3 Tips On Getting Your Email Seen By Journalists

“Should I add more than one photo? Is my Media Pitch too long? Is it too short? Should I add a call to action in the subject line?” Gaining the attention of a journalist can be very challenging — especially if it is the first time you’re reaching out to them. It doesn’t matter if you have a great story to share. Most of the time, it is not about you, your idea, or your business. For the majority of journalists, your email is just one out of hundreds of daily emails they receive. As a PR professional, you should be ready to send hundreds of emails with no response. It’s part of the job. Especially if you will be responsible for the company’s PR strategy in big metropolises such as NYC and London.

As previously mentioned, it can be challenging but it’s certainly not unachievable. Pitching to Media is one of the most fascinating aspects of being a PR professional. Personally, I love it. I still get excited every time a pitch I sent over becomes a featured story. Over the years, I have tried many different things from utilizing LinkedIn & Twitter to grab journalists’ attention to testing out different subject lines during the same pitch. Is there a secret sauce? Definitely Not. But there are some things that work — at least for me. Here are the most important ones:

• Build relationships with journalists BEFORE you need them: What is the best time to start approaching Media? Now. It’s so simple. Don’t wait for a big story. Start interacting with them as soon as possible. You can follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn. Comment on their stories. Familiarize yourself with their beat. I always try to get in contact with key journalists even months before the reveal of a big story. Once I get familiar with their interests and stories, I reach out to them asking for an intro or quick catch-up. For example, if you work in Fintech and you know that sometime during the next few months you will announce new fundraising or a new product, I suggest following Shannen Balogh (a reporter at Business Insider covering fintech & payment) on Twitter and LinkedIn, get familiar with her interests and writing, and then find an opportunity (i.e. a recent article that refers to companies like yours) to reach out to her for an intro.
• Write a killer media pitch TAILOR-MADE for the journalist: Putting all the journalists as BCC’d is so old-school. How do you expect them to spend time on your company if you are not willing to spend even a few minutes to address them directly? I do understand that crafting a tailor-made pitch takes time but it increases the chances of getting coverage. Also, it helps you build strong relationships with them. If you have to send hundreds of emails I suggest looking into GMass — a Gmail tool that helps you personalize the emails very easily as well as track performance. As for the pitch, try to keep it short and sweet. I would suggest no longer than two paragraphs. Mention the topic at the beginning of your email as well as the connection with them and then end with a question. If the topic is time-sensitive make sure you have added it at the beginning or even in the subject line i.e. in the case of an under-embargo topic. Photos and other multimedia elements work well too.
• Be patient and FOLLOW UP: A rule that I have always kept in mind is that my email will not be seen the first time. Most often, your email will be buried among other emails. So, please don’t hesitate to follow up. I suggest avoiding phrases such as “Did you get a chance to review my previous email?”, instead leverage this opportunity to enhance your pitch. You can also try out a new subject line, or reach out to them on Twitter or LinkedIn. For me, a useful rule of thumb is two / three follow-up interactions, including messages on Twitter or Linkedin. Follow-up is key to success. However, there is a thin line between following up and being annoying. Don’t overdo it. Furthermore, if a journalist gets back to you saying that they will not cover your story, do ask them why. It will help you shape pitches in the future. Lastly, even if it’s a hard no, leverage this opportunity to build relationships with the journalists. I have received responses even months after the initial pitch. You never know. That’s why it’s important to be humble and respect their work and their time during every interaction.

Speaking of grabbing media attention, MuckRack (I have talked about this PR tool here) asked some prominent journalists the following question “Walk us through your email inbox. How many emails do you receive a day? What advice would you give to PR pros hoping to get your attention?”. I found their responses very useful — Here are my top picks:

1. Alexis Bennett, commerce writer at Vogue

“Right now I have 1,104 unread emails. I plan to get caught up over the next couple of days. I prefer to keep that number closer to zero, but things get really crazy for me during gift guide season as well as during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. For any PR pros that want to get my attention, I would say please be patient with me and don’t be afraid to follow up. I might not answer today, tomorrow, or next week, but I do search my inbox when I’m in need of the market for my stories. So if you’re in there, you could be in the running.”

2. Caitlin Tremblay, journalist at Reuters

“I get, easily, 200+ emails per day. I’ve gotten pretty good at filtering them, but it’s still a lot to wade through. The easiest way to get my attention is with an informative subject line which leads to a clear summary of what they’re pitching in the first paragraph. So many pitches I get to bury the lede all the way down at the bottom.”

3. Philip Bump, national correspondent at The Washington Post

“I receive perhaps 100 emails a day. The half ends up filtered off to a junk folder. About 10 of those who remain are aggressively hostile. Probably 30 are work-related, updates, or requests for assistance broadcast to a large group. There is always a smattering of email pitches, too, though most probably end up in junk mail.

The advice I’d give to public relations professionals is to do your job and not expect me to do it for you. I’m not going to evaluate if your pitch works for me. I’m going to expect you to be familiar with what I do and what I’ve been working on and that your pitch will align with that. Also, I’m not your friend. Just tell me what you think I might want to know without trying to ingratiate yourself to me.

Be warned: if I think you’re doing a bad job at targeting, I will let you know. Once, in fact, I emailed the client for whom a PR spokesperson was working to let them know just how bad the pitch was that I’d received. The client thanked me.

And, finally: if you don’t get a response from me, that’s a response from me.”

4. Jessica Leigh Mattern, e-commerce editor for People Magazine, InStyle, Real Simple, and the rest of the brands at the Meredith Corporation

“I receive 200–400 emails a day, mostly from PR reps who are sending over lengthy emails (Please spare me! I can always ask for more info if I need it) or they’re pitching me something irrelevant. Here are a few tips:

• Write me a list (like I’m doing here!). Everyone loves an easy-to-scan list with essential information.
• Give me five bullet points at the top of the email, so I can quickly scan it and determine if this is a good fit for our coverage.
• Please confirm that your pitch is relevant for the reporter’s *current* position by doing a quick search to see where they work. You wouldn’t believe how many pitches I receive every day that are targeted for outlets where I used to work.
• Always include at least one photo in your email. Visuals make your pitch easier to understand, more compelling, and memorable. But please don’t make me click through or download a massive file. One image in the body of the email is helpful.
• Please include pricing and information about where a brand/product/collection will be sold.
• Feel free to follow up once or twice, but no more than that. If I find your pitch interesting, I will respond!”

You may find more journalists’ responses here.

Getting noticed in today’s busy world is hard enough even when you do everything right — when you have the perfect story, craft the perfect pitch, and even manage to send it at the perfect timing. That’s why it’s crucial to build strong relationships with journalists. Treat them as partners from day one, create win-win collaborations, and simply help them do their job as well as possible. Then, they will be much more inclined to help you too.

Leave a comment below if you have any other tips ??

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