bringing the chief of staff desk and saying, have you got anyone working on. Features and investigations or promos at the moment, find out their phone number, find out their email address, and they're probably the best people to pitch into.
'cause they'll have the time to invest in looking at your story and seeing how they can make it work or where it fits in the news cycle,
Liz Nable: right? So if say, for example, someone, it's relevant to the news of the day, it's something that's happening today for whatever reason, they're just ringing you today.
Yeah. First question is, is how does that, what, what would your chief of staff be looking for in that pitch to go? This is a great story for today's news.
Cliare Pitman: They will be looking for a value. We, we've, we come back to pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures. So if you say, um, there's been a shark attack down at the beach at [00:09:00] Manley in Sydney.
Oh, I, I work in the surf lifesaving tower there. I happen to film that. I've got some video of that and a witness that was there. Could I. Part of that, that chief of staff straightaway. I know this has happened today, and I have this to add to it, but equally, stories like, um, the federal budgets on today, um, I know they're going to be talking about a massive boost to, um, GPS boost in funding to gps.
Uh, I've, I'm a GP or I represent a GP in Western Sydney that's really struggling and really angry about that. I would you like. Me to put that person up for comment, I can offer that person for comment. So on the on the day stories, you're sort of, you need to be really in touch with what the news cycle of the day is.
You can ring and ask the chief of staff, are you covering this today? If so, I have this to add. Um, is the way to go. And then often you can be put onto the journalist, they'll put you onto the journalist or the producer who is assigned to that story, [00:10:00] and then you can go through them and you'll get much more time with them.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Yeah. So I think the main thing, I guess what you're saying is, is before you ring, before you email in your mind, you've gotta be ready with what are the pitches gonna be for this story.
Cliare Pitman: Yes. Yes. So with, I mean, and I would say this with any story, whether it's an on the day or even when you are ringing, say, as I said, the promos or features and investigations team, just ringing them to say, oh, I've got this.
I've got a solar panel. I'm a solar panel installer, and I've got these great solar panels. They've come out from Germany. They're the best on the market. Would you be interested? Uh, you know, things like that. That's, that's advertising. We don't do advertising. Yeah. However, if you ring and you say, oh, in the budget last night, they forecast the power prices going up by 56%.
A lot of homeowners are wanting to bring down their power bills. Well, I've got this amazing product that helps to do that, and I've got this great new technology that no one's really talking about at the moment that I could give Channel [00:11:00] nine as an exclusive, this great new technology. Now we're starting to get somewhere, still not enough.
What I need, what the person will then say is, okay, where can we film these panels? Where are they ideally? Are they on a home in Western Sydney where the bulk of our viewers are? Are they in our heartland? Again, you might say, I've got a spokesperson. That's sometimes enough. Rarely what most news people would want is a case study.
So I've got a homeowner who faced really high power bills and couldn't really afford them anymore, that has now installed this solar and it's doing wonders, and their power bills have been slashed in half. Gives it a human face and then it's, you see how it's no longer feeling like an ad, but a real news story that's real new technology that's made a difference to someone's life.
Yeah. So it's turning your, your product or service. Making it relevant in the current news cycle and then giving it a human face. So case studies every time, um, and pictures, every time filming opportunities, thinking about [00:12:00] what are the what, what are the pictures that could set this apart and what are the people and having those lined up, ready to go.
I think people in news, we, we work so quickly, it's a 24 hour news cycle and what's. Interesting. One day is over the next. So to get cut through, if you ring with a pitch, have your case study ready to go. So I've got this great family, two kids, um, live in a this house, in this suburb, and they're using this service or product and I can put them up as well as our spokesperson and you can film them doing this.
Great. It's a real, really attractive to the news.
Liz Nable: Yeah. I think a lot of, um, a lot of the audience that are listening to the podcast today in small to medium businesses have to understand that your business is not the story. It's a byproduct of the story. You might be mentioned in the story, you know, you get great exposure through the story, but it's never like we are selling this or we are promoting this.
No.
Cliare Pitman: Can I give you a good example actually, of one, uh, of a business, a local business that got really lucky with nine news, [00:13:00] um, thanks to me this week. But he could have done this himself. He didn't. I approached Tim, but we were sitting in our promos meeting talking about what are people talking about at the moment?
What's happening in Sydney? Everyone's talking about La Nina, the weather. It's been raining for a year. So we've been doing a series of stories about what are the byproducts of La Nina, 'cause that's what everyone's talking about. Everyone loves to talk about the weather. And we're talking anecdotally about there are just mossies and ticks everywhere.
Yeah. My daughter had one the other week. Everyone I know is getting ticks. So we rang a few people, a few experts. Is there an increase? Oh yeah. All the rain has brought all these bugs to Sydney. Then the sun came out and they're, they've gone bananas. So what I did is I rang a tick tick exterminator. Now he.
Goes around the northern beaches of Sydney and exterminate ticks for a living. And I said to him, do you, have you noticed an increase? Are you getting a lot of calls? Oh yeah, I'm run off my feet. Everyone needs me to come and spray their gardens at the moment. So we lined up with him. Could we come [00:14:00] along, get you spraying a garden for ticks?
We're gonna do a story on the invasion of bugs in Sydney. So he sprayed the gar, we got shots of him spraying the garden. He was very good media talent. He spoken really short, concise grabs, which um, I'm sure we can you probably teach your, your, your clients about. Yes. Um, he told me a grab that yes. These are the perfect conditions and we're gonna have plague like ticks this year.
Perfect soundbite. Mm-hmm. And, um, he got a minute 30 story with a New South Wales health expert as part of that story on the news the other night. Now, he could have also approached us if you're a tick and pest exterminator, noticing a massive increase in ticks and mosquitoes because of the weather.
There's a story, it's not about your business, it's not about I've got this great spray, but it's just about, Hey, channel nine, have you noticed there's this message? Boom. I've spoken to New South Wales Health to get some data to back up my claims that yes, there's this, this and this. Do you wanna get me spraying?
So that's a great [00:15:00] example.
Liz Nable: So, and we, and we do talk about this, this is like piggybacking or hijacking, like current news of the day. Right?
Cliare Pitman: Exactly. That is your best, um, your best way to do it. You, you send something out into the world or you pitch something. In a vacuum, it's just rarely gonna get picked up.
Just like it's this day today. Or, oh, we're doing a story about mental health today. It has to be in relation to this news cycle, those sort of things to work. Yeah. And at the moment it's the perfect time, I believe, for businesses because all anyone cares about, and all the news cares about is cost of living and that we've got inflation at all time high.
It's going to go to 8%. So anything. They're just bringing down cost of living, keeping people hope. Anything in that space is a great sell at the moment. And I feel like a lot of brands don't take that opportunity enough. No.
Liz Nable: And this, and this is right, so, so this gentleman, um, the, with the tick exterminating business, he got a minute 30 in primetime television,
Cliare Pitman: 6:00 PM news.
Quantify that hundred thousands of, uh, that night, I don't know, maybe 300,000 eyes in [00:16:00] Sydney on that news piece. Then online on Twitter. Um, and then we done our socials. So if he
Liz Nable: had bought a minute 30 in the ad break, what's,
Cliare Pitman: oh, I dunno what that would cost, but it'd be incredible money, probably like no brainer, unbelievable money.
It's a no brainer. And, but as I said then it's not about him, it's about the story. And often a product in itself is rarely going to get a whole story on them. And I think a lot of brands, when they pitch, they sort of think, oh, do you wanna do a story about our service or our product? It's like often it's no because it's just too small or it doesn't fit in where people we're.
The ones that are really smart or are like. I know you might be doing a wider story about Christmas coming up and keeping the cost of living of Christmas down, and I know that around this time, Woolies and Kohl's and everyone might put out their Christmas catalogs and products and you might be doing this, right, that I've got something to add to that.[00:17:00]
What about this Australian made business that is actually half the price and we give half our products to Charity Pro, you know. Uh, profits or charity or whatever your point of difference is offering to be part of a bigger story is better than not getting the coverage at all. So I think some brands make the mistake of if they don't get a story all about them.
Yeah. Yeah. But it's like you're more likely to get a, a part in a story that's already happening
Liz Nable: and then you've sort of what laid the foundations of, of a relationship in some way.
Cliare Pitman: Definitely,
Liz Nable: definitely. I mean, I'm sure we will revisit this tick guy every year. Now it's easy. And that's what, because it's easy, because it's news that's timely.
You've gotta get that news by what the journalist needs to be back at three o'clock in the day, write the story, shop the pictures. So if you know he's there and he's good
Cliare Pitman: talent.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Cliare Pitman: You're gonna go to him every day of the week. And that's how we build up our list of contacts. We've got the guys we go to, um, you know, your experts in, oh, this was a great electricity guy, this was a great sup, uh, you know, supermarket guy.
They [00:18:00] all start somewhere and it's getting in touch and having that first story or. Offering to be part of a wider story that really helps. And I guess the secret I, I guess if I was to give a secret to news is yes, the first half of our bulletin is often the breaking news of the day. The big car crash, the stabbing, the murder, the political.
Spill or whatever it is. But we always need, in the back end of a news bulletin, you need what we call in news a pull through you need. So those little teasers we do, we call them playoffs before you go to an ad break. Mm-hmm. It's like stick around and watch us. 'cause after this we're gonna have this breast cancer breakthrough, or we're gonna show you that the new trends for Christmas this year, or we're going to show you what petrol prices are doing.
We call them our pull throughs. So viewers stay with us for the whole hour. And it's often in those stories that that's what we're really looking for, what we call hip pocket. So any stories we want to have, give the viewers takeaway. We look at a story and we say, what could our viewers take away from this story?
What would it teach them? [00:19:00] What could they learn? What. What, how is it gonna better their life? And that's where I would imagine a lot of your brand stories are mindful for because they've, they're filled with takeaways. So we don't just want to be delivered a survey of, here's a, we've done this sur we've commissioned a survey, and it turns out that, I don't know, five outta 10 people can't afford their mortgage anymore.
What's the takeaway from that? But if they were to switch to this. They could, or if they would use this mortgage broker and shop around more. We've been able to save people this much. Where's the positive takeaway? People don't just want grim news all the time. So I think if you can, that's where it's a real, there's a real, um, opportunity for brands to pitch in that space.
Liz Nable: Can you give people any insight into, um, how, so say for example, if someone, so we're talking about nightly news with you, obviously. So there's a daily deadline or there multiple deadlines during the day, but the big deadlines for the six o'clock news and you might have a current affair or, you know, a more of a long, [00:20:00] um, a long lead sort of show where it's not necessarily a daily deadline.
Yes. In your Newsday, if someone's calling, um, the chief of staff or they're emailing through a pitch that they wanna get done, when is the best time to do that?
Cliare Pitman: Because it's crazy
Liz Nable: at five to six.
Cliare Pitman: It is. I would say if you can do it ahead of time, do it in the week before, do it, and then follow up and say, I've got this coming up next week.
Any, I've got this coming up. And then try multiple channels, send it to the chief of staff, find out who's in the promos and features investigation. Push, push, push. Um, if you've made a relationship with a journalist, 'cause you've done a story with 'em before, you send it to them as well. But, um, I would say in the weeks.
In the week or the days leading up, give people notice if you can't, um, I would say, and even if you have and you wanna follow up on the day, definitely don't ring at five 6:00 AM because they are crazy trying to sort out their day. Mm-hmm. Unless it's. If it's something that needs to be sorted out early, you need to have touched base the day before.
Yeah. Otherwise, I would be waiting to sort of, maybe [00:21:00] you're nine o'clock when things are settled down for the a bit and the day is bedded in. Having said that, if it's something you, you are just pitching for the first time that day, you haven't set it up in the days prior, then I think you're better to get in early because they are working out the day at five 6:00 AM.
Um, but yeah, if you're following up with things, don't annoy the chief of staff at five 6:00 AM unless it's urgent and you need to because it's just come up and you wanna get in touch. Shark attack. Yeah. Yeah, the shark attack. And also knowing your audience. Some things are better pitched to, um, to the Today Show for a bigger segment and a slightly different, more, you're there, you're more entertainment.
Style, um, pieces. So you might be better to pitch to a today show or a morning or a sunrise or a morning show to get that. Um, you know, if it's a little bit what we call soft for the news a little bit, not quite, quite hard enough news angle, it can often get picked up there. Um, a current affair, if it's a really good [00:22:00] um, Australian.
Dispute or innovation or something that we all know the stories that run on them. Watch those programs. That's the other thing I would say. A lot of people ring and pitch and they haven't watched what we do. Mm-hmm. Um, there's no point. And it's, and you can see it straight away. Yeah. Um. Ring and say, Hey, I saw last week you did this story on A, B, and C.
I've got something slightly in the same vein, but with a different news hook like this. Would it fit in like that? You have ideas of how it would fit in, um, because. That's when you, you get that respect for instantly the person that you're speaking to knows that your, where your story would sit, where it would sit.
Um, some brands ring me. They know that on the, um, on the weekends, we're often looking for fillers. Yeah. So weekends is a great opportunity. It's very hard to make some, get something in the news Monday to Friday. We work fast, we work hard, and there's so much going on [00:23:00] in Sydney or in any capital city that just.
Everything gets trumped by the news of the day. Yeah. Doesn't happen on a weekend. We've only got about five reporters. Um, weekends. Definitely give everyone a heads up if you can get it shocked during the week. We're looking for features that we can shoot during the week and then run on a weekend. Um, there's an amazing opportunity at the moment.
I had a meeting just yesterday at work about, we call it our summer file over summer Christmas, new Year. There's a lot. Everyone goes on holidays and the news cycle really dies off. So we look at what really interesting features can we get in the can early, can we shoot and produce and have them to run over that period where there's still plenty of viewers watching the news, but just not having, not as much happening because there's no politics and there's no things that they're the real opportunities, particularly for smaller brands.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Cliare Pitman: Um, to be seen.
Liz Nable: And with, and with a daily news show. So obviously with, with magazines in print, you do have to pitch like long lead to get, say for example, if you have got this beautiful new [00:24:00] organic sunscreen, but it doesn't need to be pitched too far in advance. If you are, if you are taking advantage of that daily news kind of cycle, yeah, you can do it now, shoot it now and then know that it's gonna be out.
During that summer period.
Cliare Pitman: Exactly, exactly. So, and that's the sort of thing, if it's all ready to go on, we can do this, this, and this. And I've got some research to go with it that show something about sunscreens and why you need to go organic. And uh, I've got this great case study of someone, have it all bundled up, ready to go, and then it can be shot as a feature.
Um, ahead of time.
Liz Nable: What about within the Newsday itself? So like the 11 o'clock bulletin and the four o'clock bulletin. How are they different to the six o'clock and is there an opportunity to get in there, even though of course there's not as many eyeballs on those, on those shows? How, how do you choose the um, yeah, the vision and, and the news stories for those bulletins?
That's. Good. Uh,
Cliare Pitman: good question. We are, they, I mean the 11 and the the four, they, they follow the, sorry, 1130 and four. They [00:25:00] follow the same sort of format as six, but because they can't copy, they don't have a dedicated journalist like six do. Oh. That journalist is covering that shark attack and that journalist covering, um, this breast cancer breakthrough.
They are looking at ways to cover the story without having the package up one minute 30 content. Mm-hmm. So the opportunities there are. Potentially as people, as spokespeople. Do you need me to come in and do a chat on that? I'm the expert in A, B and C. I know this is a story that's around today. I could come and do a chat or now we do things on Zoom, but ideally if you can come into the studio and do a chat on that, that's where you could pitch yourself in.
Whereas you'd never get that on the six. It would just be part of the story. Yeah. Um, equally to the softer things, like the really nice, we're gonna do a Christmas toy delivery for charity. It might be a bit soft for six, but it's wonderful in the afternoon at four o'clock, so you get a 32nd piece on that.
Um, so it's perhaps knowing that, knowing that your story might not be quite there for six, [00:26:00] but saying, Hey, who's the EP today of the 11, the daytime bulletins. I've got something that might be of interest for their bulletins. Um. Pitching it in like that. Yeah. Which is just really smart. Knowing what bulletins are there, knowing where you fit.
Yeah. Um, is a, is the number one thing I would say is with getting that cut through.
Liz Nable: Explain a little bit more about, um, you talked about before a news hook. What, what does that mean exactly? What, do you have any examples? Sorry to put you on the spot.
Cliare Pitman: Yeah, I'm trying. What does a hook mean? Okay. Well I guess I gave you the tick example.
So the news hook, there wasn't about this guy that could spray ticks. It was that l Nina had brought unprecedented levels of bugs to Sydney. There's your news hook. Um. You sell, as I said, you sell a green energy product. The news hook, it's only relevant when we get, um, the energy regulators say the prices are gonna go up by 56% next year.
It's getting that hook. A lot of big brands, they commission [00:27:00] their own research to get you that hook. Um, and they're lucky to be able to do that. They'll go and do a big survey. They'll get an agency to pitch the results of that survey as a hook. But a lot of them still don't do it well because, um, they'll just deliver us this survey that shows five out of 10 Australians thinks this, and it's like, oh, that's irrelevant until you give me good talent.
Good. Yeah. And it's in with the news, so it's finding, but. News hooks, it might be like, oh, what news hook is there about my product? Yes, some things are easier than others, but there's always a news hook. Think about your friends, think about your family. Think about the people that in your community, what matters to them, and it's finding the hook.
What, what? How would you tell them about it? Why would this be of interest to them? Mm oh, it's of interest because. I'm trying to think of a good example now, but maybe with your sunscreen, when you were talking about sunscreen before, maybe it would be that we found that all these people don't wanna use traditional sunscreen, so, or there's been some research [00:28:00] around that, or whatever hook you can find.
You sort of need a hard angle with sort of facts. Yeah. Does that make sense?
Liz Nable: Absolutely. Not just a sales pitch. And what you're saying about, um, you know, not all businesses are gonna be visual, so obviously No. You know, if you've got, um, a solar panel business, you can, there's, there's pictures or, you know, if you work in fitness Yeah, there's pictures.
You know, if you are, if you are working on, let's say, um. You know, a drug, a breakthrough drug for diabetes. It, it, it's obviously harder to show, but I do, um, and I'd be keen to hear your opinion on this is how, how, what's some ideas where people can create pictures for businesses or brands that don't necessarily lend themselves well to pictures.
I normally tell my clients to make it find the human angle so that they can use people, or a story or an example in some way.
Cliare Pitman: Hundred percent. I think it is finding that human angle. It's finding that person. I mean, a lot of people, again, people that have bigger budgets, [00:29:00] they'll do an, they'll commission animations or Yeah, renders and things like that, which isn't always as practical or not, but we can do stories.
You without pictures. We do, um, what we call graphic sequences. Again, if you watch the news and you get to know what we're doing, you might see a reporter standing at a wall, um, with graphics behind them explaining a concept or topic. That's normally, and we don't have any pictures of that story, but it doesn't mean that it's not relevant because it's important information.
They're giving people equally. Again, yeah, I guess this is more, if there's not an obvious news hook and back to how we were talking about features and summer stories and weekend stories, it might be that. You've got a product and there's, you are like, well, you sell a gin, you sell a brand of gin. And it's like, well, there's no real news hook to that.
I mean, yeah, people like drinking, but we're not gonna advertise alcohol news. But you've got this incredible farmer that farms. The potatoes or whatever they make you now [00:30:00] at this farm in New South Wales for, and he's a character and he's, he's a third generation farmer. Or you've got this worker in your company that came to Australia when they, you know, and had to retrain in the industry.
You, it's just great human story. That's a story. Yeah. That's maybe not a daily news story, but it's a great weekend feature. Um, we do, we look for those sort of things, so. Um, yeah, it's again, I think to your point, it's not about the product, but it's about the person and the story of that person. So people that work in your business, um, how your business was founded, the history of your business, they're all things to think about as well when it comes to news stories, particularly
Liz Nable: when
Cliare Pitman: you, those
Liz Nable: features as a business owner, like you using your exam, your gin example.
The farmer or the third generation farmer, there's so many different ways to pitch that same story, right? Yes. So it could be about the third generation farmer. It could be that he doesn't use pesticides. It could be that, um. There's a drought, it could be that. Yeah, it's rained too much. So there's so many different ways to take the same [00:31:00] essential story.
Yeah. And just tweak it for different times of year or Christmas or Easter or, you know what I mean? I think people think they need to try and reinvent the wheel all the time. It's actually, no, you don't need to do it.
Cliare Pitman: No, no, exactly. And there's, um. I mean, at the moment, yeah, I mean, I've used the example already, but La Nina, there's been a billion stories around because of La Nina, because it's just this phenomenon that's impacted everyone.
So how did it impact you? How did it impact your business? You know, or those sort of things. So, yeah, and re-pitching it at different times and with different hooks. But yeah, I would say definitely the human stories. Um, ones that are relevant to the news, um, in terms of they're in the news cycle and you can find a hook, like a cost of living or something like that.
And then I would also say if you've got anything that is sort of a breakthrough or new or not being technology, things that, something new in a, in a existing industry that people might not be widely aware [00:32:00] of. Um, and if you can. Show people why it's new and important.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm. You've
Cliare Pitman: got a story just on its own there.
Liz Nable: How can people get themselves? You mentioned before, um, you know, you have like a little directory at work where you look up someone who could be a spokesman. Obviously you need spoke, you don't, might not know you need a spokesman on, um, let's say. Breast cancer before the day. So you re f frantically going, we need to find someone.
Yeah. So you've got your directory of, of anyone who could be an expert in that field. How can I, I mean, that's a real no-brainer to try and get yourself onto those lists. Yeah. But how do you do that and how do you maintain that relationship and, and work? How can you be easy to work with to become well-respected by journalists and, and, and producers.
Cliare Pitman: Yeah, it's a hard one because I think it's like anything in this world, it's getting that first in, isn't it? And then impressing, I think the same way it's sending the email or the pitch or the, um, the press release, the chief of staff desk, the promos desk, the features desk. Um, it's knowing when to [00:33:00] send that through, so I know.
This is coming and I know we're heading into summer and it's gonna be the hottest summer on record. I'm an expert in, um, skin cancer, and this is what I do, and these are my specialties if you need me. Here I am making those contacts, making those calls, watching the news. Ah, Gabby Rogers does all the health stories.
I'm gonna find out her, ring the cause desk, find out her email address and flick her an email saying, I'm here with this. And that Often it is easier if the first in is a story you're pitching and then the news picks up a story with you. It goes well, and then they keep you on the books. But you can also just pick yourself, pick yourself as an expert in a topic and just keep trying to make those.
Contacts, but not just randomly with no relevance. It's, you need to sort of pick your timing, like it's relevant because everyone's talking about energy prices. Well, I'm an expert in this, or everyone's talking about petrol at the moment, or everyone's, you know, if there's something in the news cycle and you think, oh, this sort of is [00:34:00] my jam, that's when you pitch yourself in.
Um. Ideally, once you get your first in, it's about being trained to give really short, sharp sound bites. Know what you're gonna say without saying, sounding really rehearsed. Just being yourself, a good Aussie person, how you're gonna, but talking the in short sound bites, which are easy for the news to cut up.
They'll probably only want six seconds of what you say. So being able to get up through a message in that short time. Yeah. Um, and be easy to work with, be available. Um, yep. I can come to you. I mean, we don't expect that we'll often send a camera to people, but if you say, I can be available anytime, or I can come to you at this time, or, um, yep.
Come see me at my house whenever. Yeah. Having availability is the way to go. If you don't have it, there's no point pitching in.
Liz Nable: No. And also I find, um, well, I found in my experience sometimes as a journalist, you would, there, you would be, have this story that followed a narrative. You know, it might have been [00:35:00] floods or it might have been something where you, you kind of need that talent to, to run with you in the interview and then they play down the story or they talk themselves down or they.
I mean, you can say what, obviously you don't have to say anything in an interview. It's up to you, but you're not gonna get used if you're not able to speak to the story and speak well,
Cliare Pitman: right? No, exactly. I mean, my tick man that said, we're looking at plague like proportions this summer. Bang, bang. He got that soundbite in the promo that ran in the block the night before and he got it then again in the package.
Yeah. Um, if he had said, oh, it's a little bit worse. Than last summer. It's not gonna make it. I mean, again, you don't want people to lie and you don't want people to, but if you can be a bit more enthusiastic and dramatic about your topic and use clear, concise language. If you, if you are an expert or you sell a service or product that's very technical, you need to learn how to explain it in a very simple way.
Um, some people are just too technical. We look for, you might have the expert that knows everything about a topic, but they just [00:36:00] can't explain it in simple, clear, under. Easy to understand language and so it's just never gonna make it. So, yeah. Um, simplify.
Liz Nable: And are those expert lists shared across your newsroom in terms of the Today Show or current affair?
Or do you need to get yourself onto each
Cliare Pitman: list? Yeah, make contact with each of them on their own. We have a internal system that we sort of produce the news out of that we put all our scripts in and things, and there's a contact database in that, so I can search, but often that's very old, updated and a lot of people don't use it.
So it's, it's, it is. Surprisingly ad hoc, you'd think there'd be some central amazing Google worksheet where everyone was at. Yeah, I wish there was, that would make our life easier. We haven't got there yet. Maybe that's what we need to do, but I think, I think people change so much and industries change and people move on from jobs so quickly.
Um, it's just building a relationship with as many people as you can and not being afraid to ask who's the best person I should speak to about this? Mm. Um. Yeah. You know, not just ringing up and launching into this [00:37:00] big pitch. Make sure you're speaking to the right person. Yeah. Can I talk to you about, are you the right person to talk to about a story happening on Thursday, um, that I think nine news would be interested in?
Yes or not? Before you start that, and do you have
Liz Nable: a moment
Cliare Pitman: exactly. And do you have a moment? Yeah, yeah. Um, if not, what is, what would be best for you? Often they'll say, can you put it in writing and have it in writing ready to go? Don't just ring up and have the call. Go into the ether and then come back at four o'clock in the afternoon with an email because that person will have finished their shift and gone home.
Yeah. Um, have, have it all written down, clearly explained, ready to go, and then follow up with a phone call.
Liz Nable: It's interesting you say like, there's obviously tons of businesses pitching, um, you know, your chief of staff probably gets hundreds, thousands of emails a day, but you also mentioned there's not a lot of business owners specifically for that part of the bulletin.
The, the softer part of the bulletin. Doing it well. So would you say there's a lot of opportunity for people to Oh yeah.
Cliare Pitman: I think there is a lot of opportunity the, for people that are savvy and smart and think about the news [00:38:00] hook, think about the pictures, think about the human, the case study, um, and really pick their timing with the right news cycle and making it relevant to what's going on in the world at that time, or pick their timing as in knowing that.
There's opportunities for, this is a great weekend feature and pitch it as that. Um, because, you know, so the news desk doesn't just dismiss it and go, oh no, that, that wouldn't make it today. Well, no, I'm pitching something as a weekend feature. There's so many opportunities. There's so many opportunities. I can't tell the amount of.
Individual brands I have approached this year to ask for their help on stories because you need them. They should be coming to me. We need them. We need them. We just need to find the right ones so that, yeah, they need to be coming to us and if they can partner in with research or a news hook or be, be in touch with when inflation data comes out.
Quarterly when we get the figures on and you've got a food manufacturing business or something and we [00:39:00] get food manufacturing numbers, no. Be on those databases. Find out those numbers, then pitch it in with that info. Um, I hope I'm making that clear enough. Percent. It's,
Liz Nable: it's knowing work. It's basic though.
It's the same and it's the same formula. Right? Make yourself relevant, relevant, not always, but a lot of the time you're trying to make yourself relevant to the news of the day in, in a news environment like where you are. Yeah.
Cliare Pitman: And there's the, the brands that do it really well, they, they're obviously bigger than perhaps a small to medium business, but they do it themselves.
You can do this yourself. I mean, rate City is one that comes to mind. They deal with all the, um, info on mortgage rates and um, interest rates, which is obviously very topical at the moment. But they are across, they, they ring and speak to the big banks. Every day they just ring their news desks and be like, what have you got coming up?
Then they speak, they, they're across all the inflation data and things like that. So when they come and pitch a story, they've got it all ready to go for us packaged up. You, they just do that themselves. You don't need to be an expert to do that. You've just gotta have the get up and go to find the, [00:40:00] the facts to go around your story or the relevance
Liz Nable: and that just makes your job so much easier.
'cause you go there very much easier. 30 the bulletin done.
Cliare Pitman: Done. It's done. And so, um, one, tonight I'm working on a story where they've come to us and they've been like, oh, we opened a new savings account in five minutes and we made $800 by getting a better interest rate that we, here are the top savings accounts, um, at the moment.
Bang. Yeah, it's a minute in the news tomorrow night. Very promotable. Easy. Um. Just delivered.
Liz Nable: Oh, there's so much. Um, you are full. So full of practical tips. I love it. Takes me
Cliare Pitman: back to my day. I, there is a lot of opportunity. I'd like to, I'd like to see brands, um, realize their potential.
Liz Nable: Can you just like sort of summarize if someone's going right, I wanna take advantage of these opportunities.
They're gonna call the chief of staff desk, or they're gonna email. Can we just wrap up by saying some of the top set, let's say four or five things they need to have in that pitch and or ready to Yeah. If they get it. So
Cliare Pitman: they
Liz Nable: need
Cliare Pitman: to have, they need to have the pitch, they need to [00:41:00] have the press release, the headline, the, the, the, the clear and concise email with why is this newsworthy.
Mm-hmm. They in that they then need to have the filming opportunities. Yep. Clearly bullet points. I can give you this smokes person, this case study, these pictures, whether it's a filming opportunity. We've already got these pictures. We've got these amazing renders or drone images of whatever it is. Yeah.
They need to have availability. Be able, don't pitch it until you're ready to go and we can shoot immediately. Um, and availability and just be contactable and then follow up. Follow up, follow up. Yeah. Would be my, um. Top tips.
Liz Nable: Thank you, Claire. You're a wealth of knowledge. So good. I hope it's helpful.
Thanks, Liz. Thanks so much for your time. You're probably gonna get bombarded now, people. Oh dear. Be careful what you wish for. Well, um, I'll wrap it up all in the show notes for people so they know, um, they know, you know, they've got a bit of a summary of what we talked about too.
Cliare Pitman: Yeah. Great. And I, [00:42:00] I think, I don't know if I mentioned, but there is a, like a chief of staff.
There is a general email. If you ring them, they'll give you, I think ours as TCN newsroom. Every, every newsroom will have one. So they, the ones newsroom ComCom au. But I'd have to check that. Let, um, I'll check you. I, I would say that every newsroom in the country would have a generic news inbox, so thank Yeah.
Someone's monitoring
Liz Nable: that.
Cliare Pitman: Ring them and find out what it is. Just spend an hour ringing switchboards and finding out what it is. Yeah. You've just gotta become a bit of a journalist yourself for a day.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you, Claire. No worries. Thanks Liz. This episode of Media Magnet was brought to you by my signature group coaching program, the Media Masters Academy.
The Media Masters Academy is a live online six week course taught by me and designed to teach you how to become your own publicist and give you exclusive access to pitch the country's top journalists and editors doors open just three times a [00:43:00] year. Check it out at liznable.com, along with a ton of free resources to help you get started taking your business from best kept secret to household name.
Right now, if you love this episode of Media Magnet, please share it with your business buddies or on social media and tag me at at Liz Nable. And if there's a specific guest you wanna hear from on the show or a topic or question you want to know more about, please tell me so I can make sure the show stays dedicated, especially for you.
