Part 2 of 3
In the second part of our journalist survey, we look at the most impressive PR pitches our colleagues at Phillips Business Information have encountered lately. You'll find that a little wining and dining can go a long way, but so does being honest, responsive and creative.
In part one, we shared journalists' pet peeves (PRN, 7/19/99) and next week, in part 3 of this installment, we'll provide you with the best ways to contact journalists at Phillips Business Information.
The Most Impressive Pitches
- The best pitches offer credible third-party research as a context to whatever story idea they're trying to pitch. Also, if a PR person bothers to analyze my newsletter and incorporate that knowledge in a pitch letter, they've got my attention.
- More and more PR folks are stating what newsletter department their ideas are best suited for. This lets me know that they considered my newsletter's content before pitching me - the smartest way to earn brownie points with an editor.
- A manufacturer was delivering its 100th jet (done in only two years - a record) to its number one customer. They flew us down to their headquarters in Rio de Janeiro for a huge party, then we flew the jet back to Houston with a two-day layover in Martinique. Tough job, but someone has to do it. That makes an impression.
- The best pitches always have a clear spin outside of the basic facts. One thing I constantly ask myself while interviewing is, "what is this company's message?" Global Crossing has been excellent at making pitches with me. At first, the company put on a hard press saying that it was a carrier that would sell services to other carriers. Now the company is changing its tune, portraying itself as more of a long distance company and local exchange company. It is interesting to watch the company's PR representatives work as the company is changing rapidly.
- Several years ago, one PR agency sent a package with cheese, crackers and a split of wine to contacts unable to attend their client's briefing and reception. That definitely got my attention.
- PR people who suggest possible story angles that reach beyond their own company. These are reps who know already that journalists are not eager to be conduits for press releases and do supportive company profiles, etc. If a PR person can weave her company's story into a larger story with broader interest, it is sure to grab my attention and imagination. I may not follow the course the PR person first suggested in the end, but I am more likely to involve her in whatever I do write.
- Anything with names and numbers of analyst references sent as an attachment to a release.
- This year, the most impressive pitches involved bringing top executives into my office for interviews with our staff. Those interviews give us valuable information, while the company CEO gets a chance to share his message with people who can write about it or gain useful background.
- A PR person wanting me to travel down to South America with her to view a satellite launch onboard a European rocket!
- As a rule, the legal issues/court cases are the most compelling stories a PR person can pitch.
- A case study format almost always works. If a PR person sends me a write-up of something significant a client accomplished using their company's product, I'm interested. For instance, in check processing, which is the universe I cover, if I receive a pitch outlining processing times at XYZ bank before and after installation of a particular software package, as well as dollars saved, efficiencies generated, etc. as a result, I almost certainly will write about it.
- Tours of company facilities and interviews with corporate executives. It makes for a better story.
- Pitches are never impressive. Somewhere, the PR person always says it's the "first," "greatest," or "most advanced." As soon as I hear those words I know they don't really understand the industry.
- Not necessarily impressive, but definitely memorable was one PR professional who pitched a great case study and I was sold. She set up all the phone contacts and answered every question. The interviews hit some snags, but overall went well and I was pleased. But then things started to fall apart. I called two sources back with further questions, and they had left their companies over the weekend.
The PR woman and I struggled to find the right people and the right information as she apologized profusely. About 20 minutes before deadline, I got the story done. Most memorably, the same PR person wrote me a very funny e-mail a couple weeks later pitching a case study about a different client, promising it wouldn't be anything like the last one. I am scheduled to run the much smoother second case study soon and I consider the PR person a friend.
- Often it's a "didja hear" at an industry gathering....Andy Plesser telling me at a New Woman party that Judy Coyne was poaching some of the staff from Glamour, for example.
- Any call for a product or service that is directly relevant to my pub, not vaguely or at best tenuously, combined with a contact name and a phone number works for me.
- Those that are creative stick out in my mind - folders with music, gifts of food that contain press releases-anything out of the ordinary.
- What works for me are well-written, thought-out releases that really contain useful info. I recently had a pitch from BBC America that told me things about "Fawlty Towers" that I never knew.
For a copy of part 1 of this survey, "Pet Peeves with PR contacts," contact Diane Schwartz at [email protected]
Next Week: Email? Snail mail? Phone? Smoke Signal? PBI journalists share their preferred methods for contacting them.