How to Pitch Media Coronavirus Stories

Hey there, Paula Rizzo here. I just wanted to pop in and say hello and say that I hope you're all feeling really, really good and healthy amid all of this craziness with the COVID-19 outbreak. I wanted to pop in and just give you a little bit of insight into what's happening in the media right now, being that I have worked in the media for so long and I know what's happening in newsrooms right now, and I think there's an opportunity here for you. If you're interested to jump in. So, I'm gonna tell you what I've also done for myself. Well, here's the thing. People in a newsroom right now, all those journalists are looking for stories. They are starved for new insights, new ideas, new experts, more people to talk about the coronavirus. Look, it's not going away anytime soon. And even if you wanna shut the TV off and not pay attention to it, it's what's clicking, it's what's getting views, it's what people are interested in. And so that is what journalists are interested in reporting on, okay? And you need new stories, right? So what I did myself was I thought, hey, how could I be helpful in this situation? And I thought, you know what, I'm going to do a training on how to present better in video meetings because I do meetings all day, every day on video. I'm a media trainer. This is what I do. So I know a lot of teams are now going,, you know, work from home and working remotely and things like that, they may not be used to presenting to a camera. So I could be useful. So I'm doing a training on that. And I thought, you know what, I'm doing this training anyway. I might as well pitch it to the media and pitch it to them and tell them, hey, this is something that's gonna be coming up for people. I have some tips and ideas on how people can do it better. You know, whether or not they hire me to help media train them or they come to my training, here are some really great tips on what you should do. And at the same time, as you may know, I have two books about productivity. So I also know a lot about working from home and how to be more productive and how to work remotely and how to make sure you actually get things done. Those are tips that I'm also putting out there. Now, I'm not waiting for the media to, you know, come to me. I'm pitching them. I'm going to them and I'm saying, hey, I have these great ideas. What do you think? I know you're looking for content. And guess what? I got a media hit. Fox News did an interview with me, so it's out there. And guess what happened from that? Because I've told you before, media begets media. So since then, I've also gotten some inquiries from other people who have wanted me to come to their, you know, do a speaking engagement, to do something virtual, of course, with their teams, either on how to present better on camera or how to be more productive when you're working from home. So that media hit, maybe it didn't get people in the door to the training that I'm hosting, but it's opened the eyes of other people that this is what I do and I can be helpful in this situation. So that's a little thought for you guys to be thinking, okay, how can I be helpful in this? How can I look through the lens of what I do to be able to help people? This outbreak, it's reaching far, far, far reaching, right? There are so many industries, there are so many things that are being, uh, disrupted and upended between not only how we work but also how we travel, how we live, what we do. You have insights. The media needs to hear that. And guess what? If you have already done media hits, you have some contacts, you need to go and say to those people, "Hey, here's some things I can talk about. I know you're probably doing a lot of stories on this or maybe somebody in your newsroom needs an expert. Here's what I can talk about." You better believe I just did that. I just went through every single person who I have their email address who's interviewed me in the past. And I said, "Hey, I know you're looking for some new stuff. Here's some ideas." So I just wanted to give you a little inspiration, and hopefully this will spark some ideas for you. So please let me know if there's some content that you're already working on for yourself that now you think, "Okay, actually maybe I could use this for pitching media," because it's all the same thing, right? Pitches are not separate from everything else. So take what you're already doing or think in terms of, "Okay, how can I, how can I help and best serve people? What do I know? How can I make this this something that is really helpful and relevant to people right now. I'd love to hear from you, so give me some ideas, and if you have any questions, you know where to find me.