A journalist dissects a lousy pitch and a good one
Culled from a recent PR Daily webinar, this analysis can help PR pros avoid the lethal missteps that send story offerings straight to the trash bin. Land that coveted coverage with this advice.
This article originally appeared on PR Daily in March of 2018.
The primary reason that journalists ignore PR pitches today is the same reason they ignored them 25 years ago: The pitch is generic.
Worse, many PR folks don’t take the time to understand the targeted publication, nor do they think through the type of story that’s going to resonate with its audience.
PR Daily, in conjunction with Muck Rack, recently conducted a webinar that turned the stage over to four journalists who shared how to win them over. All four presentations offered fresh insights, but let’s zero in on two examples from Pete Pachal at Mashable.
OK, never good to start off with the wrong name, though to give credit where credit is due, the PR person did manage to get the first consonant right.
Moving along, the pitch never delineates the actual news and how it’s going to affect people.
“Do you even read my site, bro?” Indeed.
By contrast, consider the following:
No question, knowing the journalist’s name gets the pitch off to a good start.
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