How to Make Your New Year’s Resolution Pitch Pop
New Year’s Resolutions can be kind of boring. One-note. And without a doubt, most pitches will be about health and fitness. So, when an editor or TV show producer puts together their New Year’s Resolution content, they’ll look for an angle that makes the story relevant to their audience and stands out amongst the competition.
If your business relates to one of the top ten New Year’s Resolutions, you should definitely add your voice to the conversation.
But even if you do something totally not related to a New Year’s Resolution, you can still find creative ways to earn media attention.
The most important part is to make your pitch pop. You want to offer something that breaks the mold of routine goals.
As long as your take on New Year’s Resolutions is relevant to the audience, you have a chance.
Here’s what you need to know about pitching a New Year’s Resolution story.
Weight loss is out, strength is in
One major trend I’ve been seeing is that the media is shunning stories about weight loss and bikini bodies. So, avoid sending a pitch that focuses too much on the superficial aspect of health.
There are so many reasons to eat healthy and work out more than just to look good. If you think about it, the bikini body story is overdone and only resonates with a small number of people, while the rest of us (at some level) understand that you don’t have to be a certain size to be healthy and happy. Plus, most people give up on ‘be thin’ resolutions anyway, so what’s the point?
Instead, stories about getting stronger, feeling better, and being mentally fit are far more popular. If you can show how your business or expertise can help someone feel better about themselves in a healthy way, that’s gold.
If your business is health & fitness, get creative
For companies that focus on health and fitness, this is the best and most competitive time of year to get media attention. On one hand, your potential customers will be eating up content about eating healthy and working out more. On the other, every health and fitness business will be trying to get that feature story.
You need to get creative with your pitch.
Ask yourself if you are truly offering something different. Are the New Year’s Resolutions you are offering the same old ones? Eat healthy, exercise more… These are going to be offered over and over again and may not be worth pitching at all.
If a gym owner pitches a local news program about a generic “Work out more” resolution, that email will be lost in the shuffle.
If a gym owner pitches a local news program about “Tips for trying a new workout class,” the producer is more likely to call up the gym owner to learn more.
If your business is not fitness, join the party anyway
Not everyone will care about health and fitness come January 1. Health and fitness is just the first go-to resolution, but people have way more goals than just that. (And editors and producers know it too!)
Think about things like self-care, mental health, getting organized, finances, career growth, running your small business better, and the list goes on.
Let’s play with an example.
Say you are the proud owner of a boutique cookie shop and a lot of your customers will buy a box of decadent cookies for office parties.
If the New Year’s Resolution is about having a better year at work, you can offer advice for bringing good will to the office and include cookies as one of the ways to do so.
Offer a few tips in your email
Since New Year’s Resolution pitches are usually overdone and generic, show that you are doing something different by giving a few tips in the body of the email.
Sticking with our cookie shop example, it might be tips like:
Single wrapped cookies are great for showing your appreciation and be sure to praise the specific thing they did, not just a generic “good job.”
Celebrate company wins with a small office party. When you bring a box of cookies for the whole team, include a gluten or sugar-free option too.
This example is a little silly, but you get the point. A New Year’s Resolution pitch should be way more than just “do better.”