If You’re Pitching a Journalist, Read This Before Clicking “Send”

Public relations professionals generally do not have a lot of downtime on the job. Every day in or out of the office requires them to juggle press releases, media pitches and other responsibilities for multiple clients — and not always within flexible deadlines.

Nevertheless, being busy is no excuse for sending out error-ridden or inappropriate email pitches to journalists — especially one along the lines of the embarrassingly unprofessional pitch that Berlin-based Economist correspondent Robert Lane Greene recently received.

Mr. Greene took to The Economist’s “Prospero” blog to discuss an email he received from an unnamed PR executive hoping to generate coverage for a client:

Company A had just become a logistics partner for company B. Normally, the PR person would proceed to tout this as the most important industrial development since the spinning jenny and I would have hit Delete without a second thought. This time, though, I read on. “It would be great if this somehow can be placed on Economist (print/Web),” wrote the public-relations person.

Mr. Greene explains why this is inappropriate language for a media pitch:

Both parties know what is going on when a PR person pitches to a journalist. The flack is looking for positive coverage for the boss or client. The hack, in the other traditional role, must be skeptical, pretending not to be sure the news is important, or that the source is worth talking to. … But crucially, this exchange does not include a bare-faced exchange of requests and promises: “I want to see some great coverage!” “Tell you what, why don’t you just write my piece for me?” The flack in my inbox violated the age-old etiquette, offering the PR equivalent of “Now let’s talk about a bribe.”

While there is nothing wrong with emailing journalists about client news, PR professionals must remember that every email (both internal and external) they send is a reflection on them and their firms. Furthermore, emails to journalists are meant to not only generate media coverage and awareness for their clients, but also cultivate longstanding relationships with members of the press.

As Mr. Greene points out, blatantly asking for media coverage is a big turn-off to journalists. A better way to grab (and keep) a journalist’s attention is to clearly and concisely explain why a client development is newsworthy and how it fits into a bigger-picture, long-term industry trend. Instead of writing, “It would be great if this somehow can be placed on Economist (print/Web),” the above-referenced PR executive should have ended the pitch with a courteous and not-too-obvious, “I hope you find this information useful and informative. Feel free to contact me if you wish to speak with [the client]. Thank you very much for your time.”

Furthermore, since pitches directly reflect on the PR professionals who send them, they need to be meticulously proofread. Sloppy mistakes not only embarrass PR executives and their firms and clients, but also lead journalists to disregard pitches altogether.

For example, Mr. Greene reveals that he has received pitches with “Dear [[Firstname]]” and “Dear Firstname” as salutations. He also received a pitch beginning with “Dear Ms. Lastname,” noting:

The flack is supposed to flatter the hack: as such a distinguished journalist, you will surely be interested in… the problem is that anyone who knows my name can Google it and, in 0.49 seconds (not including typing time), discover that I am a Mr., not a Ms.

Needless to say, these emails left a poor impression.

Mr. Greene also cautioned PR professionals to make sure pitches are only sent to relevant recipients:

Google will not only reveal that I am male, but what I cover, what I’m interested in, what I’ve covered in the past, and much more. Yet some of the PR people who take the time to learn my name and gender insist on pitching me topics I would never conceivably write about. Every journalist I know complains of being bombarded daily with pitches totally unrelated to what they cover. Worse still is the insistent tone: you can’t afford to miss this story. Really?

After advising PR professionals not to follow up on emailed pitches by phone (and then follow up on that with an email asking about the voicemail), Mr. Greene offers sage closing guidance:

The language of e-mailed requests has unwritten rules, and many of them are just like the rules for meeting people in person when trying to make a deal to mutual advantage. Make eye contact, shake hands and ask for a name. Remember the name. Ask questions; learn about the other person. This signals a willingness to take the next step in building trust. Don’t constantly push in a direction the other person clearly doesn’t want to go: that is conversational incompetence. Find out where the journalist wants to go, and see if you can get there together. And if it doesn’t work out, take no for an answer, and try again elsewhere.

Two years ago, The Economist reported that there were six PR professionals for every journalist in the U.S. PR executives would be wise to heed Mr. Greene’s advice in order to win the growing competition for journalists’ attention.