Power of the Pod & Why Group Pitching Works
By Allyson McCormley, Orca Senior Public Relations Strategist/Pod Pitching Team Manager
I have been working in the public relations industry for more than 20 years. Before that I worked at a local Phoenix TV station. If I’ve learned anything in that time, it’s appreciating the relationship between PR and media, and how we can work together to provide timely content that readers and viewers appreciate and anticipate. We’ve learned why group pitching works. Media outlets know they can count on Orca to be the go-to public relations agency to bring them the latest and greatest products and services for their timely and long-lead features.
Media editors and producers are under immense pressure and deadlines. I always think… how can I make their jobs easier? Presenting a single product to a media contact can sometimes create more work, not less. They might like it, but how do they feature it? Unless your timing is impeccable and they were already planning on working on a feature where your product is a fit, it will likely get filed away for future consideration. We take a different approach to mitigate this – we send the whole story. We pitch the angle and the products that fit so we’ve done all the research for them. They just need to pick it up and run with it. These group pitches are effective at securing press placements.
For example, we have been pitching and placing a great group of client products leading into back-to-school, Thanksgiving hostess gifts, must-have children’s gifts, holiday entertaining, stocking stuffers, and beyond. At Orca, we continually work with up to 100 different creative clients so we can pull together an amazing list of products no matter what the focus may be. We call this the “Power of the Pod” – when we bring our clients’ products and the publicists that work on these accounts together to create a compelling pitch that nets results.
Do we have awesome kids’ products, self-care gifts for mom, innovative kitchen gadgets, items to spoil your dog, or healthy snacks? The answer is yes! Especially as we head into the holidays, editors and producers are tasked with putting together curated lists of the latest and greatest products for men, women, children, pets, and more. And you know, what? Those clients flock to us, especially during the holiday season to create these unique gift guide opportunities for them. So we are in a great position to make that connection between the media and the companies that make all of the wonderful products consumers are looking for!
At Orca, we not only have our individual contacts where those media editors count on us to provide time and again the perfect products for them to feature, but we also have access to a media database that tracks the thousands of ever-changing media contacts at TV stations, online outlets, and print media throughout the country.
Sure, we can provide a great round-up for holiday gifts, but are you looking for something different? Maybe products to get you through Mercury in Retrograde or the best products for National Taco Day? We think outside of the box, while also making sure we hit those must-have holiday media contacts. We produce a long list of features year after year that we can attribute to group pitching – so we know how and why group pitching works. When you hire Orca, you are assigned a publicist, but you really have the whole publicist team and our roster of clients there to back you up, be your wingman, help you find coverage…that is the “Power of the Pod.”
To work with Allyson and Orca’s pod pitching team, click here to schedule free consultation to see if it is the right fit for your brand.