Category Archives: Media Relations

PR Pitches Are Valuable Real Estate

In the spirit of effective pitching, I’m going to keep this post short and sweet.

Communication is expressed in different forms. I get that. So why try the same communication approach across channels? Specifically, why do some pitches reaching journalists’ inboxes start something like, “Hi, XYZ. I hope your day is going well. I wanted to talk with you about …”

“I hope your day is going well.” – Let me tell you why that’s wrong.

The potential ROI of leaving that line in does not surpass the risk you take leaving it out.

Every word in a pitch is real estate, from the subject head to a signature. The value of that real estate is dependent on the order the journalist would read the pitch. Meaning, your email subject is the most important. It’s the first impression and what will get that person to delete or open.

The second most important copy is the first two sentences of your pitch. This is where the journalist decides whether they delete or keep reading. Chances are if you’ve got them to read that far, you might actually have a shot at closing the deal or at the least a response.

So why waste this valuable real estate on an insincere-looking greeting? Do you “really” care how this reporter’s day is going or do you care if this person will cover your client?

I asked my Twitter friends to chime in on this today and had some thoughtful feedback from a few journalists. Mitch Wagner, editor in chief of Internet Evolution, said “It’s a courtesy. It’s fine.” He followed up to clarify, “Pitches are entirely impersonal. I assume they’re generated by bulk email software. And I’m fine with that.”

While conceding that the greeting is a waste of real estate, Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica, Jon Brodkin, followed up with “…the ‘hope you’re well’ doesn’t really bother me so much. There are tons of worse things.”

So the basic point here: While it’s not always considered a rookie mistake to include a warm greeting in your pitch, you’re wasting valuable real estate and potentially lowering the value of your pitch.

Veni, Vidi, Vici PR

When I heard my client say “I was appalled,” I knew we had a story. It invoked emotion and played up the urgency of the topic at hand, which is cleaning up your social profile for the job hunt.

But it’s not the whole story. As I reflected on the success, I thought of Bill Murray’s wonderful adaptation of Julius Caesar’s famous tripartite: “We came. We saw. We kicked it’s ass!” There were essentially three stages to getting into that piece: Getting on the reporter’s radar, getting in the story, and getting the lede of the story.

Last week, Fresh Grounder Ruth Bazinet wrote about the importance of relationships in PR, reminding us that, while story is important, relationships and tenacity are just as important.

In this case, the story would never had happened without relationships and trust. Relationships opened the door and made my phone ring. Tenacity (not so much with the reporter in this case, but with other folks who might be able to help the reporter out) got both me and my client in the article. The story my client was able to tell got her the lede.

“Belgium Pastries” by David Blaikie

It’s not rocket science. But it’s not a simple story vs. connections dynamic either.

They say that cooking is an art, but baking is a science. That makes the PR pitch more like making pastries: you need a little bit of both.

Press Releases Aren’t Dead! But We Should Bury Some Myths

Just because we don’t type on a typewriter, doesn’t mean typing is dead. Photo from geoftheref on Flickr

I’m tired of hearing that the press release is dead. Sure, it was a great meme in 2006 and it spawned great discussions about a social media release or the press release of the future, but those discussions are over and here’s the fact: press releases aren’t going anywhere. In reality, a release is just a way to distribute content. It’s part of the process, but not your ONLY process.

The problem lies not in how press releases are written or what they do, but in our perception of what they can accomplish.

When we talk with clients about their news we discuss “news flow” not “releases,” because news and information can take different forms. That doesn’t mean we reject all releases. They have a place, but we need to understand that place and how they help a broader influencer relations program.

Here are 5 myths about the lowly press release:

Reporters clamor to read your latest release: Most people think “oh, I’ll just put a press release on “the wire” and reporters will beat a path to my door.” That’s just flat out wrong. Most reporters never look at “the wire” and few will read a release that’s simply sent to them. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless. During our pitch process many reporters still ask for the release as a starting point for their story. They then add in some interviews, research on competitors and bring up past stories. You know, all the really hard work. So the release plays a role, no matter how small.
Outreach begins with the release: In reality a release is the last part of a news process that begins weeks or months prior with messaging and planning. By the time the release hits the wire your PR team should already have spoken with the key journalists telling them what’s coming. Not all journalists are going to be interested for a variety of reasons (some don’t want news that will be shared widely, others don’t like to sit on information) but at the very least use the news to start a conversation.
All our news is super important: Not all information is equal. That personnel announcement may mean a lot to the mom of the VP you just hired, but unless you just stole a huge, important player from Google, TechCrunch probably isn’t going to care. The question you have is whether to spend the money to put the release out on the wire service or just post it on your site.
The “release” is the only way to get “news” to the public: Another strategy is to only put out important news as a release but put the rest on your corporate blog. Have a small feature coming out? Put the product manager to work on the blog post. Have a long list of minor features in an otherwise major release.
A release is only good for getting: Why put out a release on “the wire” if it’s not going to be read by the top reporters? One reason: SEO. For many of our clients release distribution is more about SEO and Google Alert pickup than it is about gaining news coverage.

The biggest tip is to find yourself a good writer and let them have at it. While the release itself may not get all the big news coverage you want, some of the language could come up in stories. If it’s vague or somewhat confusing, then reporters have a tough time getting your story right.

Also, releases tend to be archived on your own site so they reflect on you.

Who Killed Journalism? You Did

We’re easy targets, those of us in the PR field. It’s easy to say that we’re slimy, dumb and get in the way of good journalism. Over my PR career I’ve worked with my share of morons and liars.

But not all of those were in PR, many were also in journalism. Many were also in technology. Many were in printing. Many were in auto repair or many were investors.

Yes, morons and liars are everywhere.

So when an unnamed PR pro writes that many PR folks really aren’t that good, he’s right. But he’s also just enjoying the fact that PR people are an easy target. Why? Because really, we shouldn’t exist.

Let me explain: the theory goes that if you have a good product or a good story, then you’ll get exposure. People who report the news will find you, they’ll do the digging and the work to grab the important nuggets of information and present those to you.

You believe that? Really? Are you sure?

I’ve had reporters tell me that they believed a certain topic was very important to their readers, but they couldn’t report on it because they just didn’t have time. I’ve gone to others with a story and been asked “can you just send the release?” Then a story would appear without any interview or additional reporting. Is this the fault of the PR pro?

Yesterday I attended a forum on the First Amendment at Suffolk Law School that included Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Eileen McNamara, Media Critic an all-around-good-guy Dan Kennedy, leader of the Nieman Foundation Ann Marie Lapinski and Linda Greenhouse, whose long list of accomplishments doesn’t begin to sum her up.

All agreed that truth is a major casualty of modern reporting. McNamara lamented the fact that today’s reporters don’t seem to do research in their own archives. They lamented the use of Beltway Insiders who regularly offer up quotes just to provide a story with “the other side” of an issue.

But Dan Kennedy made the point that sometimes sources have one key selling point: they return calls when you’re on deadline.

This is a real problem in political reporting. It’s also a problem in technology PR. Too often reporters take on the easy story. Audrey Watters, in writing why she left Read Write Web, noted that no one seems to care about Education Technology. This is a huge story overall, something that impacts not just parents and students, but our future as a nation. She writes:

What I learned — and what I continue to be reminded of with unfortunate frequency: the tech blogosphere really doesn’t notice education stories. Not really. Not unless teachers do something untoward on a blog. Not unless a tech CEO, past or present, makes a major education-oriented donation. Not unless there’s an rumored iPhone 5 angle involved.

Back at the forum, when I stood up to ask a question, I mentioned that I work in PR. A woman laughed. Yes, she LAUGHED. Yet, everyone in that room had been subject to PR at that moment and didn’t know it. The forum itself was an attempt to raise the visibility and importance of Suffolk Law School, especially among its alumni. That’s because Suffolk operates in a competitive environment that includes Harvard, BU and BC, all with law schools that have strong alumni networks. As a proof point, consider that Greg Gatlin, a former Boston Herald staffer and current PR flack for the school, was on the panel.

So who is at fault for the lousy and lazy journalism? Is it the journalists? Is it their editors? Is it the PR people who feed them crap?

No. It’s us, the media consumers.

You see, reporters write stories that get them noticed, stories that will satisfy their editors. Editors are under pressure to satisfy their bosses, the publishers. They need to drive traffic to the website, grab clicks, gain conversation, build “mindshare” and all those other marketing things. They do this by writing stories that are attractive to an audience.

If you write about the iPad, your clicks go up. If you write about education technology, you can hear the crickets. Write about large constitutional issues, no one cares. Write about Rush Limbaugh and you’re front and center.

So, do you want to blame PR folks for being stupid? Sure, go ahead. Want to blame reporters for being lazy? Feel free.

But next time you click on a headline, think about why you’re doing it and what really matters to you. Then consider if you really want to click there.