Number of media pitches

Additions, clarifications, extended definition

Unlike the mass distribution of press releases, this metric focuses on targeted, personal contact with journalists and editors. It serves primarily for internal evaluation of the PR team's activity.

Interpretation

A higher number of individual pitches indicates more intensive work by the team on building media relationships. However, more outreach does not equal greater success – what matters is the journalists' response and the resulting coverage. Tracking this metric allows us to better monitor feedback from individual journalists and, in turn, make better choices about topics for media communication.

Watch out: limits and risks of distortion

• It says nothing about the quality or the outcome of the outreach.
• The risk of "spamming" journalists can damage relationships.
• Different teams may have different rules about what already counts as an individual pitch.
• Tracking this metric should lead us not only to monitor activity, but also to listen more closely to journalists' needs and, as a result, target topics more precisely.

Where and how to measure

• A media CRM (Airtable, Google Sheets, specialised systems such as Mediaboard, Prowly...).
• The team's internal records (spreadsheets, project trackers).

Context

The metric serves as an indicator of the PR team's effort and commitment. On its own, however, it says nothing about the actual influence of communication – for that it must be complemented with metrics at the Outputs and communication effect levels. The metric can also serve as a way of gathering better feedback from journalists.