Definition Elements
What is a pitch? 🤔
Once you've established the foundations of your project—whether in terms of target audience, business model, KPI (Key Performance Indicators), and refined your value proposition via a canvas and manifesto—it's time to prepare your project launch. You need to be able to tell your media's story.
A pitch is how you will tell your project story and the arguments you will use to convince. The pitch can take the form of a spoken or written speech, and varies depending on your audience. Its goal is to present your media and spark curiosity in your audience so they remember you and your project.
In this document, we detail a method for effectively telling and communicating your project.
What for? 🎯
The argument you build around your project will notably help you provide:
- Your About page ;
- Your sales presentation ;
- Your pitch deck.
By knowing how to tell your project's story, you become your best ambassador and maximize your chances of convincing, whether it's with your community, potential investors, partners, or customers.
Build your message
Phase — Target — Time 💡
Your pitch should adapt based on:
• The phase: pre-launch, launch, acceleration…
• The target: close circle, community, investor, clients.
• Available time: 1, 3, 5, or 15 minutes for oral presentations, or an appropriate length for written work.
In writing and speaking 💬
While the pitch is often seen as a performance exercise, it happens every day in writing—emails, social media—and in conversation: that famous question, "So, what do you do?"
When you're trying to persuade someone, don't send a 10-page email or give a 10-minute speech. Your counterpart's time is just as valuable as yours.
The hook and the close ✋
These two moments are essential for capturing and maintaining attention:
- The hook: it can be an example, an anecdote, a question… that captures your audience's interest. It can be tailored to your listener, and should appeal to the collective unconscious.
- The closing: it should be a form of invitation: to join you, to subscribe, to ask you a question, to invest, to share, etc.
If your pitch generates no reaction or questions from your audience, it means you need to rework your pitch.
Best practices for talking about your project
Spark interest 👩🎤
Your pitch should create emotional persuasion (feelings) and rational conviction (arguments). To do this:
• Highlight the problem you solve.
• Answer the "why" before the "how".
• Show your passion: it's contagious!
Test, test, test ⚡️
How do you find the right pitch? There's only one way: test it. Try different formulas and hooks depending on your audience and analyze their reactions. The more you talk about your project, the more you'll discover the best way to convince them.
Build confidence in public 🔉
Pitching is an exercise in public speaking: you must convince and persuade. While some people find it easy to speak in public, others prefer the written word. It's by constructing your speech in writing, by speaking up (often) that you'll learn to modulate your voice and gain confidence in yourself. Never forget that only you control your pitch. A good exercise to practice? Film yourself! You'll spot your habits and improve the fluency of your speech as you go.
Building Your Speech: Key Steps
Structure your speech by following these five key points. For each of these points, write a paragraph that begins with a strong opening sentence summarizing your idea, and then expand on that idea.
The issue raised 🏋️
This first step involves revisiting the problem your project is designed to solve: the goal is to identify the key need your project addresses—the one that makes it indispensable.
The Vision 👁
Next, articulate the vision you have for your project—what you hope to achieve. This is the “why” behind your project. For this step, then, reflect on the purpose of your media outlet—that is, the factors that motivated you to get started (and to keep going!).
The Project 🏰
Now is the time to revisit your editorial proposal, the medium(s), and the people you’re addressing (your target audience): this is the “how” of your project.
The Business Model 💰
Now, let's talk more about the main features of your business model—in other words, the key points of your business plan.
The Roadmap 📅
The roadmap allows you to develop a plan of action to effectively implement your project over the next 3, 6, or 12 months.
Building a Pitch Deck
A pitch deck is a tool you can use to present your project. It’s a set of slides designed to explain the idea behind your media project in order to win over your audience, a potential investor, client, or partner.
Staying in Shape 🎩
Harmony in fonts, colors, and spacing… When creating your pitch deck, be sure to pay close attention to the presentation’s design: this is far from trivial and will greatly aid in the understanding of your project. You can create it using PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, or another tool of your choice. Then be sure to export it as a PDF and/or share it via a link.
Pay close attention to your visuals. They bring your presentation to life and help capture your audience’s attention. These visuals can show what the product is expected to look like or convey the spirit of the project.
Organizing the Content ☝️
Of course, you’ll need to structure your presentation: include all the elements mentioned in this guide. Explain who you are and where you’re headed! Review your value proposition, your team, what makes you unique, your target audience, your business model, projected growth, and a tentative timeline for achieving the goals you’ve set together. Also, be sure to include a resources slide that compiles the materials you reference and a slide thanking your audience for their time.
I'm learning how to present my project
✏️ The Médianes team has put together a handy guide to help you apply what you’ve learned from this sheet to your own project. To access it, please click the button below and follow the instructions.
To go further
💡 Get inspiration
- The presentation materials for Censored, a media outlet dedicated to feminist and queer struggles from a cultural and artistic perspective.
- The New York Times' pitch deck on new formats, marketing goals, and the media outlet's strategy.
📖 To browse through
- Google's News Initiative has made available two pitch decks from two local U.S. media outlets—a great way to get inspired! [See "Business Plan/Pitch"; in English]
- The “About” page of your (future) website should include the many elements outlined in a pitch. Splice, the Asian equivalent of Médianes, summarized in an article the key points that should appear on your “About” page.
- All our how-to guides are here.
- Our book, “Creating a Media Outlet,” is a practical guide for anyone who wants to launch an independent and socially conscious media outlet.
Before leaving
🛠 Finished reading and filling out this form? We'd love your feedback! Have a question or comment? Send us a message at [email protected]. Thank you for your help, the Médianes team.
