Answers to Your June AMA Questions
How do you land "I Tried It" style stories? Is summer REALLY a dead zone for pitching? Are journalists still open to desk sides? Learn all that and more in today's issue!
Happy July, everyone!
We hope you all had awesome long holiday weekends. Jill and her fiancé + dog are living in hotels during their kitchen remodel project (which is both behind schedule and over-budget, of course) and Nicole was in Hawaii with her family, then meeting with 7 AC contractors until she finally got her new system installed. Good times ;)
Below, you’ll find answers to questions you asked (via the Google doc and emails) for our June Top Tier Talk … we weren’t able to host a zoom due to our competing travel schedules, so we decided to answer them in a Substack instead.
Do you have a topic you’d like us to tackle in July? Let us know! We love taking our topic cues from our loyal subscribers! What are you dying to know right now?
Book Your July 1:1 Consulting Session with Jill & Nicole (we only have 2 slots left)
Here’s a reminder of the sessions we offer, both to agencies and solo/freelance publicists:
All Your Questions Answered Session
Have a bunch of questions you’ve been dying to ask two top-tier journalists? Here’s your chance to learn about what goes on behind the scenes. Book a panel with us and prepare your list. You’ll walk away with all of your questions answered, plus we’ll sprinkle in our best practices throughout the session to help give you (and your clients!) an edge in this highly competitive media landscape.
Pitch Perfecting Strategy Session
Ready to take your pitches to the next level? Or are you wondering why certain pitches aren’t getting much response? Learn how to take your emails from, “Here’s a client I represent,” to “Here’s a story idea you can’t possibly turn down.” Between the two of us, we receive thousands of pitches per week, so we have many tips — and examples — of what works and what doesn’t. From coming up with the perfect email subject line to improve your open rates to sealing the deal with your closing remarks, your word choices matter throughout the entire pitch. We’ll help you perfect them.
Become a Journalist’s BFF: Networking and Relationship Management Session
Some publicists seem to have a transactional “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” approach to their work, but highly successful publicists know that building long-term relationships with journalists is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Learn how to meet new journalists, and discover best practices for staying in touch, following up, and creating meaningful relationships. You’ll also discover how to become a writer’s go-to source, how to stand out when answering a writer’s call for sources (whether that’s on HARO, a FB group, Twitter, or Substack), how to avoid common writer pet peeves and more.
Press Package 101 Session
Looking to mail out samples of your clients’ products in hopes of landing coverage? Great, but there’s a list of things you should know before dropping them off at the post office — things like planning, packaging, and communications will make all the difference in your ROI. We’ll help you make your packages more enticing, while actually saving your clients money in the process. And we’ll discuss how to target the right audiences, how to handle post-delivery follow-ups, and more.
Press Trips Invites and Itineraries Session
The two most important aspects of pulling off a successful press trip are nailing your invites and itineraries. First, we’ll dive into journalist targeting and invitation etiquette do’s and don’ts. Then, you’ll learn how to build a press trip itinerary that will actually land you coverage. We’ll focus on striking the perfect blend between offering media the chance to experience a destination, while zeroing in on quality and unique experiences that can lead to coverage — and help you find that elusive balance between keeping writers entertained vs. not overbooking them.
Hosting the Perfect Virtual and/or In-Person Media Event Session
Events are efficient ways to connect with a lot of media in one setting. During these sessions, you’ll learn the ins and outs of how to create a media event that journalists will A) Want to attend B) Will stay engaged at C) Will work into coverage. We’ll teach you how to target the ideal attendees who are there for article ideas and not just the free swag. We’ll talk venues, guest lists, and what to say in your presentation, plus how to coach your clients to interact with media at events in the most beneficial way.
Your Custom Session
The above options are just a sample of topics, based on questions we get asked about most frequently. But if you have something you’d love to discuss that you don’t see on the list, we’re happy to create a custom session around it. Let’s dive deeper!
Interested in hearing more? Email us at info@toptierconsulting.NET.
And now onto this week’s topic: Our Q&A. Here we go:
Assuming for spirits pitches, always good to include a list of where folks can purchase online (Caskers, Reserve Bar, etc.). Do they check the affiliate marketing box, or are you more interested in a spirits pitch with a brand on SkimLinks?
Yes, always include the names of every place a product can be purchased (including links can also be helpful, although we’ve heard using too many may cause spam filter issues, so maybe just pick a few key ones). This includes online and brick and mortar stores, so be sure to list them all.
Most (all?!) publications prefer SkimLinks and Amazon, but publishers can/will work with a number of other programs if they can profit from it. See if you can tell which programs the outlets you’re targeting use (if you can tell they already use the ones you have mentioned, then you have a good shot). But again, focus on SkimLinks and Amazon when possible, so it becomes an easier yes from every outlet you pitch.
Shoot, there’s a paywall and five more questions/answers live beyond it! Not a paying member? Here’s what you’re missing out on:
Full access to our weekly newsletters
Access to our extensive archive of paid posts on every PR topic under the sun
The ability to attend/participate in our monthly Zoom Top Tier Talks
Discounts on all our most popular group workshops (like our upcoming Pitch Perfecting Workshop)
*Note: Our consulting sessions, workshops, Zooms and Substack newsletters are strictly educational. Signing up for anything has no bearing on landing coverage in any of our outlets. Our role is to fine-tune your approach and tactics so that you can apply these learnings when pitching other journalists.