Marketing & Getting Customers
What is earned media, and how does a media pitch help you get it?
The short answer
Earned media is independent attention you did not buy or publish yourself. Examples include a journalist quoting you, a podcast inviting you, or a news outlet covering your data or story. A media pitch helps by showing one specific journalist why the idea is timely, relevant to her audience, and possible to report.
Know what you can and cannot control
You can control the accuracy of your facts, the usefulness of the angle, the quality of your sources, and how easy you are to reach. You cannot demand coverage, final wording, a backlink, a publication date, or a positive story.
That independence is what makes earned media different from:
- Owned media: Your website, newsletter, podcast, or social account.
- Paid media: Ads, sponsored placements, and paid creator work.
- Shared media: Community and social distribution involving other people.
PRSA's media-relations program uses the paid, earned, shared, and owned framework and stresses that a known client or good product alone does not guarantee coverage.
A pitch is a doorway to a reportable story
A useful pitch answers five questions quickly:
- What happened, changed, or was discovered?
- Why does it matter now?
- Why does it fit this journalist's beat and audience?
- What evidence, people, images, or data can you provide?
- What is the simplest next step?
“Please feature my business” asks the journalist to invent the story. “Our county's licensed child-care waitlist has doubled since last spring, and three local home-based providers can explain why they stopped accepting infants” gives her a timely subject, local relevance, and sources to evaluate.
Treat coverage as the beginning of another job
Reply quickly, verify names and numbers, disclose conflicts, and say when you do not know. Prepare a short bio, accurate background, high-resolution images with permission, and a reliable phone number.
After publication, share the work accurately without implying endorsement beyond what was reported. Track referral traffic, inquiries, invitations, and future journalist relationships, not only the size of the outlet.
Muck Rack's 2026 State of Journalism reports that 86 percent of surveyed journalists said at least some of their work began with a PR pitch. That makes pitching a real opportunity, but relevance and reporting value still decide whether an individual idea deserves attention.
For the broader work of creating useful, promotable business stories, WAHMN's Content Marketing Business is the relevant next resource.
Sources and further reading
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