TechCrunch is one of the most trusted news sources when it comes to the latest and greatest in tech innovations. When people see your product in TechCrunch, they see credibility and opportunity – arguably two of the most important components that any successful company has.

With that being said, lots of companies pitch to TechCrunch but only a few succeed. Here are some ways to take your pitch to the next level, brought to you by the experts here at PR Over Coffee.

Don’t Be Boring

If you want to get covered in TechCrunch, you need to spice things up a bit. TechCrunch has made its name in part by being willing to cover exciting tech startups. Therefore, avoid pitching a TechCrunch journalist with a yawn-inducing idea. Be sure to find the spice and excitement in what your company does. Have eye-popping stats to back up your idea, like an insane number of app downloads or extreme results in the form of revenue growth or customer savings.

Stand Out

One way to stand out is to craft a powerful email subject line to grab the attention of a busy TechCrunch journalist. Don’t just copy and paste a press release into an email and send it, because that’s what most other people do – at least based on what we’ve heard from TechCrunch journalists in the past. Your story should include who you are, what your business is, how your business got to where it is today, and why they should care (i.e. a call to action), preferably with an angle that the journalist can use for their article.

Keep It Brief

Unless your life story is incredibly compelling, don’t include it in your email. A brief, “My name is ____ and I am the founder of ______,” is plenty. If they want to know more about you, they’ll ask. The focus should be on your business; but again, not everything they could ever want or need to know about it.

Usually, your website is the only attachment you need to put on the initial pitch email because it should have all the basic information that a journalist needs. Once they agree to work with you, then you provide them with all the links and attachments that get into the nitty-gritty details of your company. Sending a bunch of information to comb through right up front is a big pitching no-no.

Pitch to the Right Person

Every journalist has a niche. Finding the journalist at TechCrunch who fits your company’s niche is an absolute must if you want your story picked up. The process of doing this will take some time, but it’s simple to do. All you need to do is browse TechCrunch’s articles and find the name of the author who has written the articles that fit your company’s niche. For example, if your product is an app for enterprises, you’d look for articles not just about apps, but ones designed to help other businesses.

Make it As Easy As Possible to Contact You

Obviously, put your contact information (mobile and office numbers, emails, etc.) in the pitch. Then, if TechCrunch does contact you, call or email them back in a timely manner – even if they didn’t. I don’t care if they took two weeks to respond to your pitch; you need to get back to them as soon as possible. This requires a certain amount of diligence when it comes to checking your emails. I recommend setting a reminder on your phone that alerts you to check your email every two hours or so.

If they ask for something that will take some time to reply to or answer to, it is always okay to say:

“I’m not sure, but I will find out and get back to you in ‘X Amount of Time.’” or “I’m working on an answer to that for you right now. I should have it in about ‘X Amount of Time.’”

That way, they don’t think that you are leaving them hanging and they know they can count on contacting you when they need to.

If you’re a B2B tech company and still need help crafting your TechCrunch pitch, the PR experts at Swyft are always here to help, no matter your location, language or industry.

About Weslie Oeftering: Weslie is a student at The University of Texas at Austin and Swyft’s resident PR and marketing intern. She supports clients with social media, blogging, and tech PR activities. Swyft is a PR and marketing agency with offices in Austin, Houston, and Denver that provide services for tech companies all around the world who are seeking rapid, sustained growth. Some of their services include content marketing, social media strategy, as well as ad buys, email marketing, and media relations.

Featured Image: Chris Ried