How to sell me your PR pitch
Feb 28th, 2010 by admin
Like many journalists, I get a lot of pitches from public relations people. Most are good, but some are bad. I edit and write about these topics at WalletPop, a personal finance Web site run by Aol: recession, career, technology, sports & money.
I get plenty of story pitches each week, and I’m glad to get them. Many are filled with good ideas.
For those PR people interested in what makes a good pitch, here are a few things I look for:
1. Succinct pitch. Keep it short and to the point.
2. Enough information, but not too much, to give me the gist of what your story idea is and how it relates to your product. Attach a press release and give me a link to your Web site for more info. Photos or video links also welcomed.
3. Relate it to my beats and my audience. WalletPop is a personal finance Web site, so it must have a personal finance angle, hopefully one to help readers save money. Also keep it to my beats: recession, career, technology, sports & money. Those are broad beats, so you should be able to fit in somewhere.
4. Timely. Embargoes, such as in the video above, are fine, and it’s best to give me your pitch in a timely fashion if it has a news peg. If your company is doing something on the earthquake in Chile that relates to my beats and audience, then pitch it now and not three weeks from now.
5. Sources. Other than a company representative to talk with, provide sources who use your product to talk about it, along with their photos. I use Tungle to schedule interviews, so feel free to take a look at it and think of some times that are compatible if I accept the pitch and want to go forward.
6. Responses. I only respond to e-mails on weekdays, so if I get your e-mail and want to move forward, I’ll respond within 24 hours on a weekday. If you don’t hear back from me within that time, it means I won’t be doing the story. So no need to send me another request, unless you want clarification why or want to rework the pitch. When will the story run, you ask? Usually within a week of the interview, usually much sooner. I always send links to the stories to anyone who has made a successful pitch to me, and any sources who request it.
If you’re looking for what I’m looking to cover on a day-to-day basis, follow me on Twitter: @aaroncrowe
