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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Whenever I pitch a story, I try to make sure that the story I am telling is informative and interesting.  I don’t want the pitch to be self-promotional.

Here are today’s tips to think about when pitching a story:

1. Has the contact covered a story like this in the past?  If you are pitching the 5 p.m anchor about a clothing line, it is not relevant.

2. Speaking of being relevant..Make sure the story is very relevant to the media outlet.  Don’t pitch a story about puppies to a cat magazine!

3. Spell check.  Make sure your grammar is on point.  A journalist can delete a pitch based on a misspelling.

4. FWD: I have seen this many times.  A person puts FWD: in the subject line.  I can be intentional or unintentional, however it never works.

5. Establish a relationship first.  I have received many emails from individuals I have no relationship with. If a story is good, it may work but try to establish a relationships before you pitch.

Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, here is my favorite St. Patrick’s story that deserves more attention.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/margiewarrell/2015/03/17/create-the-luck-youve-been-wishing-for/

PR Swatting

November 26th, 2013 | Posted by Sara in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Here is a very interesting article about PR pitching.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/your-money/swatting-at-a-swarm-of-public-relations-spam.html?_r=0
The journalist writes about unsolicited and untargeted PR pitches.   The world of public relations is very interesting and in my opinion the best way to reach people is to send relevant pitches with newsworthy information.
There are ways to connect that are advantageous to both the journalist and the publicist.
Here are a few of my suggestions:
1.    Make sure you know your audience.  Do your research.
2.    Call the journalist before you email them.
3.    Email them information on their beat.
4.    Take the time to form a relationship.
5.    Take no for an answer until you have more information.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Sara