How to Craft Your Own Pitch Writing Ritual (That Actually Gets Results)

Jun 19, 2023

Writing rituals aren’t just for authors with a dozen novels under their belt; PR pros can use writing rituals to get themselves in the right headspace for pitching! Your pitch writing ritual sets you up for success so you can generate results for your clients every time you pitch. What your pitch writing ritual looks like is up to you, but each step should help boost your creativity, focus, and productivity.

What Is a Pitch Writing Ritual?

Your pitch writing ritual is a routine you build to get yourself in the zone to write killer pitches for your clients. You’ll follow the same steps every time you sit down to brainstorm, write, or send pitches. The number of steps in your ritual is your choice, but don’t spend more time getting ready to pitch than actually pitching.

The longer you stick to your writing ritual, the easier it’ll be to put yourself into your pitching headspace on your most hectic days or when you’re juggling launches for multiple clients. You can tune out the extra noise to power through intricate strategies and out-of-the-box angles with ease. It’s all about creating habits that empower you to get the job done and deliver incredible results every time.

How to Build a Consistent Pitch Writing Ritual

Everyone’s pitch writing ritual will look different, but there are some key steps you need to follow to set yourself up for success. Here are six of my best tips for crafting a pitch writing ritual that you can lean on to write stellar pitches no matter what’s on your plate.

#1: Work Pitch Writing Into Your Daily Schedule

Trying to write pitches in little pockets of time through the day won’t get you anywhere. It just creates more chaos in your day and fries your brain! Instead, set aside dedicated time to write pitches; you could do this every day, every other day, or in one big block of time once a week.

Keeping a consistent pitch writing schedule is important, but you’re a PR pro — you need some flexibility, too! When urgent client calls, media requests, or random tasks interrupt your pitching time, just pick back up where you left off once you’ve put out the fire elsewhere. If that’s not an option, reschedule the rest of your pitching time for the next day or later in the week.

#2: Keep Things Personal

Just because you’re building a pitch writing ritual doesn’t mean you should use a one-size-fits-all approach! Rituals are routines, not templates, and they must be totally personalized to your and your agency’s needs. Don’t rely on plug-and-play templates once you sit down to write your pitches — your media contacts can spot a robotic, copy-and-paste email from a mile away and will send it to their trash immediately.

Just like you’re building a pitch writing ritual that’s unique to you, your pitches should be tailored to your media contact, their audience, and their publication. Every part of your email should show your contact why your client’s story and angle are important and how your client is relevant to your contact’s audience. Make the effort to connect on a deeper, more personal level with journalists to strengthen your media relationships and help your pitches stand out.

#3: Create a Pre-Pitching Routine

Yes, what you do before you pitch is part of your pitch writing ritual! Your pre-pitching routine is what truly gets you in the zone and reinforces your writing habits. A pre-pitching routine can start with making a cup of tea or coffee, taking your dog for a walk, doing a quick guided meditation, or listening to a song that inspires you. This action signals to your brain that it’s time to write and gets those creative juices flowing.

You can also extend your pre-pitching activities into the rest of your pitch writing ritual! Start with a song you love then continue listening to the same playlist as you write. If you get stuck on a tough story angle you just can’t figure out, refresh your brain with a quick walk around the block or a few quiet moments outside. These will all keep you in the zone and help you stay focused on the task at hand for the entirety of your pitch writing time.

#4: Get Distractions Out of Your Space

Phones, family, pets, emails…distractions just are not conducive to your pitch writing success! As soon as that first distraction gets in front of your eyes, your brain will snap out of pitching mode and it’ll be really hard to get yourself back on track. Your focus will be broken and the rest of your pitch writing time won’t yield the best results. I mean, have you ever written a stellar, totally-knocked-it-out-of-the-park pitch with your phone buzzing every other minute? (Probably not, right?)

Removing distractions during your pitch writing time takes creativity and flexibility on your part. You can put your phone on Do Not Disturb or alter your settings to only allow notifications from a few key people. Exiting your email entirely removes the temptation to check it all the time! And if you have kids, pets, or a partner running around the house, you can schedule your pitch writing time for when your house is typically quiet (or totally empty!).

#5: Stay Accountable

Honestly, this might be the most important part of your pitch writing ritual: if you say you’re going to write today, then write today. Setting aside dedicated pitching time means nothing if you’re just going to skip it in favor of working on another project. Rescheduling your pitching session to tomorrow is totally okay, but you can’t endlessly procrastinate and keep pushing it back.

What you accomplish during your pitch writing sessions will be different every day. Maybe you’ll knock out three really stellar pitches in an hour, or maybe you’ll just research your client’s competitors and write a few pages of thorough notes. And that’s okay! Staying consistent and accountable always moves you forward, no matter how big of a step you take.

#6: Take it Step by Step

Your pitch writing ritual gets you in the zone to write, but it should also set you up to write detailed, tailored, and thoughtful pitches. Once you sit down to execute a pitch, you should follow the same steps every single time. You’re not just writing here — researching, fact-checking, proofreading and editing, double-checking additional assets, and setting follow-up reminders are all key parts of the pitching process!

When you follow your ritual, you’ll ensure none of these steps fall through the cracks as you juggle all of your outstanding pitches. Knowing that you have your pitch writing ritual to fall back on is a serious stress reliever during your busiest pitching times, like leading up to the holidays or a big product launch.

Pitch writing rituals may seem restrictive on the surface, but they let your creativity flourish! A consistent pitch writing routine will help you get into the right mindset for pitching so you can craft brilliant story angles and generate incredible results for your clients every time.