Here are two tidbit’s from yesterday’s Bulldog Reporter PR University audio conference on email/online pitching (which I moderated):
- Dave Satterfield of Sitrick & Co. said that he has texted reporters to answer questions and make clarifications during major announcement events, while they were all in the room together
- The Vatican has been send text messages to followers and the media since 2003. Kevin Dugan of the Bad Pitch Blog said one of the reasons was to reduce the possibility of Vatican-related hoaxes being picked up by the media as legit.
Almost all journalists say they want to be pitched by email. So guess what — they are deluged with email pitches! And to make matters worse, most of them are bloated, non-news pitches that get deleted faster than you can say, “did you get my email?”
How to avoid the trash bin? That’s easy — pitch real news, facts and figures, information that the journalist’s audience really might want to know. Skip the self-serving pseudo ads — those are the ones that get deleted FAST.
But the title of this post is 3 no-nos, so here’s a list of other no-nos:
- Using ALL CAPs in the subject line — why are ya yellin’ at me?
- Putting the words “press release” or “news release” in the subject line — yer wastin’ precious space, pardner.
- Including attachments — send links, not attachments. Repeat — send links, not attachments.
For more handy email pitching tips, tune in to PR University next Wednesday, September 16, for a lively webinar called, “Perfect Email Pitches: Master PR Scribes Reveal How to Craft Copy That Boosts Opens and Media Coverage in Today’s Shrinking News Hole.” I’m moderating, and the panelists will include:
- Harry Medved, Head of Public Relations, Fandango
- Jane Mazur, Executive Vice President/Director of Media Relations, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
- Dan Beeson Director of Media Relations for Mother Nature Network
- Nancy Brenner, Senior Vice President/Director of Media Relations, MS&L Global Public Relations
When you send an email pitch, do you always follow-up with a call? Or do you never follow-up? This is one of the trickiest questions in PR.
On today’s PR University audio conference with top editors of womens’ magazines, there was a definite split among the panelists regarding their receptivity to follow-up calls.
“Please don’t call me,” said Lea Goldman, Features Editor of Marie Claire. Goldman says that she religiously checks her email and reads all email, at least the subject line. If she wasn’t intrigued at the time, calling to plead your case rarely if ever helps.
Cari Dineen, Senior Editor of Redbook, and Jeanine Detz, Senior Editor of Shape, both agreed 100%.
On the other hand, Stephanie Emma Pfeffer, Senior Associate Editor of Family Circle, and Nancy Minikes, Research Editor of Women’s World, were somewhat more open to follow-up calls, but not minutes or even hours after you sent the pitch. Give them a couple of days to get back to you — remember, most editors are getting hundreds of pitches a week.
Minikes made an interesting point about customizing your pitch: if you address it directly to her by saying “Hi Nancy,” she will make a point of responding by email and telling you whether or not she’s interested. But if you just send PR spam, she will very likely ignore it and will not respond.
The bottom line for all these editors: customize your pitch! [How many times do we have to say this?] Address them by name, know their slice of the female demographic they are targeting, know the sections that they edit, and then make your pitch accordingly.
The dumb pitch that got the biggest laugh from this panel: emails that say something like, “I have a good expert or story about [fill in the blank]. Can you help me figure out whether it’s a good fit for your publication?”
So, back to follow-up calls, here’s a poll: do you make the call or not?
[polldaddy poll=1490921]
Be concise. Tell the journalist how your pitch will help them do their job, in the crucial first words of an email pitch. Customize your outgoing email address, if you have to, to make it more recognizable and user-friendly. Bottom-line: every character counts, and you have zero to waste.
That is the key-takeaway from today’s Bulldog Reporter PR University audio conference on email pitching: make every character count.
LA-based journalist Gary North of Variety had a couple of key tips: your subject line should contain an active adjective, a noun and a verb that your recipient might care about. As in, “Doctor Wins Nobel Prize.” Contrast that with: Interview opportunity with Dr. Frederick Smith, M.D., on New Research into Cancer Treatment.” Which one would you open?
North also suggested that senders make sure their email addresses mean something, too — that just like we all do when sorting our postal mail, he and other journalists look at who sent them something as they decide how much importance to give it.
A few other takeaways:
- Think about the recipient — you are filling space in their life with your email. Are you adding value or just spamming them? (from Richard Laermer, BadPitchBlog)
- No client names in the subject line — it’s a dead giveaway that you are seeking publicity rather than offering a story to the journalist (from Heather Hamann, Dr. Dean Edell radio show)
- Every email pitch should answer this question: what can I uniquely offer that no one else has? (from Kim Metcalfe of Weber Shandwick)
- Write for the Blackberry! Meaning, short and pithy, not wordy! Example: “Inventor Helps Seniors Plug In.” (from Nancy Brenner, MSL)