FIR Podcast Network

For Immediate Release: Podcasts for Communicators

  • Home
  • Shows
  • Episodes
  • People
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
    • Join the FIR Podcast Network
  • Archives
You are here: Home / FIR B2B / FIR B2B #54: Good and Bad PR Pitches

FIR B2B #54: Good and Bad PR Pitches

September 30, 2016 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

http://traffic.libsyn.com/fir/FIR-B2B_54.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:30 — 13.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS

We both get lots of pitches from PR people: most of them are missing something. In this and subsequent episodes, we take the time to review what makes a great PR pitch and provide examples of both.

A great pitch should have the following elements:

  • Doesn’t pester us for a response. When you don’t hear from us, that means we aren’t interested. Yes, this new fangled email thing is actually working, delivering your missives to us.
  • Knows when to ask us for a meeting and more importantly, when not to ask.
  • When you have a meeting, support it with a confirmation, background materials, and being on time.
  • Speaking of materials, no death by PPT: stick to the fewest possible slides.
  • Doesn’t take too long to get to the point: the briefer the pitch, the better.
  • And provide graphics/video and URLs that we can directly consume in our article.

Paul’s favorite PR person is Beth Winkowski. David’s is Amber Rowland. Both are great at their jobs and we have known for decades, and when we get an email from them usually there is a good reason, and a story ensues.

Some other tips:

Avoid meaningless superlatives. Don’t include them on general principle, and certainly don’t use them if some product isn’t the first, the best, the only. We do check, and that pisses us off. Angle a pitch toward the audience.

Keep your pitches short, 100-200 words tops. The shorter, the more likely they will be read. You don’t have to include the entire press release, if we are interested, we will ask for more.

Understand what an embargo is, and how to use it. We got one pitch that said “EMBARGOED FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.” Um, that doesn’t make any sense. A request for embargo should first ask the journalist to agree to a specific date and time. Once that is accepted, the next email should include all the information that’s being embargoed and the date and time that the embargo lifts. The information should also include a URL that goes live after the embargo lifts. 

Don’t pretend to know us if you don’t. Fake flattery will backfire. Yes, read our clips, but don’t say “I’m writing with regard to an informative article you wrote on …” That just gets us mad. 

Build a relationship. The best PR people know that they will be around a long time, and start a relationship that can last decades.

David has a slide deck here that is worth reviewing on how to get the best trade press product reviews that touches on these points.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

  • FIR B2B #55: Good and Bad PR Pitches, Part 2
  • FIR B2B #149: Cutting Out the Middleman in B2B PR
  • FIR B2B #75: Beth Winkowski does B2B PR very well

About David Strom

David Strom is a former editor-in-chief of Network Computing and Tom's Hardware who has written two computer networking books and thousands of articles about B2B IT.

About Paul Gillin

Paul Gillin, host of FIR B2B, is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. Full bio

Filed Under: FIR B2B

Share Your Comments with FIR B2B

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Social connect:
Login Login with facebook
Login Login with twitter
Login Login with google

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect with FIR

Support FIR

Become a Patron

Pledge as little as $1 per month to help support the existing stable of shows, make new shows possible, and be part of the growth of the FIR Podcast Network.

FIR Podcast Network Shows

FIR SPONSOR

The FIR Podcast Network is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, of which we currently have none. Please reach out to us if you are interested in sponsoring FIR. Contact us at fircomments@gmail.com.

Looking for Older Episodes?

Visit the FIR Podcast Network Archives at forimmediaterelease.biz.

Join Our Facebook Community

Facebook Group Icon

FIR Podcast Network on Twitter

My Tweets

We Want Your Feedback

Email comments with or without audio attachments (5 MB/3 minute limit) to fircomments at gmail dot com.

North America Comment Line:
+1.415.895.2971

Europe Comment Line:
+44.20.3239.9082

Skype: fircomments

Promote FIR!

Let your readers and colleagues know about FIR by adding a logo to your blog or web page. Get it here!

FIR Podcast Network Logo

Help Spread the Word about FIR!

GaggleAMP: spread the word about FIR!

License

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

FIR Podcast Network website © 2023 Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson | Community Guidelines | Privacy Policy

Website development by WP Fangirl. Album art and design by Effective Edge Communications.