Making that first pitch

As I transcend towards the end of my internship, I have been allocated more challenging and PR based tasks to bring together everything I have learnt so far. One of those tasks was pitching over the phone to journalists, editors, content managers etc. Knowing that pitching is one of the main duties of a PR practitioner, it was the scariest and most daunting thing i've had to do over the entire 10 weeks.

I think what I was worried about the most was saying the wrong thing and potentially ruining a relationship with the journalist....this didn't happen thank god! What I did learn was that you will get knocked down more times than you will be successful in attaining someones attention. I was cut off and hung up on many of times - this didn't bother me. These people answer numerous calls everyday and don't have time to listen to a pitch that they are not interested in. So, this didn't phase me, it just further proved to me that in the public relations industry you must be cutting edge, conscious of other peoples time and not take things to heart.

Securing coverage for a client is incredibly important and I really appreciated being given the opportunity to have a go. As this was my first attempt, I pitched to individuals from state newspapers all over Australia, for example, The Advertiser, The Sun Herald and The Age. I also wrote a speech in dot points in case I was nervous and forgot what to say! Overall, I found pitching really exciting. The best tip I was given was that when you are talking on the phone with a smile the person on the other end will sense it!

I have also had the chance to do writing. One of the pieces I have written is for Magenta's blog on their website. You can check it out here: http://magenta.net.au/
My blogs are #LoveWithoutLocks Paris and Supermodel September.

Grace
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