The journalist’s hidden inbox

I’m going to let you in on a little-known journalistic practice.

It’s knowledge that a select few PR pros have, and it informs everything they do, every decision they make, when it comes to pitching media. And it’s growing in importance every day that more people use ChatGPT and similar tools to do their work for them.

It has to do with the way that an increasing number of journalists are handling the flood of pitches overwhelming their inboxes.

Some of them have been forced to take a very hard line. Like one Wall Street Journal writer I talked to. Personality-wise, she’s on the very friendly end of the spectrum. Cheerful and considerate. But she can’t stay at the top of her field by tolerating off-topic pitches. She said, “I open every email I get, and if it’s off-topic, I just block that sender, and if it’s from a PR agency, anyone from that agency’s domain.” One strike and you’re out. That’s the extreme version of this secret.

The more moderate version is growing in acceptance. Many journalists have created a folder or label in their inbox they call “important” or “priority.” This goes beyond the automated sifting that an algorithm would do. This is something that journalists set up manually to recognize useful sources. Here’s how it works: When a PR pro stands out for sending them a well-researched and on-point pitch, the journalist adds their name to the filter, and the PR person’s email starts going in there.

There’s another version of this concept where the journalist uses a private Gmail account as their “real” inbox – they only give that email address out to valuable sources. Their public account is for reader complaints and pitch spam.

Whether we’re talking about a priority folder or a totally separate email account, I call this special inbox the “PR Promised Land.”

Would you rather have your email in their regular inbox, one of 4,872 unopened messages?

Or in their priority folder/label/account, where it’s one of maybe eight?

Obviously, you want to be in the PR Promised Land.

And this concept is growing in importance by the day. You think journalists’ inboxes are crammed now? Wait until wider adoption of ChatGPT and similar tools leads to 100x more crappy pitches coming in.

It’s more important than EVER to ditch the blast pitches and to do your homework so your 1:1 pitch stands out enough to get you plucked from the teeming masses and deposited securely into the Promised Land.

ICYMI, here’s a quick approach I shared last week that people really liked.

I’ll be back every week with more tips on finding your way to the Promised Land.