Take Mashable’s advice for pitching a story
So you’ve got a fabulous story idea that would be perfect for that website, blog, magazine or newspaper. What do you do? Mashable Editor in Chief Adam Ostrow offered advice about how to pitch your story to a media outlet on PRSarahEvans.com:
What is your preference email or phone?
Email!
How do you feel about being pitched via social media?
I don’t mind it, but it’s really not part of my workflow, so it can be less efficient. My Facebook and Twitter accounts are a mix of both my business and personal life, whereas our news box is all business. So, I don’t mind it, but you’re just not doing us or yourself any favors by trying to pitch us this way.
How many pitches and releases would you say you receive on a daily basis?
Probably somewhere between 150-300 depending on how busy a day it is.
What is your biggest pet peeve about being pitched?
Getting stories that clearly aren’t relevant to our audience. Unsolicited phone calls (I don’t answer them anyways).
What is a best practice you would recommend regarding pitches?
In a concise way, tell us why the story is relevant to our audience, link us to all relevant materials (preferable over attachments), and ideally give us advance notice with a specific time that we can publish something about your news. And let us know who to contact if we have questions or want to dive in further with an interview or demo.
Three things I take away from this:
- Email is the best method to pitch. At Three Girls, we only pitch via email because it is much less intrusive and it’s what the media prefer.
- Instead of sending attachments, include a link to high-res images and more information. Every single pitch we write at Three Girls includes a link to www.ThreeGirlsMedia.com/clients so the reporter receiving the email can download high-res images and find more information in a format that’s quick, simple and to the point.
- Make sure your pitch is concise and tells the recipient why the story is relevant to their audience. Media professionals receive hundreds of pitches a day, so you want to make sure yours stands out by offering the journalist a solid idea that would be appropriate for their readers, viewers or listeners.
Photo Credit: Seattle Municipal Archives