When New York Governor George Pataki recently pledged $1 million
in state funding to Mercy College in the Bronx, Jon Lieb started to
whip up a press release. Lieb, managing director of independent PR
firm Thirty Ink Media & Marketing, who is Mercy College's PR
representative, sent the release to a select number of New York
media outlets.
Lieb, who communicates with the media strictly through e-mail,
paid extra careful attention to writing the e-mail's subject line
-- "George Pataki awards $1 million to Bronx campus" -- before
hitting the send button. Short, punchy and to the point. But Lieb
didn't mention his client.
"It doesn't matter that Mercy College is the recipient," says
Lieb, whose other clients include retail realty firm The Greenberg
Group and ad agency Elser & Aucone. "It was pitched to
reporters who would be concerned that the Bronx is getting a cash
infusion rather than Mercy College, per se." Lieb's media pitch
resulted in stories in the Financial Times, Spanish-language daily
El Diario as well as local cable news station NY1.
In an increasingly cluttered media environment -- with reporters
quick to nuke any e-mail that isn't immediately recognized --
e-mail pitches require crafty subject lines and, perhaps more
important, an ability by the PR exec to think outside of himself
and (shudder the thought) even the client. Indeed, you increase
your chances that reporters will pay attention to an initial e-mail
if you're willing to put on the journalist's hat. And, of course,
time is of the essence, so keep it simple. (See sidebar on page
6.)
"You have to think, 'My client is just one player in an
industry.' Even if it's Microsoft," Lieb says. "So you have to make
it a trend story, a regional story or connect [the subject line] to
something the reporter has already written." Playing to a
reporter's vanity -- a pretty fat target - is another way to make
the recipients(s) take note, by, say, inserting into the subject
line: 'Your article on (fill in the blank) sparked another idea you
might be interested in.'
Lisa Hawes, an account supervisor with San Francisco-based
Sterling Communications, was looking to get some exposure for her
client, TempusClinic, which operates a fitness/diabetes clinic in
the Bay Area and was taking part in an American Diabetes
Association walkathon. Rather than put a reference to
'TempusClinic' in the subject line, Hawes ran with "Diabetes
Walkathon This Sunday" and pitched away. The e-mail didn't result
in immediate coverage of the client but did open up relationships
that eventually resulted in feature stories in Los Gatos Weekly and
Palo Alto Weekly. "It's hard to get hits from an initial e-mail but
what it can do is help establish relationships," Hawes says.
Opening the dialogue with an important media contact is
precisely what Kristen Stone was able to do through a targeted
e-mail pitch. Stone, an account executive in the Atlanta office of
Edelman, was hoping to land some regional coverage of a local
restaurant in Atlanta, Ali-Oli, to broaden its customers. She sent
an e-mail to the food editor of Southern Living and wrote in the
subject line: 'Great wine, Great food, Greater Atlanta.' The editor
responded and has assured Edelman that he plans to visit the
restaurant soon. Can a restaurant review be far off? "The
relationship started with an e-mail pitch, which had to be catchy,"
Stone says.
Peter Debreceny, VP of Corporate Relations at Allstate, says the
large insurer views e-mail as "another distribution mechanism" for
building relationships with the media rather than an end in itself.
"It's all about relationships, not technology," he says. Allstate
is "media neutral," meaning it will respond to journalists in
whatever medium the reporter prefers. Debreceny says Allstate's Web
site engages reporters/correspondents to determine their preference
in obtaining information, which tends to make e-mails somewhat
academic. "The subject line doesn't make a difference because [the
reporter] is expecting an e-mail from someone inside Allstate."
Another way to make e-mails more effective (which is sometimes
lost on PR execs): pick up the phone every now and again for a nice
chat with selected reporters who you think would be receptive to a
story pitch you may have coming down the pike.
Adam Smith, senior VP in the San Francisco office of Hill &
Knowlton, who also heads Netcoms, H&K's online communications
practice, points to a larger trend in e- mails/online
communications: purchasing e-mail lists through a third-party
vendor. These lists, largely driven by the client, are more
personal in nature. "Lists have worked to a certain extent but only
when they're aligned with offline tactics, like direct mail, PSAs
and advertising that can support a campaign," says Smith, whose
clients include Boeing, HP and GlaxoSmithKline.
But Smith stresses that e-mail list purchases are effective only
for well-packaged, targeted PR campaigns. Beyond that, e-mail
should be used to establish and subsequently cultivate
relationships with the media sans any promotion, which reporters
can sniff a mile away. "There's no substitute for being
newsworthy," he says. "No matter how great your subject line, the
pitch has to have guts in it for the journalist to be
interested."
Contacts: Peter Debreceny, 847.402.3111, [email protected]; Lisa Hawes,
408.395.5500, [email protected]; Jon Lieb,
212.689.1051, [email protected]; Adam Smith,
415.281.7129, [email protected];
Kristen Stone, 404.262.3000, [email protected]