How to pitch tech journalists comes down to a short email, sent to the right beat reporter, that opens with a news angle readers care about, adds one proof point and offers a spokesperson.
Picture a product launch where the same announcement goes to every tech reporter on a list. Most recipients will skim the first line and move on. This guide, part of our wider look at media relations for tech companies, works through the problems that cause that outcome and the fixes reporters themselves point to.
Why most pitches never get read
A pitch competes with a flood of near-identical messages, so it has to prove its relevance almost immediately. Airfoil Group’s guidance on B2B tech media pitching notes that journalists report receiving hundreds of pitches per day covering variations of the same idea, and advice for startup founders says the same of reporters at big media outlets.
Reporters respond by triaging fast. One reporter quoted by OnePitch says they have about 10 seconds to decide whether a pitch is worth investigating. A tech journalist writing on LinkedIn puts it more bluntly: if they have to read multiple paragraphs before understanding the pitch, they have lost interest.
Pitch the beat reporter, not the whole list
A beat reporter covers a defined area and recognises when a message was written for someone else. Airfoil advises that the first sentence should immediately show familiarity with the reporter’s coverage. The same LinkedIn journalist adds that you should get their name right. Building a targeted list comes first, and our guide on how to find tech journalists who cover your industry covers that step.
Fixing an irrelevant or salesy pitch
Irrelevance is the most common reason reporters stop reading. In Cision’s 2025 State of the Media survey, which covered almost 600 tech reporters and over 3,000 journalists across industries, 79% of tech reporters named spamming with irrelevant pitches as a reason to block a PR contact. The table below turns the main complaints into things to check before you send.
| Complaint | Share of tech reporters citing it | Check before sending |
|---|---|---|
| Irrelevant pitches | 79% | Does the story fit this reporter’s recent coverage, and can you say what it offers their readers? |
| Pitches that sound like marketing brochures | 59% | Replace slogans and superlatives with plain statements of what happened or what was found. |
| Inaccurate or unsourced information | 58% | Give a source or evidence for every claim a reporter might repeat. |
| Repeated follow-up | 54% | Plan a single, well-timed nudge rather than a sequence. |
These figures come from Cision’s survey of tech reporters.
The OnePitch reporter describes the usual failure as a pitch that lacks a significant “what’s in it for my readers?” angle. If you cannot answer that question in a sentence, the story is not ready to pitch yet.
Finding a news angle in your company story
A news angle is the reason a story matters to someone outside your company. A feature release, a funding round or a new hire is company news; the angle is what it reveals about a trend, a problem or a customer.
Cision’s survey gives a sense of what makes an angle strong. Half of tech reporters, 50%, would consider covering a story with a unique angle or point of view. Evidence also matters: 61% would prefer a pitch to include compelling data or statistics, and 61% want original research reports.
Choose angles and proof deliberately
- Lead with original data when you have it. Research your company has produced gives reporters something they cannot get elsewhere, which is why original research ranks so high in the survey.
- Use one strong proof point. Airfoil notes that choosing one strong proof point is often more effective than including excessive statistics, so rank your numbers and keep the best.
- Take a point of view when the facts are thin. A distinct stance on an industry issue can carry a story where a product update cannot, as long as it is backed by something verifiable.
- Hold the story back if the reader benefit is unclear. Waiting until you have a customer result or dataset is better than sending a weak pitch that costs you credibility with that reporter.
Writing a pitch email that can be judged quickly
No supplied source sets a word count, so judge length by reading speed instead: the whole point should be clear within seconds, as the reporters above describe. In practice that means a pitch email that opens with the angle and keeps every sentence working toward it.
The LinkedIn journalist recommends making the pitch easy to scan: bold the key information, bullet the strongest data and clearly identify the spokesperson you can offer. Reporters also prefer pitches written in the body of an email, according to the Flyerone advice, so skip attachments and Google Doc links.
What the opening should do
- Show you know the beat. Reference the reporter’s coverage in the first sentence, following Airfoil’s advice.
- State the news plainly. Say what is new and why it matters to readers before any company background.
- Add the proof and the person. Give the strongest data point, then name who is available to speak.
Worked examples of this structure are collected in our guide to tech pr pitch email examples.
Press releases and supporting assets
A press release is useful supporting material, but it should not replace the pitch. In the Cision survey, 77% of tech reporters named news announcements or press releases as content they want from PR teams, so having one ready is sensible. The email itself still has to make the case in its first lines, because reporters decide before they reach any document.
Assets can raise the odds of use. Cision found that over 90% of tech journalists used PR-provided multimedia in their coverage last year. The most wanted types were images at 76%, data visualisation or infographics at 43% and videos at 34%.
Put together, the practical approach is to keep the pitch self-contained in the body, mention which images or charts you can supply, and prioritise images over video unless the story is visual. Because Flyerone’s advice is to avoid attached files, treat the assets as something you can send on request rather than something the reader must open to understand the story.
Getting coverage without a big brand
A smaller company wins attention by being easy to work with and by offering access that larger competitors do not always provide. Cision found that 65% of tech reporters value PR contacts who facilitate access to key people or places, and 67% value relevant resources.
Make the right person available
The LinkedIn journalist suggests making founders or top executives, such as a CTO, available, and warns that they do not interview marketing people because those sources focus on promoting brands. Flyerone adds that founders can answer journalists’ questions faster than a PR specialist, which suits a small team. The OnePitch reporter says they are usually looking for customers or people with unique backgrounds, so a customer willing to talk can be a stronger offer than another executive quote.
Use exclusives and embargoes
Exclusivity is one of the few levers a small company controls. Cision reports that 63% of tech reporters want exclusives for stories, and 47% value PR contacts who give them access to exclusive news or content. The LinkedIn journalist advises offering exclusives or embargoes and having sources ready to interview as soon as possible if there is interest.
An embargo is an agreement that a story will not be published before a set time. Offer one only when you can deliver the spokesperson, data and assets promptly, because a reporter who agrees to hold a story needs everything in hand to write it.
Frequently asked questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is email the right channel for a pitch? | Yes. Cision found that 98% of tech reporters want to receive pitches by email. |
| How often should I follow up? | Once at most. In the same survey 63% of journalists support a single follow-up and 27% want none, while 1 in 2 will block a PR professional who follows up repeatedly. |
| Should I pitch an editor differently from a reporter? | Yes. An editor pitch aims to get your story on their radar, while a reporter needs the right name and a clear link to their beat. |
| Can I send a time-sensitive pitch at the last minute? | It is risky. The LinkedIn journalist warns that an interesting report sent two days before it goes live may be too late to work with. |
