Skip to main content

The Pitch Episode 22: Say it in a Sound Bite

Learn:

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to grab someone’s attention in today’s fast-paced world. Learn how to use sound bites in your pitch to get to the point quicker, but in a more memorable way and increase the likelihood of your pitch being reviewed.

The Pitch Episode 22:
Say it in a Sound Bite

Read:

We are living in a very fast-paced world where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to grab someone’s attention. In a media interview, a journalist is often listening for sound bites, or short phrases that encapsulates the story they are trying to tell. Using sound bites in your pitch can improve your chance of getting a response because it forces you to get to the point, but in a more memorable way. Before you pitch, write down your pitch then edit out the repetitive statements, lengthy warm-up and unnecessary background. You can always send more background once someone responds and requests it, but remember a pitch is a just a pitch not a press kit. Once you have it down to five sentences or less, review your lead sentence and make sure it’s direct and asks a question. Remove any attachments from your email and create a short but catchy subject line. “The Pitch” challenge today: practice the art of speaking in sound bites on your own social media and observe if you receive more likes on your content by coming up with short, catchy descriptions of what you are posting and doing versus long, drawn out explanations and rants. Remember time is a valuable asset to everyone, so by saying it in a sound bite you’ll increase interest in your pitch and improve the likelihood of it being reviewed.

Apply:

What is a sound bite that someone has said to you before that really sticks out in your mind?
Has anyone ever gotten frustrated with you for taking a long time to explain something?
What’s a memorable way that you can inform someone about what you do in a sentence or two?

Back to Communications Skills