Engaging journalists on Twitter is one of a few good PR tips for standing out from the masses clamoring for their attention. Once they recognize your name, it’s more likely they’ll open your email when you send them a story idea. You can set up a Twitter list of key influencers to follow. Services like […]
We’ve known for a couple years now how useful it can be to do reporters’ legwork for them. Journalists want to have multiple sources and proof points in their pieces. But they are being pulled in so many different directions they often don’t the time to gather them. But you may not have realized the […]
This month at the PRSA International Conference I witnessed a refreshingly honest admission from a top-tier reporter who is obviously secure in herself as a successful journalist. Hadley Malcolm, personal finance writer at USA Today, was asked whether she preferred to reach out to executives directly or go through a PR person. The typical journalist response […]
All the TV season premieres last week reminded me of an awesome pitch I saw over the summer. You’ll learn from its creativity, customization, and brevity. Matthew McWilliams was brainstorming ways to get the small university he represents some buzz. He thought about one of the history profs at his school who studies medieval Europe, […]
This summer I presented at a conference where New York Times reporter Richard Perez Pena was kind enough to sit for a panel about how PR people should work with him. One of the things he said was dumbfounding. I had looked at his recent work – much of it was, frankly, the kind of […]
Time-starved journalists and bloggers are always demanding that we get to the point and send ever shorter emails. My recommended standard limit for a cold email pitch is 150 words. Here are some simple, immediately applicable steps to cut your word count. 1. Delete your first sentence. If you’re like almost every PR pro who […]
My recent experiences with national and regional TV journalists shows how their business has changed and how we should respond. “Nobody has any money,” said a network producer I spoke to. She was referring to the different newscasts on her network, which each have to pay for the cost of sending a crew to shoot […]
The challenge Last week, right before the Memorial Day weekend, I issued a challenge – and offered a bounty – to subscribers to my weekly pitching tips emails. Here’s the contrarian logic that encourages pitching on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend: The conventional wisdom is to avoid this time because reporters and editors […]
This article is about a “boring” insurance giant creating some fun media placements out of thin air. Aflac PR executives Laura Kane and Jon Sullivan have been my consulting clients for the past four years, so I’ve had a firsthand seat as they’ve scrapped to come up with new angles to pitch their company. They’ve done […]
Identifying your real value as a pitching pro The wealthy attorney was cursing while his BMW sputtered and jerked its way into the auto repair shop. He was late for a client meeting and demanded the sole mechanic look at it immediately. The lawyer, clad in his Armani suit, fidgeted in frustration while the grizzled […]
