Exclusive Pitch Formula

Three-sentence pitches with clear intent and exclusive offers

Emilie Gerber
The ultimate guide to PR | Emilie Gerber (founder of Six Eastern)

Exclusive Pitch Formula

"When we pitch a funding story, we make it very clear: 'Hey, we're reaching out with a startup launch or funding. We're offering this to you as an exclusive, meaning we're not going to pitch anyone else if you take the story. Here's the amount that's raised, here's the space they're in, and here are the investors.'" - Emilie Gerber

What It Is

Most PR pitches fail because they convolute the message. Founders write long emails setting up problem statements, describing market trends, using marketing jargon—and reporters never read past the first paragraph.

The Exclusive Pitch Formula strips everything back to three essential elements: what you have, why it matters, and what you're offering. The key insight is that reporters don't need convincing—they need clarity about whether this story fits what they cover.

Offering an exclusive creates urgency and reciprocity. The reporter knows they're getting first access, which makes the story more valuable to them.

How It Works

The Three Elements:

  1. State What You Have

    • Type of announcement (funding, launch, product)
    • One concrete detail (amount raised, key metric)
    • Company category in familiar terms

  2. Why It Matters

    • One sentence on differentiation or significance
    • Pattern match to their beat ("you cover FinTech, this is a FinTech story")
    • Optional: reference their recent coverage

  3. Make the Offer

    • Explicitly offer an exclusive
    • Be clear about what exclusive means (no one else gets it first)
    • Ask directly: "Do you want the exclusive?"

Example Pitch (DM): "Reaching out from [Company]. Would love to offer you the launch story alongside their funding if you're open to it. They're a MarTech company that's raised $8M from [Investors]. Really interesting approach—they're taking on [Incumbent]. Do you want the exclusive?"

Subject Line Formula: For email, make the subject line crystal clear:

  • "[Column name] guest suggestion: [Person name]"
  • "[Company] taking on [Incumbent] with [Approach]"
  • "Funding story: [Company] raises [Amount] for [Space]"

How to Apply It

Keep it to three sentences. Emilie's most successful pitches are three sentences. Longer pitches are weaker pitches.

Don't give away the whole story upfront. Everything you say to a reporter in an email is on record. Tease enough to get interest, then share details after they express interest.

Be strategic about which details to share:

  • Share either the amount AND investors OR the company name
  • Don't give both upfront—that's the whole story
  • Example: "MarTech company, $8M, [named investors]" OR "[Company name] raises seed round"

Follow up with new information:

  • Wait 3-4 days between follow-ups
  • Add something new each time (their recent tweet, article, trend)
  • After 3-4 attempts, move to someone else
  • Try across platforms (email, then DM, then Twitter)

Acknowledge their inbox: Use human, respectful language in follow-ups:

  • "I know your inbox is probably slammed"
  • "Sorry to annoy—trying you one more time"
  • "Apologies for the persistence"

When to Use It

Use this formula for:

  • Funding announcements
  • Product launches
  • Company launches (coming out of stealth)
  • Major partnership announcements
  • Milestone news with hard numbers

The formula works best when:

  • You have one clear story to tell
  • You're targeting a specific beat reporter
  • You want coverage in a specific publication
  • You have something genuinely newsworthy

Common Mistakes

Don't convolute the message. Founders want to set up the massive problem statement and make it a huge trend story. Reporters want clarity.

Don't pitch everyone at once. Offer exclusives and stagger outreach. The worst outcome is two reporters accepting and having to back out.

Don't use marketing jargon. "Robust multiplayer experience," "AI assistance," "human in the loop collaboration"—these phrases mean nothing to reporters.

Don't bury the ask. State upfront what you're looking for: a funding story, a Q&A, inclusion in a column.

Source

  • Guest: Emilie Gerber
  • Episode: "The ultimate guide to PR | Emilie Gerber (founder of Six Eastern)"
  • Key Discussion: (00:15:10) - The structure of an effective funding pitch with exclusives
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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