I just got an email from someone wanting advice on how to pitch stories. In case other PR folks are out there reading this, how is how NOT to pitch stories (this goes for local & network):
DON'T CALL ME. I don't have time. I barely have time to leave my desk to pee or heat up my Healthy Choice Frozen meal-- so you can bet I don't have time to sit on the phone with you to listen to the intricacies of your pitch. Send me an email. I'll read the first three lines and if we're interested, i'll call you.
DON'T WASTE MY TIME. Have the courtesy to watch the show or correspondent I produce. Look at what we're doing. Is your pitch something that would really fit in my show? Honestly, if it's not, you're wasting your time and mine. For example, I got at least 10-20 email pitches today. I would wager a week's salary not one of the PR folks who emailed me today have any clue who I am or what we do. They just bought my name from somebody's list and sent me a blast email. My response? Delete. I get so many of them, if it's a name I don't recognize, I don't even read them.
TARGET A SHOW. Each show has a different staff and different needs, even if they are on the same network. You should pitch a story differently for a morning show than say an evening program. Fox and Friends is different than Special Report which is different than Fox Report, n'est pas? Tailor your story and pitch to someone on a particular show. Be flexible if someone calls you back. Get me someone quickly, because management may not be interested in the story tomorrow. Get me someone who can give me a viewer benefit. I know you want to pitch XYZ green window cleaner company but if you can give my viewers general tips on how to find green cleaning products (even those your company doesn't pitch) you'll have a much better chance of making air.
WE DO NEWS 24/7. So be so kind as to include an after hours cell number so if I have any questions on say, a Friday night or Saturday morning, I'll be able to contact you. If I had a dime for every press release for an event on a weekend without a weekend contact number, I'd be a millionaire... blah, blah, blah.
ONE FINAL NOTE. If you come through for me, I'll turn to you again and again. There is a particular college I have called in the past asking for an expert. They got me one within hours. Other schools I call don't answer calls or can't seem to get it together. Guess who I call back regularly?
Maggie L
One of the rare times I'm in the office
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2 comments:
So Maggie, what shows do you produce and which correspondents do you work with?
Amen to that! I was asked last week, why we allways use doctors from the same hospial, and my answer was they make it easy to work with them, and they allways come through quickly with someone to talk to.
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