Food nutrition facts will beef up food pitches

If you’re pitching a story about a food product, offer the nutritional benefits of the product at the front of your pitch. 

That’s one of three tips offered by David Ward in his article in the March 20 issue of PR Week. Other PR tips for foodies include:

—Look beyond newspaper food pages and the Food Network for placement. The Travel Channel does stories on things like factory tours. The History Channel has covered the process of how foods are made. 

—Partner with local restaurants that are using your product. This is a great strategy if you’re trying to pitch to get into business journals published by American City Business Journals or business magazines.

—Pitch food trend stories to lifestyle sections and programs such as iVillage. They have big news holes to fill.

On the CD “Publicity Tips for  Restaurants, Chefs & Foodies,” I mention other pitching tips:

—Don’t forget talk radio shows. National Public Radio probably has dozens of shows that might be a good fit with food stories. 

—Write articles about your product for print newsletters and ezines.

—If you can tie your food story to tourism in cities served by airlines, pitch in-flight magazines. (See Special Report #29: Fly High with Publicity in Inflight Magazines.)

Everybody eats. Think creatively and figure out the type of angle you can use so your pitch does double- or triple-duty for various audiences.