The Pitch Episode 132: Tap the Water Cooler
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Is your pitch parched? Learn how to refresh your approach with water cooler conversation that keeps them coming back for more.
Tap the Water Cooler
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Having trouble finding an angle for your pitch? Before you give up, tap the water cooler! Producers do this all the time, especially if it’s a slow news day. Water cooler talk is known as that conversation employees have at work around the water cooler that has nothing to do with work. It could be chit chat about what happened during the Super Bowl halftime show or the latest celebrity fad diet. The best time to tap the water cooler is when your pitch needs a refresh approach or you are parched on pitching a certain subject matter. “The Pitch” challenge today: tap the virtual water cooler for inspiration to update your pitch. Social media has really taken the place of the traditional water cooler conversation making it so much easier to find out what’s trending when it comes to popular topics people are discussing. One easy way to do this is to go to Twitter and see what hashtags are trending, then go to those topics to see more about what people are chatting about and how the media is joining in that conversation. Another way is to check out major national show websites that cover more soft news than hard news like the Today show, E! News, The View and other similar shows to see what water cooler talk they are bringing into the national spotlight. Media’s primary job is to cover hard news but it’s the soft news that keeps audiences engaged and coming back for more, which is why tapping into water cooler conversations are valuable to your pitch.
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What sparked this discussion?
How can you use it in your pitch?