Tell your story

A practical guide that covers the exercise of persuading and convincing others about your media project: the necessary conditions for being able to tell your project story, and a method for building your pitch.

1. The pitch: What are we talking about?

Once you’ve laid the groundwork for your project—whether in terms of target audience, business model, or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)— and once you’ve refined your value proposition by creating a canvas and a manifesto, it’s time to prepare for your project’s launch. You’ll need to be able to tell the story of your media outlet.

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.

2. Why should you put your pitch in writing?

The case you build for your project will help you, in particular, to provide:

• Your "About" page;
• Your sales presentation ;
• Your pitch deck.

By learning how to present your project, you become your own best advocate and maximize your chances of winning people over—whether they’re members of your community, potential investors, partners, or customers.

3. Outline Your Speech

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.

1. The problem at hand: This first step involves revisiting the problem your project is designed to solve—specifically, identifying the key need it addresses and what makes your project indispensable.

2. The vision: Next, articulate the vision behind your project—what you hope to achieve. This is the “why” behind your project. For this step, reflect on the media outlet’s purpose—that is, the factors that motivated you to get started (and to keep going!).

3. 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.

4. The business model: Now it’s time to go into more detail about the main features of your business model—in other words, the key points of your business plan.

5. The Roadmap: The roadmap allows you to define a plan of action to effectively implement your project over the next 3, 6, or 12 months.

4. Tailor your message to the circumstances

Your pitch should adapt based on:

• The phases: pre-launch, launch, acceleration…
• The target audience: inner circle, community, investors, customers.
• Time allotted: 1, 3, 5, or 15 minutes for the oral portion, or an appropriate length for the written portion.

While a pitch is often seen as an on-stage exercise, it’s actually part of everyday life—both in writing (emails, social media) and in speech (the famous question, “So, what do you do for a living?”).

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.

5. How can you spark interest?

Finding the Balance Between Persuasion and Conviction

Your pitch should create emotional persuasion (feelings) and rational conviction (arguments). To do this:

• Highlight the problem you're solving.
• Answer the "why" before the "how."
• Show your passion—it’s contagious!

Pay Attention to the Opening and Closing Lines

These two moments are essential for capturing and maintaining attention:

• The opening line: It can be an example, an anecdote, a question… that piques your audience’s interest. It can be tailored to your listener and should appeal to the collective subconscious;
• The closing: It should serve as an invitation—to join you, to subscribe, to ask you a question, to invest, to share, and so on.

If your pitch generates no reaction or questions from your audience, it means you need to rework your pitch.

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.

Building Confidence When Speaking in Public

When it comes to an oral pitch, it’s an exercise in public speaking: you need to convince and persuade through your voice, your posture, and your speech. While some people find public speaking easy, others prefer writing. By writing out your speech first and then rehearsing it (often) out loud, you’ll learn to control your voice and build your confidence. Never forget that you alone are in control of your pitch. A good way to practice? Film yourself! You’ll spot any nervous tics and gradually improve the flow of your speech.

6. Designing Your Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is a tool you can use to present your project. It consists of a series of slides designed to explain the concept 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 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.

7. Our Educational Resource

The team at has prepared a handy guide to help youMédianes apply what you've learned from this fact sheet to your own project.

8. Further Reading

• On the art of presenting your project: Check out our practical guide to help you write your manifesto.