“Did you get my email?” Reporters and editors are asked this question at least 100 times a week, if not more, from companies and public relations professionals that are looking to gain coverage for their news or pitch a story idea or abstract. Unless your email is going to the junk folder, it’s likely that reporters have received it. Perhaps they found it uninspiring or irrelevant to their coverage. Maybe they deleted it simply based on the subject line. It’s hard to tell unless you follow up with the reporter.
Follow up is an integral part of the pitching process. But if you have 15 seconds or less to try to engage with the reporter a second time, do you really want to waste time asking if they received a pitch they didn’t respond to? Probably not. Successful pitching means striking a balance between persistence and patience—without being a pest. Below are five tips to ensuring your pitch achieves that balance:
- Massage your subject line. The subject line is the first thing reporters see. How can you make it punchier while still sticking to the story you want to tell? One way to think about a subject line is like a cover letter for your pitch. Just as you’d choose your most relevant skill to put in a cover letter, you need to put your pitch’s best point in the subject line. Be clever, be creative, be unique—and do it all in just a few words.
- Rethink your pitch. Don’t fall prey to sending the exact pitch for follow up—that’s just being lazy. Instead, think about ways you can adapt your pitch to add more value. Is there a customer use case you can add? Has an analyst report come out in the interim to bolster your business case? Spend some time thinking about new angles that might make the pitch more appealing and show reporters exactly how they (and their readers) can benefit from your story.
- Let it simmer for a few days. Or, if your pitch has some staying power, give it a week or two. The reporter may be out of the office or immersed in other articles. You may be able to follow up a week later with some meaty statistics about your product’s adoption, for example.
- Do more research on the reporter. Is the reporter active on social media and writing there about topics relevant to your pitch? It’s important to understand who the reporter or editor is that you’re pitching, what they cover and share on social media, and use that knowledge to make a personal connection in your pitch. And don’t just do this when you’re looking for coverage—stay actively engaged with them and like and share their content. Relationships are two-way streets, so if you want attention from that reporter, you need to give attention to that reporter.
- Gracefully accept a “No.” If reporters read and engaged with every pitch, that’s all they’d be able to accomplish all day. While a “no” may be disappointing, it’s part of the pitch process. The work you put into follow up will teach lessons that will pay dividends in the future. Keep in mind that although one reporter doesn’t respond favorably to your pitch, it might be right up the alley of another reporter or publication.
Pitching isn’t easy and follow up can be even more difficult. Putting in the right amount of patience and persistence – without being a pest – will help you refine the next set of pitches, and the next and the next.