Pitching Tips: What Not to Do

Pitching Tips: What Not to Do: from Business 2 Community by Abbi Whitaker
Journalists are busy people.  They have daily and sometimes even hourly deadlines.  And they can be unforgiving if you spam them.  Before you hit send or pick up the phone to pitch that writer at the New York Times think about what you are trying to accomplish and follow some of the easy tips below to get you and your client past the delete button.
1.  Mass E-Mails.  This is a no brainer.  Marketing is all about personalization, communication, engagement and LISTENING.  The same rules that apply to everyday communication apply to journalists.  They hate to be BCCed or even worse CCed.  Remember — you are pitching a news outlet and no news outlets wants to cover something that everyone else is.
2.  Sending the same @ reply on Twitter to 30 different people.  Everyone can see your @ replies.  It’s even worse than sending a mass e-mail because the rest of world can see what an idiot you are.  Just don’t do it.
3.  Big Press Kits.  Have you ever been to a journalist office?  It’s not exactly a penthouse on Park Avenue.  I know you think those creative press kits you convince your clients to produce are “cute” but are they practical?  If you absolutely have to create a press kit it’s best to keep it to an 8 x 10 folder.
4. “Just Following Up.” Imagine that’s it 3pm and you have a 4pm deadline for a 1000 word story where your main source just fell through.  And then you get a call from a PR saying asking “Hi — just calling to follow up on the release I sent you and to double check that you received my release on the opening of Jimmy’s Jump Factory.”  Enough said.
5.  Phone Messages.  Sad, but true.  Imagine how many messages a journalist at the New York Times receives each day.   By the time they get to message #5 they have already tuned out.
6.  Being Added to your Newsletter.  I love newsletters– we have one at The Abbi Agency. But we don’t add people.  We let them chose whether or not they’d like to receive our information.  You should too.
7.  Itineraries.  I am not saying an itinerary on a media trip is a bad thing, but being booked from 7am to 9am every hour on the hour is not what most top tier journalists are looking for.  I know you need to make sure they meet all the big wigs, but what they really want is time to explore and discover the hidden stories.
8.  Press Trips with 20 People.  Press Trips are a valuable tool when it comes to showing the media a destination first hand.  But nobody likes to be herded like cattle.  Press trips should be intimate, customized and personalized.  Focus on quality not quantity
9.  Friending on Facebook.  Ask yourself this question before you send journalists a friend request — are you their friend?  Do you know their kid’s names, birthdays, spouse?  If the answer is “no” then you are not friends.  Send a connection request on LinkedIn instead.
10. Profile Pitches.  Everyone thinks their client is worthy of a profile in INC Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.  Maybe your client is. Or maybe it’s best to start with pitching an expert source, grow the relationship and then pitch a profile.  Just saying.