chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Example of a Great PR Pitch

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Lexington Steele — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 05:13:20 -0000

Very common. Most journalists feel waaay too important for their own good nowadays. I always gave everyone the courtesy of a response when I was a beat writer.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Siti Sarah Ariffin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:32:41 -0000

it actually worked? thanks Chris!

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Eijieboypog — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:42:48 -0000

Cant understand still, plss help me i have a report tommorow pls give me an example of pitch

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

K Prince — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:05:09 -0000

Thanks for your article. I like the numbered list in the PR.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

K Prince — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:04:31 -0000

Thanks for the information. I like the numbered list.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

youtube downloader — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 07:54:38 -0000

Tom’s right on key here. This is DEFINITELY something we talk about a lot. I spent a little time with an agency today, and that was the key thing we talked about as a sticking point.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Replica handbag — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:02:24 -0000

I find myself on the "other side" sometimes

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Bill — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:03:42 -0000

It's sad PR people don't get this.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Louis Vuitton speedy 25 — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:04:56 -0000

Great breakdown, Chris!

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Olga — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:32:04 -0000

As always, fabulous, succinct and enjoyed reading. Now if only people could speak in lists too. :)

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

RHA — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:34:08 -0000

What was his subject line? What made you want to open the e-mail in the first place?

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

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Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

K-Star — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:48:39 -0000

You sound like an egomaniac.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Marina Martin — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:53:41 -0000

Great breakdown, Chris!

I don't expect a PR person to personally re-write every email, but a unique opening sentence or two that shows they have an inkling as to who I am/what I do helps.

I do agree with other commenters that I'd rather have all the information available to me in the first email so it doesn't devolve into a long process of emailing back and forth. I can always ignore the links in Email #1 if I'm not interested.

I was sent a long, annoying email awhile back from someone asking me to pimp a Twitter Guide on their blog. They weren't following me (not to mention their experience with Twitter was extremely limited). Fail.

Now that I'm a community evangelist, I find myself on the "other side" sometimes, and it's a bit strange. I'm connecting filmmakers with paying projects, not asking them to buy anything, and while I like to think this means my emails are more well-received, I still make sure each email is personal and I only message people whose blogs/tweets/etc. make it clear that they'd likely be interested. It's also my goal to stay connected with people after hooking them up with video gigs -- I still read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, etc. and that's the kind of relationship I would want on the flipside of that situation, too.

This post inspired me to blog about someone else who I feel is doing a great job at communicating: http://typeas.com/blog/ryan...

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

TroyJMorris — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:43:32 -0000

@chris

"Pitchy" or not, it's relevant. Do you have an ETA?

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Wil Reynolds — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:18:05 -0000

Funny, I think what this person did was smart. They developed a message that was generalizable, but made people feel that it was personal. Seth sees this and then shows us that what we thought was personal was not.

I think the only thing that could have been done to make this more authentic would be to actually read the blogger's stuff and connect (if possible) the bloggers actual interests to your clients offering.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Susan Getgood — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:28:56 -0000

Fundamental problem is that the few PR pros who get it, really get it, and do a fine job.

The majority though. Still no.

I write about this pretty regularly, and am in the middle of a series called Good Pitch, Bad Pitch. If you've got any other particularly good or bad ones, I'd love them for the series.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Connie Crosby — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:17:48 -0000

I have been getting a LOT of old school press releases emailed to me these days. As a blogger not in the PR business, I laugh and say "why did they send this to ME? Oh, do you think they want me to blog about this topic?" It's not really obvious. For all I know, I could have just gotten on the wrong company distribution list after being on their website. I tend to file these under "bloggable" but never go back to my file.

On the other hand, I had a communications professional from one of my alma maters (what's the plural of alma mater?) notice I was blogging news about the school, so she emailed me her thanks. Voila! Instant relationship created. She now periodically sends me a note with advance notice of news going onto the website with a "deep link" to the story if I decide to blog it for when it rolls off their front page. I let her know if/when I have blogged about it. Great relationship!

To me, you can't get much more personal and relevant than this.

Cheers,
Connie

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

chrisbrogan — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:04:19 -0000

By the way, I never knew until Shannon Paul explained it to me today that most mainstream press organizations are grateful to be on mailing distributions for pitches (provided they're relevant to their space), and that the journalists just delete the ones they don't want without any fuss.

I'd never heard that, nor did I know much about it.

Interesting, that.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Justin Thiele — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:24:41 -0000

On the surface, I agree with your article. As far as a PR email goes it's very good. It is conversational and easy to pick out the relevant info. Initially, it seems pretty personable, but this same pitch can (and apparently was, to some extent) be splattered across the blogosphere just like any other. The best marketing is done when people get interested organically. If you are doing something interesting, the blogs will be stirring about it, and we'll actively seek out more information. Be interesting and people will seek you out.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Mark Hinkle — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:54:25 -0000

I think the pitch is good but I think sending the press release is too forward. I can see @Seth's point the pitch was uninvited but to Tom's credit it seems relevant to your blog (I get scores of irrelevant pitches each month and I hate it). When I pitch bloggers I always start with a request for their permission and should they accept my overtures ask for their preferences and only pitch those folks who are writing about my topic after they "opt-in". I always comment on their blog before I send them email (and not just minutes before) and try to insert myself only after I understand their point of view and have become part of their community.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

chrisbrogan — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:33:37 -0000

@Troy - it's a great question. I think there are lots of pressures. My thought? There's a workflow here, one that permits for communications relationships. It's not super easy, but it's definitely something that can be built and structured.

Not to sound pitchy, but I'm developing a training module for this very purpose, because I know what *I* would do in your shows, and I think I can show you in steps HOW to do it. We'll see if this is useful.

@Lee - I really like your point of view on this. Quite interesting.

@Tom - I don't know if you got greedy. I'm not convinced. But I respect Seth's take as well.

@Seth - Thanks for coming by. Will we meet in 2008? I'll have to make a plan to get that to happen.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Lee Stranahan — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:19:41 -0000

I think I can see why it wasn't a Seth Godin pitch. A way to go with Seth may have been to wait until you had an interesting story that related to your product - like a suprising metric or how a company used the product...but ya know, remarkable. Then I'd send that story to Seth as a paragraph or so and expect nothing in return...but at least you're trading in the same currency Seth is.

Sending this Brogan makes perfect sense. It's spam but maybe I've been to Hawaii enough where I know all Spam isn't bad. Tom made some nice spam...fried so it tastes like bacon!

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

TroyJMorris — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:50:06 -0000

I have a question for you Chris:

As a person in the PR field (sort of), I find my self stuck in between the personal touches and the need for velocity. How do I find the balance between how much time to take researching and tailoring a pitch to the individual and getting enough coverage?

I understand the call to going back to humanity. I preach it myself, but how much time should a PR person spend on each outlet?

My issue is unique as I'm pitching dozens of different types of sites.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Linda Eskin — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:22:57 -0000

I recommend the book "Why Business People Speak Like Idiots" almost weekly. It's great for people who try to sound "official" and "businesslike" but instead come off sounding pompous and officious.

Tom doesn't need to read it.

Even if it *is* spam, it can still be well written.