Using E-mail To Make Your Pitch
By Terry Lee & Rich Brant
Gone are the days when you called a reporter, mailed
a letter or sent a fax and expected (or at least hoped)
to get a callback. These days, more reporters than ever
are relying on e-mail to review news pitches or story
ideas.
That's because e-mail is fast and efficient. Reporters
can communicate with you by sending you a message at
11 p.m. while you're fast asleep. They can tell you
"no" without having to talk to you. They don't
have to spend valuable time listening to sources on
the telephone, and they can jump to a web site for more
information before deciding if they want to pursue an
idea further.
Pitching by e-mail is sometimes more difficult than
sending a pitch letter by standard mail or calling a
reporter on the telephone because with more and more
e-mail being sent these days, yours needs to stand out
from the rest. Yet your chances of getting a response
are better than a reporter returning your telephone
call, or calling you after getting a pitch letter.
Here are tips on how to make your pitch stand out in
the maze of e-mail communications that reporters, and
other media contacts, receive each day.
Do They Even Want E-mail?
Before you e-mail anything, you need to know how the
media outlet prefers to receive its pitches-by phone,
fax, standard mail or e-mail. Preferences vary. To find
out, call and ask for the reporter, the assignment editor
or the city desk. You can also use a specialized service
such as PressReleaseDC that maintain up-to-date contact
databases.
The Subject Line
If you know the reporter and/or editor with whom you
are sending a story, you don't have to worry as much
about the subject line in your pitch e-mail. Not so
if your pitching to someone who doesn't know you. That's
all the more reason the subject line must be eye-catching
and compelling.
In the subject line consider catchy words and phrases
that explain a little what the story is about, like
the following:
- "Ultimate job-hunting tips" when pitching
an idea for a how-to article on job-hunting.
- "A CEO & His New Cessna" when pitching
a profile story of your CEO who flies around the country
via his private jet
- "The African American Entrepreneur Small Business
Guide" when pitching a new book for African American
small business owners
The Body of the E-mail
The first two sentences should be the most powerful
because you need to grab the media contact's attention
immediately. One way to do that is to write visually
or by using lots of description. This is particularly
important if you are pitching an idea for television,
simply because television is a visual medium. Just don't
overdo it.
Explain what the story is about and why readers would
care. If you can throw in a relevant statistic that
lends credence to your story, all the better. Try to
limit the length of your pitch to no more than one screen
of copy that doesn't require too much scrawling down.
Customize Your Pitches
The more you can customize your pitch, the greater your
chances of getting coverage. If you are the public information
officer for a government agency such as the health department,
for example, and your story idea is about a new free
immunization program available to parents of infant
children, you can pitch your idea to government reporters
as well as health/medicine and family writers. But the
pitch might look a little different for each. For the
government writer, you might also offer statistics from
similar municipalities.
If you are sending a pitch to more than one media outlet,
never put your entire media distribution list in the
"to" field. Otherwise, reporters know the
idea isn't being pitched to them exclusively. Better
to simply send it to each reporter individually.
Personalize Your Pitch
Anytime you can address the journalist by name at the
beginning of your pitch and also mention their media
outlet by name or call letters, you increase your chances
for coverage. I'm a big believer in addressing them
by their first names, simply because it will differentiate
you from most other PR people who prefer last names
for a more formal greeting.
If you met the journalist awhile ago, or spoke on the
phone, or had another personal contact, you can mention
that in the pitch because it might help them remember
you. Or you can mention that you are familiar with articles
they write on such-and-such topic, and you think your
idea would be a good fit.
Link to the News Release
More and more reporters say they prefer a two-paragraph
pitch rather than a two-page news release that they
must spend time reading. So you have two options. When
you pitch your idea, you can provide a link to the news
release that's already at your web site. Or, you tell
the reporter to let you know if you should follow up
your pitch by e-mailing the release.
When e-mailing news releases, always send them in the
body of the e-mail and never as attachments. Journalists
are worried that opening attachments might spread viruses.
Some have even programmed their computers to automatically
delete any e-mail messages that have attachments.
Offer Expert Sources
If you've lined up expert sources who can be interviewed
for the story, say so and mention them by name, particularly
if they are in high positions and are usually inaccessible
for interviews or difficult to reach.
Discuss this topic with other IABC members at: www.iabc.com/memberspeak.
|
