Yesterday at dinner, I was talking with a colleague about being a blogger and being on the receiving end of pitches. M and I have been listed in Cision since the day we started this blog several years ago and we are pitched by PR professionals like ourselves every day. Since then, I can honestly say we’ve only used maybe 3 or 4 pitches out of the hundreds (maybe the thousands) we’ve received. So why is this? There are many reasons why reporters, editors and producers don’t respond to our pitches and they end up in the trash bin. Here is why…
- Irrelevant. I can’t tell you how many irrelevant pitches we get. If the people who pitched us actually read our blog, they would know we don’t cover what celebrities are wearing or where they’ve been spotted. Delete. Delete. Delete.
- Just the release. This has to be the worst practice. It looks like spam. PR pros will send just their client’s press release (or a media alert) – no introduction, no thought behind why we might be interested. Nada. We won’t spend the time to read just the release– who would?!
- Too much content. Since we’re inundated with emails all day, I can say I never have time to even read an entire full blown pitch. As PR pros, all that time we spend pitch writing and pitching is time wasted when no one’s actually reading the email. Before you send the full pitch, shoot a 2 sentence email asking if I’m interested. You’re more likely to receive a response yes or no.
What are some other PR pitch mistakes you’ve encountered? I’m sure there are plenty…
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Comments
I do a lot of freelancing for magazines, so I use HARO a lot, and some of the things our fellow PR practitioners do drive me crazy.
First – adding me to your e-mail list without my permission. I’m a freelancer! I’m not on some beat where I’m going to care about your client every single week.
Next, I can’t deal with pitches that AREN’T RELATED TO THE QUERY.
Third, I hate when people pitch me when they don’t know me. One thing I work really hard at as a PR practitioner is relationships with media. Being that I’m in a smaller market, I’m able to do this. I know it’s not necessarily feasible in New York all the time, but I think we can all agree that it pays to get to know the people you’ll be working with so they see you as an ally when the time comes to pitch them. I mean, hit me up on Twitter or something. But a lack of effort and a lack of personalization is pretty much the kiss of death.
A few years ago, I got a pitch from an intern at Edelman that was so bad, I called their office, asked for her supervisor, and let him have it.
It’s funny that the major agencies aren’t teaching their young PR folk how to practice properly. I found that mind-blowing.
From someone on the other side, this is great advice, and makes things simple.
When I do receive a pitch, if it is lengthy, I admit I just scan it and think “I’ll deal with this one later.” I would love for them instead to send a 2 sentence email, and I can contact them for more info if I’m interested.
I recently just started following your blog and am a recent public relations graduate working my first career out of college. I just want you both to know that I really appreciate what you ladies are doing and am learning so much more of what it takes to actually be working in this industry vs. studying this industry in college. Keep it up:)
I’ve been following your blog since last summer and I love it… I always find something new, interesting and funny about PR:-)
I’ve interned at 3 different agencies and have learned to pitch in 3 different ways. This makes it so easy!
Thank you so much for sharing in such a straight-forward way!
These three points instantly made a post-it on my desk so I can keep each in mind before I hit “send.”
Great post – as always!