#3 Pitching an expert, making them newsworthy and never letting down a journalist
We're all experts in something - but how do you reach 'sitting on a BBC couch' level?
As a journalist I love an expert, they make a feature or sometimes even a news story more credible. Editors, nearly 80 per cent of the time, ask for experts to be included in articles, as it allows the reader to trust what they’re reading is true - while they also go away with a deeper understanding of that topic.
We’re all an expert in something - whether it’s the latest celebrity breakups, the number of times Boris Johnson broke his own lockdown rules or even Love Island - but could you talk to a journalist about it for 10 minutes, in an informed, relatable and credible way?
Because that’s what we want, someone who can confidently talk to us about that particular subject with passion, enthusiasm and expertise. They don’t have to have thousands of social media followers or do crazy TikTok videos to reach expert levels, yes, a relevant qualification helps, but if they’ve immersed themselves in a certain industry for x amount of years they’re probably going to be deemed an expert. But, how do you successfully pitch your expert to journalists and editors?
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