Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
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Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
1–10 of 12 posts
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#2The contact list link... priceless.
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#3Surprised not to see "Manufacturing Consent" by Chomksy and Herman. There's a huge amount of insight into the psychology of journalism packed into that book.
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#4"Texts you should read before you ever contact an journalist."
Grammar errors really stand out at font-size: 20px :)
EDIT: It's fixed now.
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#5Surprised not to see "Manufacturing Consent" by Chomksy and Herman. There's a huge amount of insight into the psychology of journalism packed into that book.
True, and the documentary is great too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci_1Ghk0CIc
Kind of depressing, but it's Chomsky; he has that effect.
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#6Anyone saw this dotdotdot app before? Anyone tested?
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#7"Texts you should read before you ever contact an journalist." Grammar errors really stand out at font-size: 20px :) EDIT: It's fixed now.
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Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#8The main rule to remember is that a journalist, even if they behave in a friendly manner, is not your friend.
Everything you say to a journalist is, by default, publishable. Stuff that is in a normal context clearly meant to be kept private is not private. The journalist will publish it if there's a good story.
So don't make lame jokes, they will be published. Don't waffle, it will be published. Before you talk to a journalist, know what you intend to say and say it. There's no obligation on you to do any more than that.
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#9Don't forget the little things. The other day I got a PR release with a) an obvious grammatical error in the subject line and b) 500+ other addresses in the CC field.
Re: Pitch Your Thing To Journalists – PR 101
#10My girlfriend works for one of the bigger tech blogs. I can't count the number of times I've heard her rant about startups sending her 500+ word pitches where she still has no idea what they do or what they are trying to announce by the end of the email.
First rule of thumb: Say what you do and why you are pitching between the subject line and first (short) paragraph, in the most simple way possible. If you are worried you won't get a reply after that first paragraph you should likely rethink pitching at all.
Nail the first paragraph by keeping it simple (journalists REALLY appreciate this, meaning your entire email is more likely to be read), then provide any supplemental content in the following paragraphs.
Also, don't worry about getting every detail in the initial pitch. If the journalist is interested there will be plenty of time in the follow-up.