14 Oct Good PR needs great ideas, but journalists may still let you down

Every business wants more media coverage. And fair enough, few things beat the credibility of seeing your name in print, or viewing or hearing your story through a media outlet.

But securing that coverage isn’t luck. It’s a discipline. A rhythm. A bit like sales, but with better coffee and more rejection emails.

At the heart of each successful PR push is an idea strong enough to make someone stop scrolling, or turning the channel. Journalists don’t need noise; they need stories. And those stories must make sense for their audience, not just yours.

That sounds simple. But the process can feel maddening when you’re sending what you believe is a great pitch… and hearing nothing back.

Let me offer a little perspective.

Most journalists are good people trying to do a demanding job at speed, with editors breathing down their necks. They aren’t ignoring you because they dislike your business. They’re ignoring you because they’re drowning.

And sometimes, even when a journalist does love your idea, the story still dies on the editor’s floor. News priorities shift, articles get chopped in half, comments get cut, or a breaking headline pushes everything to tomorrow, which never comes.

It’s frustrating. But it’s also normal.

The trick is not to give up. Good PR is cumulative and relationship-based. Every sensible, relevant, respectful pitch you send puts another coin in the trust jar.

So how do you give yourself the best chance of landing coverage? Here are six top tips we use with clients at MFPR:

1. Lead with a headline that makes someone want to read on.
If your email subject line doesn’t spark curiosity, your story never gets opened. Simple as that.

2. Pitch using the method the journalist prefers.
Most still favour email. If they specify otherwise, follow their instructions to the letter. It shows you’re someone worth dealing with.

3. Anchor your story in people.
Human interest wins. If readers can see themselves in the story, journalists can too.

4. Be brutally honest about relevance.
If the request is for an immigration lawyer, don’t send them a wills expert “just in case.” Irrelevant pitches burn bridges fast.

5. Get your timing right.
If your event is Monday and it’s now Friday afternoon, you’ve missed the boat. PR rewards those who plan.

6. Expect setbacks—and stay resilient.
Silence doesn’t always mean rejection. Sometimes it simply means a journalist is overwhelmed. Stay polite. Stay present. Stay useful.

If you approach the media with respect, clarity and a genuinely interesting story, you’ll find that journalists remember you—and come back to you.

And when the wins arrive (and they will), they tend to come in clusters.

Good PR is a long game, but it’s one that pays off. Keep the ideas fresh, keep the communication human, and keep your sense of humour. The results always follow.

Mark Ferguson, Director of More Fire PR Ltd