Pitch the decision that sounds wrong out loud
Pitch reporters the company decision that contradicts startup orthodoxy — refusing investment, deleting a popular feature, publishing salaries, doubling prices — with the reasoning and the real numbers behind it. Launches aren’t stories; tension is. A counterintuitive choice honestly told hands a journalist the headline half-written.
By The Marketinque TeamReviewed June 2026
The play
Journalists don’t cover launches; they cover tension. Pitch the company decision that defies the script — turning down funding, killing the flagship feature, publishing salaries, raising prices in the open — with the numbers to back it.
Watch out for
- The numbers must be real and shareable — reporters verify.
- Have a second act ready: what happened after the decision.
Best for
Make this concrete for your product
Try the free idea finder now, or drop your email and we’ll run plays like this for your product end to end.
Plays like this one
- Newsjack: the same-day expert commentWhen industry news breaks, publish a sharp practitioner’s take within hours — what it actually means, what happens next — and send it to the journalists writing the follow-ups. Reporters on a developing story need informed voices immediately; speed and a concrete angle beat credentials you don’t have yet.
- Answer journalist source requests, 20 minutes a weekSpend twenty minutes weekly answering journalist source requests on platforms like Qwoted and Featured: two quotable sentences, your credentials, sent fast. The reporter already needs an expert — you’re fulfilling demand, not creating it — and each placement returns a citation, a backlink, and a byline that compounds authority.
- Hand local press the hometown story they’re hunting forPitch your story to local newspapers, radio, and city blogs with an explicitly local hook: the neighborhood connection, hiring, a milestone, a first for the area. Local outlets must fill a business section weekly and say yes at rates national press never will — delivering trusted coverage, links, and customers nearby.
- Pitch one original statistic to a journalistRun a small original survey or mine your product data for one surprising, defensible statistic, then pitch that single finding to a journalist who covers your space. Reporters need data, not product announcements; an original number gives them a story and earns you an authoritative backlink plus a citation that AI engines reuse.