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Faulty pitches: How to avoid sending irrelevant, infuriating material to editors
November 26, 2007
Copyright © 2007 PRSA. All rights reserved.
By Lorra M. Brown
The following article appears in the December issue of PR Tactics.
My sister works for a major women’s fashion/beauty magazine and loves to heckle this former PR executive with the quirky, funny and sometimes ridiculous pitches she receives daily. Even though we are told by editors their preferences for working with their publication when we take the time to ask, it’s clear that some PR professionals have not gotten the message. It is these (dare I say lazy? ill-informed?) publicists who are making the job of the rest of the good PR practitioners that much more difficult. Will our target editors wade through the junk they receive from our peers to find our great pitch, or will they send it to their junk folder with the rest of the garbage they receive?
With this question in mind, I list the following real pitches (with some minor identifying details removed to protect these poor PR souls) received by my sister. I hope that by sharing these faulty pitches, PR professionals will help each other stop inundating editors with junk. In case this cautionary tale doesn’t resonate fully, I’ve outlined a few fundamental media pitching principles at the end of this article.
Hi, my clients just released two new products that will be extremely useful for seniors and their families. Reminder: This was sent to a magazine aimed at women ages 18-32 and the pitch talks about “technological innovations of interest to your audience.” To my knowledge, seniors are a bit older than this publication’s target reader.
Hi, wondering if you or a colleague might have 10-15 minutes next Thursday to do a briefing at your office — on the heels of the Bryant Park Fashion show — with a well-known fashion expert and OB-GYN, if desired? Perhaps this might spark some future story ideas. If you are interested in the topic let me know. What topic? An OB-GYN? To talk about the fashion or beauty of women’s reproductive health perhaps?
I’m working on a film, which opens in theatres Nov.30. If you are looking for celebs for any beauty pieces, let me know if you are interested in any of the cast below. To talk about what? Fashion and beauty? No movie information is included and the name of the film, which I’ve omitted for this article, does not seem to have any relevance to the fashion/beauty industry. Oh and the pitch comes too late, as this magazine and most other monthlies work at least three-to-six months out.
With Americans spending more on pets than ever before, there are fabulous products for four-legged friends. From gourmet liver biscotti to interactivity toys . . .. And it goes on, and on and on. This magazine has never covered pets — ever.
Hello! It is back-to-school time, and kids, teens, and college students need to go back to school in style with the hippest, coolest and most fashionable sneakers! But how can students go back to school this year with kicks that are absolutely awesome? And it goes on. Covering kid and teens’ sneakers isn’t a priority for editorial coverage in this magazine.
Hi. A mom is changing the way women everywhere look during labor. A certified doula has invented a line of clothing to make women feel more comfortable and confident while giving birth. I’m assured this magazine never covers baby related things. Ever. And, as a mom myself, I must say, it never occurred to me to care what I was wearing when delivering my children. I just wanted it to be over quickly . . . but hey, I bet this pitch will find a home somewhere. Just not at this women’s fashion/beauty magazine.
Staying on the mommy/kid pitch theme: Hi! A mom is changing the way little girls all over the world are wearing their hair. This mom waited her whole life to have a daughter she could dress up from head to toe! This pitch is just wrong. Not only for a magazine that doesn’t cover kid products, but those poor little girls.
A pitch for baby slings wasn’t horrible (yet was still off-target for the publication). The frustration rose for this busy editor when she received the same long e-mail pitch every other day for two weeks.
Here’s my personal favorite short and sweet stellar pitch: Hi! Are you working on any new beauty pieces we could possibly help out with? The editor’s response: Are you kidding me? I removed the expletive used in the response. You get the idea.
Tips for pitching before you contact a reporter
These pitch samples took place in one recent month alone. Imagine the volume that every media outlet receives daily. Perhaps the following tips will encourage those who pitch to do extra homework to secure the coverage clients seek.
• Know the publication you are pitching. Read it, at least once. By flipping through the publication, you’ll not only be able to target the proper editor (who are all far too busy to forward e-mail pitches to colleagues), but you’ll also be able to avoid publications that would never cover your product or story anyway.
• Check Mediabistro.com and similar sources before sending a pitch. These resources provide guidelines for pitching, topics and the like. Editors at major publications take the time to provide these organizations with detailed information about their editorial needs to cut down on superfluous pitches.
• If your client or boss insists you get in a certain magazine, customize your pitch for the publication. Better yet, if it’s not appropriate, skip that one and proactively find those publications that may be interested in your story. Measurable results in publications that target consumers actually read are much better than showing your boss or client a list of the hundreds of calls you made.
• Spell-check and proofread please. Also keep exclamation points to a minimum. They will not get the editor more excited about your pitch.
• Keep pitches short and to the point. What is in it for that publication’s readers? Press releases cut and pasted into an e-mail are too long and will not be read by busy editors.
• Avoid flowery expressions and lists of adjectives. Nothing is the hippest, coolest or most fabulous over everything else. Stick to facts that describe attributes of the product. If you can’t say why the product is hip or cool, then it is not. The days of sending cutesy pitches are long over.
• Send your pitch via e-mail and then follow up with one or two calls tops. If you haven’t received a response, then it is safe to assume you won’t. Don’t become a stalker.
• Avoid overly general pitches.
• Never simply mail merge or send bulk e-mails to editors. They view this as junk mail. A simple handwritten note on a product, using the editor’s name (spelled correctly) and any reference that shows you know the publication will earn your product or story a second look.
• Finally, when an editor calls you with a request, deliver. Be sure to meet his or her deadline. The editor/PR executive relationship should be symbiotic. If you make them look good, they will remember that the next time you have a strong story or pitch.
I suppose it is easy for me to be a critic now that I am out of the corporate side of the industry and teaching public relations at a university. Still, seeing firsthand the pitch process through an editor/writer’s eyes is certainly enlightening. I used to wonder why busy editors and writers would rush me off the phone or not return calls or e-mails. After all, my client’s “news” was surely the best pitch they received that week. Years later, I can admit that perhaps I may have sent some less than stellar pitches to the media once or twice during my tenure in the PR profession.
Now, as a professor, I pledge to all PR agencies, publicists and media outlets that I will do my best to educate future PR professionals about the pitch process and how to avoid alienating the media outlets that they need to secure results for their clients.
Lorra M. Brown in an assistant professor of public relations and journalism at William Paterson University, in Wayne, N.J. She can be reached at: BrownL50@wpunj.edu. She is a former executive with Ogilvy Public Relations and Weber Shandwick Worldwide.
Comments
alan krawitz says:
As both a PR pro and freelance writer (who's been subjected to some pretty crummy pitches as well), Ms. Brown's article is right-on-target as it outlines how NOT to pitch an editor. I think that her pitching advice holds true for virtually every media outlet. Be succinct; do some research on the intended outlet and be sure your story is relevant. And then, don't call or email the editor every 15 minutes to follow-up. But, I think that most pitching is still common sense. Only send pitches to those editors who'll care about your story. Off-target pitches are as welcome by editors as junk mail and spam is by anyone with an email address. Moreover, never underestimate the power of appealing to an editor or writer's ego. Being able to talk about previous stories and/or topics covered by said editor is always a plus and almost always appreciated. It almost always boils down to showing a nominal amount of effort. As with most anything, you only get back what you've put in.
melissa libby says:
As an agency owner for fifteen years, and a practitioner for longer, I certainly agree with all the points in Ms. Brown's article. And I do my best to educate my young staff accordingly. But the reality is that beauty/fashion magazines DO sometimes cover subject matter outside their scope and those of us who thoughtfully refrained from pitching the pet product story are dismayed when our client's competitor is featured. And when a competing PR agency uses flowery language about their client and it is taken at face value by the media, sometimes verbatim, (and in TOP publications) then how do I explain to my clients why our releases/pitches can't contain such language? The media needs to hold up its end of the bargain too. Otherwise, why be surprised by the pitches?
Sammy DeMarco says:
Should the people who made those pitches really be called pros? I haven't finished school yet and recognize the problems with them. Were these facts (know the publication, be direct/avoid "fluff" etc..) not taught 10, 20 or 30 years ago? They do make for a good "not to do" list though; and a laugh.
Kevin Dugan says:
This is great input. My concern is that folks already in the industry will have a tough time changing their habits. We need to be sending information like this directly to the students. A media relations blog I helped create has received the most positive feedback from students and academics and I think we need more content like this for them. If you are interested, you can learn more about my blog here: badpitch.blogspot.com
John Elsasser says:
Hi Kevin, Thanks for the feedback. This article will also appear in the December issue of PR Tactics. During the school year, Tactics is sent to the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) advisers across the country for distribution to the more than 9,000 PRSSA members. I'm also a Bad Pitch fan. (The "To whom it may concern" greeting for a pitch gets me every time...and not in a good way!)
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