Pitching the Media Via Email
Welcome to Mitch's PR and Media Spotlight podcast ... where we talk a little about public relations and a little about Atlanta media twice a month. This podcast has another bonus segment: an interview with WXIA-TV Kids & Schools reporter Donna Lowry and her producer/photographer Kathy Bourn.
Earlier this month, we talked about general strategies for pitching media. We talked about pitching in person, through the mail, on the phone, and via email.
So this month I promised to talk more specifically about how to pitch using email. Now this conversation is specific to pitching media, but my podcasting colleague, Robyn Hensley, has a great podcast on the site this month talking about general emailing strategies and philosophies. Check it out. It's a great complement to what I'm talking about today.
I started my PR career in 1988 at Cohn & Wolfe. At the time I started, they'd gotten their first office-wide computer system just a few years ago. It's amazing when I think back. The computers needed a 5 ¼ inch floppy disk to boot up. They didn't have hard drives and they weren't networked. To print something out, we had to take our floppy disk down the hall and ask one of our administrative assistants to print out our document on a giant dot matrix printer.
There were two main methods of getting press releases to reporters: mail or fax. Faxing was the big thing back then, but it very quickly got to the point where newsrooms were being inundated by faxes.
Sometime in that period of the early nineties, I recall we used what now seem like incredibly primitive modems to start sending documents electronically. Usually it was files for newsletters or similar print projects. We didn't call it email yet.
In the mid-nineties we started getting "real" PCs, computers with hard drives and software like Word and Excel. I can't remember when I sent my first email actually. Seems like it was somewhere in 1995 or 1996. I know by 1997, email was pretty common, but I can't quite remember that point where it really took off.
By the time I was working at CNN in 1999, email was ubiquitous. But with the positive side of email, came some of the negatives that Robin Hensley mentions as well. I've seen people come to rely on email to communicate and lose their basic personal communications skills.
Here's a crazy example: Many of the people I worked with at CNN would email people just a few office away rather than calling them or walking down the hall to talk with them face to face. I even had people there who would answer emails, but wouldn't answer their phones.
You've got to remember that email is NOT a replacement for every other form of communication, it's a supplement. Successful public relations is about building relationships between you and the media, or your client and the media. Email should be viewed as one tool to achieve that goal.
Let's put this email thing in perspective so you know what you're up against. I did a survey of reporters recently and asked them how many emails they get on an average day.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 200 to 300 a day
• CNN – a contact over there said she had 3000 emails in her in box when I called her.
• WSJ – the bureau chief said he travels a lot and has most of his emails on his blackberry. He had 9000 in his inbox that day.
My point is to give you a picture of the whirlpool your email is dropping into when you hit "send." There's no way to communicate solely via email with someone who gets that many emails every day.
I always cringe when someone tells me that they pitched a story and got no response. When I ask, "What did they say when you talked to them?" The response I often get is "Well I emailed him but didn't hear back." They ... never ... actually ... talked to them.
That said, there are there four important parts to your email:
• Subject Line
• The Body
• Call to action
• Contact information
The Subject Line
Now when pitching a story via email, the subject line is the most important element. Reporters get hundreds of emails a day, and that subject line the first "line of offense." When a reporter or editor is getting such a volume of emails, there's no way they can read through them all. The culling begins with the subject line as the reporter quickly scans his inbox and deletes emails that look like spam, or don't catch his attention.
Here's the trick ... and it's not an easy one: Write the subject line as if your entire pitch is contained in that one line.
• If you're offering a guest for a show, use the word "guest" in the subject line, the topic they can discuss, and the angle.
• Keep the subject line short and your most important words first. Some email systems truncate it down to a few words.
• If you're linking your pitch to something topical note that in the email. "Expert source to discuss Obama speech on race." That gives your email a timeliness and a sense of urgency.
• Avoid the words "press release." That's a surefire route to the delete file.
The Body
The body of your email should be short and concise. It's not necessary to give the recipient all the information on your story ... just enough to get them interested enough that they want to write the story. Then you give them the details.
A few tips:
• I like to try and keep the body of the release to the size of one screen in my Outlook email.
• Use bullet points to set off important parts of your pitch
• Don't fill up your email with long paragraphs. Several shorts paragraphs are easier to read.
Call to Action / Close the Sale
Remember, the purpose of your email pitch is to get a reporter to do something, be it to write a story or secure a meeting. You might call that "closing the sale." Be sure to include a call to action in your email, something that gives them a reason to respond and gives you a reason to call them back.
A few examples:
• I'll give you a call to follow up to set a time for an interview.
• I look forward to setting a time for us to meet.
Contact Information
Finally, this might sound basic, but make sure to include contact information in your email. This includes daytime and cellphone contact information. The cellphone contact is particularly important if you're emailing a reporter information about an off-site event.
Coming up next is our exclusive interview with WXIA's Donna Lowry and Kathy Bourn.
And don't forget, to get the most up to date database of Atlanta media contacts, subscribe now to Leff's Atlanta Media. You can sign up online at www.leffsatlantamedia.com.
Tune in next month for the next edition of Mitch's PR and Media podcast.
#####
Mitch Leff is president of Leff & Associates (www.leffassociates.com) an Atlanta-based public relations agency. In addition to public relations services and media training, Leff also offers two public relations focused web sites:
• Mitch's Media Match (www.MitchsMediaMatch.com) is an online service for Atlanta and Georgia-based media that matches their story assignments and story concepts with local sources and experts. FREE for journalists.
• Leff's Atlanta Media (www.LeffsAtlantaMedia.com) is an online resource featuring a comprehensive directory of Atlanta media, plus media relations guidelines and prepared templates for commonly used press materials.
Welcome to Mitch's PR and Media Spotlight podcast ... where we talk a little about public relations and a little about Atlanta media twice a month. This podcast has another bonus segment: an interview with WXIA-TV Kids & Schools reporter Donna Lowry and her producer/photographer Kathy Bourn.
Earlier this month, we talked about general strategies for pitching media. We talked about pitching in person, through the mail, on the phone, and via email.
So this month I promised to talk more specifically about how to pitch using email. Now this conversation is specific to pitching media, but my podcasting colleague, Robyn Hensley, has a great podcast on the site this month talking about general emailing strategies and philosophies. Check it out. It's a great complement to what I'm talking about today.
I started my PR career in 1988 at Cohn & Wolfe. At the time I started, they'd gotten their first office-wide computer system just a few years ago. It's amazing when I think back. The computers needed a 5 ¼ inch floppy disk to boot up. They didn't have hard drives and they weren't networked. To print something out, we had to take our floppy disk down the hall and ask one of our administrative assistants to print out our document on a giant dot matrix printer.
There were two main methods of getting press releases to reporters: mail or fax. Faxing was the big thing back then, but it very quickly got to the point where newsrooms were being inundated by faxes.
Sometime in that period of the early nineties, I recall we used what now seem like incredibly primitive modems to start sending documents electronically. Usually it was files for newsletters or similar print projects. We didn't call it email yet.
In the mid-nineties we started getting "real" PCs, computers with hard drives and software like Word and Excel. I can't remember when I sent my first email actually. Seems like it was somewhere in 1995 or 1996. I know by 1997, email was pretty common, but I can't quite remember that point where it really took off.
By the time I was working at CNN in 1999, email was ubiquitous. But with the positive side of email, came some of the negatives that Robin Hensley mentions as well. I've seen people come to rely on email to communicate and lose their basic personal communications skills.
Here's a crazy example: Many of the people I worked with at CNN would email people just a few office away rather than calling them or walking down the hall to talk with them face to face. I even had people there who would answer emails, but wouldn't answer their phones.
You've got to remember that email is NOT a replacement for every other form of communication, it's a supplement. Successful public relations is about building relationships between you and the media, or your client and the media. Email should be viewed as one tool to achieve that goal.
Let's put this email thing in perspective so you know what you're up against. I did a survey of reporters recently and asked them how many emails they get on an average day.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 200 to 300 a day
• CNN – a contact over there said she had 3000 emails in her in box when I called her.
• WSJ – the bureau chief said he travels a lot and has most of his emails on his blackberry. He had 9000 in his inbox that day.
My point is to give you a picture of the whirlpool your email is dropping into when you hit "send." There's no way to communicate solely via email with someone who gets that many emails every day.
I always cringe when someone tells me that they pitched a story and got no response. When I ask, "What did they say when you talked to them?" The response I often get is "Well I emailed him but didn't hear back." They ... never ... actually ... talked to them.
That said, there are there four important parts to your email:
• Subject Line
• The Body
• Call to action
• Contact information
The Subject Line
Now when pitching a story via email, the subject line is the most important element. Reporters get hundreds of emails a day, and that subject line the first "line of offense." When a reporter or editor is getting such a volume of emails, there's no way they can read through them all. The culling begins with the subject line as the reporter quickly scans his inbox and deletes emails that look like spam, or don't catch his attention.
Here's the trick ... and it's not an easy one: Write the subject line as if your entire pitch is contained in that one line.
• If you're offering a guest for a show, use the word "guest" in the subject line, the topic they can discuss, and the angle.
• Keep the subject line short and your most important words first. Some email systems truncate it down to a few words.
• If you're linking your pitch to something topical note that in the email. "Expert source to discuss Obama speech on race." That gives your email a timeliness and a sense of urgency.
• Avoid the words "press release." That's a surefire route to the delete file.
The Body
The body of your email should be short and concise. It's not necessary to give the recipient all the information on your story ... just enough to get them interested enough that they want to write the story. Then you give them the details.
A few tips:
• I like to try and keep the body of the release to the size of one screen in my Outlook email.
• Use bullet points to set off important parts of your pitch
• Don't fill up your email with long paragraphs. Several shorts paragraphs are easier to read.
Call to Action / Close the Sale
Remember, the purpose of your email pitch is to get a reporter to do something, be it to write a story or secure a meeting. You might call that "closing the sale." Be sure to include a call to action in your email, something that gives them a reason to respond and gives you a reason to call them back.
A few examples:
• I'll give you a call to follow up to set a time for an interview.
• I look forward to setting a time for us to meet.
Contact Information
Finally, this might sound basic, but make sure to include contact information in your email. This includes daytime and cellphone contact information. The cellphone contact is particularly important if you're emailing a reporter information about an off-site event.
Coming up next is our exclusive interview with WXIA's Donna Lowry and Kathy Bourn.
And don't forget, to get the most up to date database of Atlanta media contacts, subscribe now to Leff's Atlanta Media. You can sign up online at www.leffsatlantamedia.com.
Tune in next month for the next edition of Mitch's PR and Media podcast.
#####
Mitch Leff is president of Leff & Associates (www.leffassociates.com) an Atlanta-based public relations agency. In addition to public relations services and media training, Leff also offers two public relations focused web sites:
• Mitch's Media Match (www.MitchsMediaMatch.com) is an online service for Atlanta and Georgia-based media that matches their story assignments and story concepts with local sources and experts. FREE for journalists.
• Leff's Atlanta Media (www.LeffsAtlantaMedia.com) is an online resource featuring a comprehensive directory of Atlanta media, plus media relations guidelines and prepared templates for commonly used press materials.
