13 Different Types of Articles You Can Pitch – Podcast Transcript

 Lexie Smith 

Cool, you want to press. The good news, you are listening to the right podcast. Now today’s minisode is going to cover the different types of press coverage you might consider going after. Because it is absolutely critical to up your PR IQ and understand what you’re pitching for if coverage is your goal. Basically, not all press is created equally. And here’s a quick analogy to think of. So let’s say you want to buy a car. So you open up your laptop to find a car dealership nearby. And all of a sudden, you realize you need to get a whole lot more specific. Right? What type of car do you want? Do you have a model in mind? What features are important to you in a car? Do you want a new car or a used car? All of these details will help point you to the right car dealership. Furthermore, it would be to your benefit to have an understanding of general market costs and bind language so that you can negotiate effectively when you do decide it’s that car shopping day. So if we think back to the blanket statement, I want to press like buying a car. I also want to know well what kind of press and What purpose does it serve you? What type of coverage Do you want? What outlet Do you want to be in these questions will lead us to craft an effective pitch that will hopefully land us coverage. So today, we’re gonna focus on written media print or digital or different types of articles. Specifically, we’re going to review 13 different types of articles that you can pitch for coverage in no particular order. First up news article. A news article reports news without bias or personal interpretations by the reporters themselves. They relay events, basic information, and facts in an accurate, unbiased, and straightforward way. Here is an example of a couple of news article headlines. Example headline, California engaged in groundbreaking COVID Antibody study or California Coronavirus cases reach record height right now they don’t have to be COVID related, but obviously, those are taking up a lot of news headlines these days. Next up, we have feature articles. feature articles are in-depth articles that go into great detail about events, topics, trends, people or companies. There are a variety of different types of feature articles. So kind of think of it like subcategories of the larger category. First, we have a news feature. A news feature is a type of feature story written in the style of a news article. It tackles a topic with great detail and requires facts and research to back the story. So here’s an example I pulled from the scientist.com The headline is that the extinct species within our subheader is genomes of living animals are littered with DNA from long-gone relatives providing a lens of evolution, past extinctions, and perhaps even solutions to agricultural problems. So the remaining article is very news-focused.

Lexie Smith 

Besides News Features, we also have human interest features stories. A human interest story discusses people and an emotional way it presents people and their problems, concerns or achievements in a way that brings about interest, sympathy, or motivation to the reader or viewer. Human interest stories are a type of what we call soft news. So an example headline here, mom swims across America to honor her 14 year old daughter who died of cancer. She inspired us All right, so obviously we can assume there’s a lot of emotion tied up in that and it’s featuring a human. Next up we have a profile. A profile is an article about an individual, such as a politician, a celebrity athlete or CEO, or a single company or entity such as a brand. Profiles seek to give readers behind the scenes looks at what a person is like, or a deeper look into a company or brand. An example of a profile might be you know, me, Elon Musk, or me President Joe Biden. Right. So quick little examples there. Next up, we have a behind the scenes feature. And a behind the scenes feature tells readers what went on behind the scenes of a process or an event. Right, so a couple examples. Behind the Scenes day in the life of a cybersecurity threat hunter or the ugly truth about firefighting the public doesn’t understand. Both of those stories went behind the scenes to feature that process and subject. Now if we head out of feature land, our next article types are how to articles, how to articles are very specific, and describe in great detail steps or tips to help the reader do something specific. Most how to articles include solutions to problems or answers to certain questions. And they can include everything from showing you how to reload a grocery store price gun to how to connect a game system to your television set. I know when I was in Journalism School at the University of Oregon, I had to write a how-to article on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it had to be understandable to the kindergarteners so that was a fun one. But some other examples on how to ensure your first or next PR campaign proves lucrative. That was one of my VI lines. Another one is how to effectively describe your product in one sentence. Again, those are how to articles. Next up, we have opinion or op ed articles. Op Ed is short for literally opposite the editorial. Op Ed articles are an opinion by the writer, the writer is typically a subject matter expert, or otherwise a notable person with the qualifications to have an opinion on the topic at hand. So here’s a couple example headlines of Op Ed pieces I pulled randomly, America needs to start telling the truth about Israel’s nukes. Right? That’s an opinion. Okay, another one op ed. I’m 17 and I grew up hiking the Sierra. I’m hopeful it can survive the effects of climate change. So that was an opinion piece written by a 17 year old.

Lexie Smith 

Next up, we have interviews. So interviews cover an interview of a specific subject, it can be presented in feature style, it can be a Q & A, or it can be an integration of the two. These are really, really common to see in our celebrity magazines, right. So an example Cardi B gives her most explicit interview yet, or an interview with Mark Cuban entrepreneur and television personality. Right? Sometimes we will literally open the pages of a glossy print magazine and see the letter Q with a question and then the answer verbatim or directly from the interviewees mouth. Next article type is an editorial. An editorial is an article written by or on behalf of an editor that gives an opinion on a topical issue. Okay, so examples, the world must cooperate to avoid a catastrophic space collision. That was an opinion editor that I pulled randomly from Google. Another one, bad behavior is surging on flights, the US needs to crack down on it, right, again, an opinion of an editor so that is an editorial. We also have reviews, reviews are part fact based in part opinion, and they are there to review certain subjects. Review articles work hard to accomplish two things really. First, they accurately and thoroughly identify and describe the subject that has been reviewed, right? So it could be an app or a product or a recipe or many other things. But those are just a couple examples. In second. They use experience and research to provide an informed and intelligent opinion of that subject. There are tons of examples for this one, but formally, you know, I pulled a couple. One was razor Wolverine ultimate. This high quality razor controller lacks one key feature wireless or the Harry Josh pro dryer 2000 is so good. I stopped getting professional blowouts. Something to be careful of as a consumer or to know if you’re pitching is often there’s a price tag attached To officially getting a review published, not always but very common. All right, article type number 12 is an essay. These are some of the shortest articles written from short to medium in length, and they describe an opinion or personal experience of the author. Most essay writers concentrate on presenting their specific views on a topic and center the essay on just one specific subject. An example might be how I overcame losing my job in marriage with a jump rope, or a reality check for my 10 year old self, dreams can change for the better. So this is more of an account, right? As opposed to an op ed piece giving an opinion, this is more an essay or a personal account. The last one I want to focus on today can be called a couple different things. Most traditionally, we call them round ups or listicles, round ups aggregate content, opinion themes or products within a specific category. Again, these can also be called listicles. Although a listicle more specifically is presented wholly or partly in the form of a list. So tons of examples here 17 products you need if you’re someone who always ends up forgetting stuff, or the most innovative beauty products of 2021. Now if this is a type of article you really want to go into if you’re a product based business, I highly encourage you to listen to my interview with Jen Burson all on affiliate marketing and listicles K. This is something you really have to be on top of and know about if you want to land them in 2022 and beyond. And there you have it guys, there are 13 different types of articles you can go after, and I will recap them at a high level one more time. We have news articles, we have feature articles. Within our feature articles, we have news features, human interest feature stories, we have profiles, behind the scenes features, outside of feature land we have how to articles, we have opinions and op ed articles. We have interviews, editorials, we have reviews, essays, and roundups and listicles. Generally speaking, each type of article will require different information to be highlighted in the body of a pitch, which is why it’s important to know what type of car you want before you go shopping. Right there’s my little wink at you guys. We have questions of course as always, feel free to reach out otherwise until next time, cheers