What journalists will look at to determine your expertise

Iâve talked about imposter syndrome before in these newsletters (if you havenât read Your biggest media fears debunked then make sure you catch it some time in the archive!) and itâs something I will bring up again and again - because we all know it doesnât just get magically fixed, but is something we have to work on continually as we build up to bigger goals.
I know one of the biggest fears people have when pitching big media is: âam I good enough?â
And, in my view, thatâs an abstract question that weâd need a bottle of wine and a whole evening to unpack together (the cliff notes version: of course you are, but whether your actions and self worth are aligning with that is a different matter!).
A much easier question to answer - and one that you can take steps towards right now - is: âwhat will journalists be looking at to determine my expertise?â
This âexpertiseâ can be defined in a number of ways, but if youâre claiming to know what youâre talking about in your pitch, theyâre going to be looking for it somewhere.
Here the main areas theyâll be looking at.
If youâve got professional qualifications
Qualifications related to your field are a huge bonus, particularly if youâre working in anything health or wellbeing related where they have to be particularly careful about what they write about.
Action: If you have any qualifications, make sure you include the letters after your name, or state that youâre âcertifiedâ or âqualifiedâ or âregisteredâ (whatever the most appropriate term for you is) in your signature or About Me section.
Your website
Theyâll want to see that you have a professional website - either for yourself or your business - and that, regardless of which it is, there is a very clear, very easy to find page that tells them exactly who you are and what your job is (please use easy to understand language here - more on this next week).
It doesnât need to be super fancy, just clean and professional looking and easy to navigate.
Action: check your website for an âAboutâ section. Ask a friend or family member to tell you honestly if it makes sense (again, more on this next week). Check the hyperlink you add to your pitch or signature is actually working correctly.
If youâve authored anything
Written a chapter in a book or a whole book? Written a white paper? Have a column? If youâve been given some kind of platform to write about your expertise, theyâll want to know about it and have access to it in your pitch.
Action: make sure you link to anything youâve authored in your About section and your email signature.
Your social media presence
Itâs important you share any social media presence your business or you have in a professional capacity as social media is a huge part of life nowadays and theyâll want to see how youâre showing up there.
Now, please donât sweat - no one is expecting you to have a massive following or to be on every platform, but theyâll often want to see how youâre interacting with your audience.
Please note, this does NOT include accounts only for personal use (ie. please donât share your instagram if itâs only pictures of you drinking martinis with your cat).
Only work through Facebook? No problem - just share your page or group, if you have one. But bear in mind, a lot of journalists hang out on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, so you could be missing out on some key industry relationships by neglecting these platforms.
Action: make sure your professional social accounts are hyperlinked correctly in your signature.
Other press coverage youâve had
Itâs a bit of a snowball effect - if youâve been featured by a reputable media brand before, it can often make it easier to get featured again.
Donât worry if youâre totally new to the media and havenât been featured before - it certainly doesnât mean that you wonât be, but if there have been any media -style features of you in the past, theyâre worth adding in.
Action: Make sure you share any coverage youâve had with reputable brands - either media or through blogs, podcasts etc. One of the easiest ways to do this is to create an âAs Seen Inâ banner to put on the bottom of your emails.
These are small tweaks, but ones that can make a huge difference to your pitch.