FREE post this week: FAQ Questions Answered

This week, we dove into our subscriber's top questions. Here's what your fellow publicists wanted to know + our answers

And as promised, we’re back for a special Friday edition answering the fabulous questions you submitted for our FREE Ask Us Anything post this week. As a reminder, our Top Tier Consulting Substack weekly newsletters land in the inboxes of paid subscribers but we decided to give our free subscribers a little TLC this week.

Not a paid substack subscriber? As a reminder, we’re offering 30% off our annual memberships from now to the end of May (that’s just $5.75 per month to have our weekly newsletters land right in your inbox + access to our monthly Top Tier Talks + read all the past newsletters in our extensive archive.

Alright now it’s time for Q&A time. Thanks for your questions all. Here are some answers:

What are your thoughts on Connectivity vs. HARO?

Not familiar with Connectivity but HARO is a very popular tool for journalists. A lot of us are on there. If you don’t know about it, you’ll likely want to check it out. It stands for Help-A-Reporter-Out (click here to access it) and it’s a platform where a journalist can submit a call for sources and publicists/brands can reply, submitting themselves as potential sources.

As a journalist, you’ll find some really good gems on HARO and then some really bad submissions. We have some tips for making your submissions stand out — on HARO, when replying to a writer’s calls for sources on Substack, Twitter, Qwoted, Linkedin and beyond — which you’ll find in a past newsletter we wrote: 8 Ways to Stand Out From the Crowd When Replying to a Writer's Call for Sources.

Some great stuff in there, like this:

Really talk up your source’s background:

If we’re sourcing for an anxiety expert, our inboxes will be filled with responses saying, “I rep a therapist in Vegas, a psychologist in Houston, a psychotherapist in Dallas, etc.” That’s great, but it doesn’t help us determine if they’re the best expert for the story. Tell us something different about your source to make them stand out. In the past, we’ve had publicists say, “I connected with my client and since the pandemic started, her clientele has really shifted to be about 95% anxiety patients.” “She did a TED Talk on anxiety.” “She wrote a book on this topic.” “She hosts a podcast and just had an entire 6-week series on anxiety.” “She’s an anxiety expert.”

“You’re looking for a source on post partum? Well my source went through it herself and she treats patients who deal with it so she knows how to approach talking about it from a patient and personal experience.”

“You want a real estate expert? My expert has 25 years combined in the industry working for…..”

“My MD is Harvard trained, has worked on the frontline of pandemics, etc. and would be great to talk about this…”

In addition to HARO, a lot of writers use Qwoted. It operates in a similar fashion but one nice feature for publicists is that you can register your sources on there in their expert database, which is searchable by journalists. So if someone needs a veterinarian or therapist, they can type in “veterinarian” or “therapist” and see all the ones on the site that are registered, then reach out to whoever the contact for them is (which is typically you as their rep) directly.

Here is the link to try Qwoted.

How can I make a product appealing in a gift guide pitch for something like Father's Day? You're probably getting pitched soooooooo much

Oh boy do we. If a writer announces that they are working on a gift guide, the email floodgates open wide. But the good news is there are many ways to help your products stand out.

Here’s a whole Substack newsletter we did on the topic: How to Make YOUR Product Stand Out From ALL the Other Product Pitches In a Writer's Inbox and this is something we always go through in our very popular Pitch Perfecting Workshop (as a reminder, we have a group version coming up on May 18th where we’ll run through our best practices for pitching + workshop one of your pitches live. This is a small group format, which makes it more affordable and accessible to solo lancers and those watching their budgets at the moment. Find out more about that here).

Here’s one of our favorite tips that we shared in the past:

Include ANYTHING that makes your product unique

If you are pitching a writer a pair of leggings or a lipstick or a portable charger, we want to know EVERYTHING unique about that item that could possibly make it different from others on the market. Catch our attention with things like:

• For every pair purchased, does the company plant a tree?

• Is there a charitable partner that the company gives back to?

• Is the product handmade by artisans in a developing nation and they are paid a fair wage?

• Is the product made from anything interesting, like recycled ocean plastics or carbon-footprint-reducing bla bla bla?

• Has someone fancy like a celebrity or notable person like a prominent chef endorsed the brand? Is a celeb a huge fan?

• Are the shoes dressy enough to wear to work but also comfortable enough to walk miles in?

• Is this olive oil specially pressed only 1x a year to be the freshest on the market?

• Does this face cream come with a fancy third-party study about how well it works?

• Was your brain supplement created by a super impressive scientist?

What topics are trending right now that your editors are caring about?

Each publication has different topics that they prioritize but a few that have been hot on our ends lately are:

• E-commerce stories — everything from the best travel laptops to leggings to wear on your next flight to the best swimsuits for dogs this summer

• Anything about eco-friendly, green living, environmentally savvy stuff

• The latest in tech — especially health tech

• Trends, trends, trends — anything that’s trending is always a hit — especially if it’s not heavily reported on

• Money saving, making money, anything about finances — especially as we all navigate these weird are we in a recession/are we not times

• Interesting people who are doing interesting things worth hearing about

• Servicey how to stories, especially in the health and wellness and relationship space

Would love to hear any tips / examples of how you like to see a source or client pitched WITHOUT an angle idea. (length of email, order of presentation, press one-pager vs no pager, length of bio, etc.)

Tying your client to something timely is key here. This is a huge focus of our pitch perfecting sessions (as a reminder, don’t forget to sign up for our upcoming small group version on May 18th where we will do a deep dive into topics just like this).

The big thing here is to really talk up your source’s credentials. If they are a therapist, did they go to Harvard? Are the on the board of something fancy? Do they have tons of experience talking about XYZ topic that is trending at the moment? Next, you’ll want to offer up talking points that they can discuss that make them relevant to what’s currently happening in pop culture at the moment. Think about how they can fit into the current dialogue and potential stories that editors are assigning now. Do a quick Google to see what’s rending. For example, if you have a real estate expert, read the latest articles circulating around on that topic and see how your source and weigh in.

If it’s a product, tell us is it the perfect gift to buy for the mother who has everything this Mother’s Day? The accessory you should not throw a summer BBQ without? What makes it unique from every other similar product that’s landing in our inbox. For instance, a pitch that tell us that a new mineral sunscreen has 2,000 5 star reviews on Amazon and gives a free tube to a person living on the streets is going to make that sunscreen sound way more appealing than one that someone is pitching as just another sunscreen brand to know about.

As a rule of thumb, if you can give writers ideas of how a product or service or source can fit into a story that’s timely, it’s going to completely up your chances of your client being included. We get so many emails a day and don’t always make the connection that ooooh this is what we could do with that client and suggesting timely angles helps us make that connection.

Another thing here is targeting the right writers. If you email a health writer saying you now rep the American Academy of Dermatology, chances are they are currently working on something where they’ll need a dermatologist. Ditto if you have a new tech gadget and pitch it to someone whose main beat is the latest and greatest in the tech sector.

Do you accept invitations for virtual coffee chats with PR pros you've interacted with previously? Just to chat and see what you're working on and how their clients could be a fit?

To be honest, we don’t have much time for these. Sometimes we’ll take publicists up on these offers but it tends to be something we just don’t have time to do — especially if it’s a vague “tell me what you’re working on right now” chat. That’s why a lot of us are creating Substack newsletters, so publicists can subscribe and stay up to date on where we are publishing and the topics we are covering. Twitter is also a great way to do this. If you’re going to try for one of these meetings, virtual would be your way to go, as a writer likely won’t have time to drive somewhere, park, and carve out 2 hours for dinner or coffee.

Hosting a virtual or in person event where you send a group of targeted writers products and wrangle them to try something out ahead of time, then mingle at the vent is way better bang for your buck. We have an entire Top Tier Consulting session that we offer tips on how to pull these off.

Remember that journalists are simultaneously pitching, sourcing, tackling their email inbox, chasing down payments, invoicing, filling out paperwork, networking and oh yeah when we have time — writing! So we only have so many free hours in the day. We’re likely reserving those to Netflix and chill.

How does receiving a response to HARO request look on a journalist's end?

Each response gets sent directly into a writer’s inbox as an individual email. Depending on what a writer is sourcing for, they can get anywhere from 10 to 400 responses! And these can keep trickling in as the days go by! That’s why it’s really important to make your responses count — telling us what makes your source the right person for the story or why this product has to be in there. Again, we highly recommend checking out our Substack archives and reading that post we shared above in the other HARO question.

As a reminder, our Substack newsletters are a perk for paid subscribers.

Not a paid Substack subscriber? We’re offering 30% off our annual memberships from now to the end of May (that’s just $5.75 per month to have our weekly newsletters land right in your inbox + access to our monthly Top Tier Talks).

Please share what long leed stories you're working on- like summer reading for example

Neither of us are working on seasonal assignments right now ironically. Some writers and publications go hard on those, while others may be shying away from them. It’s also a time when we’re not really approaching big holidays and things like that. Mother’s Day is the next holiday coming up and most of us have had our gift guides for those done for the past 2 to 3 months. And writers are already well into Father’s Day content or done with it by now.

In terms of what writers may be working on right now that’s timely, probably a few summer travel stories but most editors are looking at fall content at this point — or at least late summer. That means all the back to school stuff will be fair game pretty soon. And it won’t be long before we’re talking about Halloween!

On the publication side, should I be directing my (affiliate-friendly) pitches to commerce editors for best chance of response/inclusion?

Commerce editors are definitely the people to prioritize with these pitches, or writers who write in the e-commerce space. But honestly in today’s market, almost every publication is prioritizing products that are affiliate-friendly so don’t not pitch a writer that isn’t at one of those places just because of that. Get those pitches to writers that cover those beats and any writer working on a gift guide that your product would make sense for.

Skimlinks joined my client's affiliate program on Share A Sale - Is it accurate to include our SAS merchant ID and link, as well as saying we are available via Skimlinks?

Yes, you should include your merchant ID. This won’t be as useful for freelancers but it’s definitely going to useful for on staff writers and editors. But you can go ahead and include it for everybody as it definitely doesn’t hurt sending it to a freelancer. And yes, always mention that your client is on Skimlinks because Skimlinks is what most of the outlets are using. Some of us can still write about products not on affiliate but that number is dwindling by the day. So if your product is affiliate-ready, make that known in the pitch up top or bold it so it’s super obvious.

What is the best, most effective, least instrusive way to reach out to a freelance writer who's contact info doesn't seem to be listed anywhere (not IG, not Substack, not Cision, no professional website, etc.) but who, by judging by very recent bylines, is a PERFECT contact for a specific client?

Another favorite topic. We have an entire session devoted to this at Top Tier Consulting too: How to Become a Journalist’s BFF that covers networking and relationship management and why that is soooooo crucial in today’s media landscape.

Some quick tips on this though, if they are a staff writer, see if you can crack the publication’s email format and then send them an email. Writers also tend to have personal websites with their contact information displayed somewhere on there. Email is always best, as that’s where we field pitches and organize them. We get a lot of pitches on social media and honestly those tend to get lost in the shuffle. If you can only find a writer on a platform like Twitter, shoot them a DM, tell them they have the perfect pitch, and ask for their email address so you can shoot it over in that format.

Is there an "ideal" day of the week or time of day to send pitches? Or, a day/time that should be absolutely avoided?

We get asked this a lot and the first thing we always say is get that pitch out — as early as you can before the event or holiday or thing you’re tying it to. Don’t sit on it. You can never send too early but you can always send too late. And if you think you sent too early, make the email follow up your friend.

In terms of when to pitch, writers are always in their inboxes. We get emails 7 days a week 365 days a year for most part.

For a look at how Jill & Nicole tackle their email inboxes, read these past 2 newsletters that we put out.

PART 1: A Look INSIDE the Process of How Writers Handle an Inbox Full of PR Pitches

PART 2: A Look INSIDE the Process of How Writers Handle an Inbox Full of PR Pitches

Bottom line is we read or at least scan everything in our inboxes. So no matter when you send it, we’ll see it. If you want specific days and times to avoid, generally Monday morning inboxes are nuts and we may not see something for a while if you send Friday EOD as some of us are trying to log off for the weekend. Those emails may then get pushed to Monday AM and be at the bottom of the barrel and something we get to when we’re pretty email fatigued from kicking off the week.

How can we help get experts into articles when we also need to mention our brands? So many times it gets left off and that’s super frustrating for our clients.

This can be tricky and every publication has its own rules. We did this whole Substack on this topic: The Right And Wrong Ways to Handle Your Clients' Titles When Submitting Them As Sources, which is a great read. But to give you a tip or two:

If your source is attached to a brand…

This is something you MUST disclose to the journalist know right away. There have been many times where we’ve had multiple email exchanges with a publicist, secured a source, ran them by our editors, and THEN after the interview, been told that we have to work in a brand or it’s a dealbreaker.

Some publications will allow journalists to cite experts as “an RD and nutritional advisor to XYZ brand” or “a cardiologist who founded the XYZ line of omega-3 supplements.” But many outlets will absolutely NOT include a source that has any mention of a brand — especially if there’s a chance for bias due to the source’s financial benefits from mentioning that brand. It’s a case-by-case basis and it’s best to skim through some articles that an outlet has published to get an idea of how they handle this before pitching. If you’re still unsure, simply ask!

Sometimes we have publicists tell us that they were frustrated that a client got left out of a story. For instance, one PR film told Nicole that their real estate experts keep getting interviewed but nobody is mentioning the fact that they are a real estate expert with X company. When asked if they had asked the publication to include that company, they said, “You can do that?” You can absolutely do that! And if you need certain branding worked in, you absolutely should. It might be a dealbreaker for some publications but nobody is going to even consider working that branding in there unless you ask!

Writers and editors ultimately use the best sources for their stories. If you have someone with a great knowledge of the subject at hand and a solid title, we want to make it work. Sometimes we can go to our editors and say, “Hey this person has a great story but need this mentioned. Is that doable?” Let us know what you need and we’ll see what we can do. No promises of course, but it doesn’t hurt to ask (unless the call for pitches specifically states that the source must be unaffiliated).

Tell us ahead of time what type of “expert” your source is.

When pitching us a potential source, we need to know their title right away. If they are a “real estate expert,” let us know what their actual title is and what makes them an expert. If they are a “medical expert,” what fancy degree and job titles make them a true medical expert? If they are a financial expert, what certifications do they hold? Again, this goes back up to the point above. A source’s title matters. What you may consider to be a “real estate expert” or “medical expert” may not work for us if their title doesn’t align with what our editor would feel comfortable running.

What are your current PR pet peeves?

You’ll find many of them in this Substack newsletter that we wrote: Things You Should NEVER Email a Journalist

Here are 2 of our pet peeves:

Someone that emails us to ask “what are you working on?”

As writers we get asked this question ALL. THE. TIME. There probably isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t receive at least a handful of emails from editors asking us this very question. Let us preface this by saying we understand the motive behind sending it. You’re networking, doing your due diligence, following up with a writer to work on forming and maintaining a relationship, and want to be helpful. You have great sources that you want to get in front of a journalist and yes, we’re eager to hear about them. But this is not the way to do it. Why?

We don’t have time to answer these emails. On any given day, we’ll get anywhere from 400 to 1,000 emails — many of which are from publicists. We try our best to answer as many pitch emails as we can but the reality is if we stopped and answered emails like this, it would take hours and we wouldn’t get anything else done. Every day, we are simultaneously pitching, sourcing, interviewing, writing, chasing down payments, sending invoices, networking and beyond. The inbox is a necessary evil that we have to do our best to manage and we simply don’t have time to respond to emails like this.

Also, most of us are working on a lot of stories at once — for many different publications and for many different beats. When you write to say “what are you working on?” we have no idea what types of sources you have for us and we aren’t going to take the time to list out every single story for every single outlet we have on our to-do list. And honestly this would be a waste of your time too. For instance say you rep a bunch of medical experts. If you hit us up and say “what are you working on?” and we respond back and say: “A story about taking your dog on a trip, a review of this new movie that’s out, a travel piece on XYZ, a cannabis story…. etc.” it’s not going to be a fit for you, and you’re not going to be a fit for us.

Instead of sending the ‘ol “what are you working on right now?” email, we recommend keeping tabs on what writers are working on by following their Substack newsletters (here’s Jill’s and here’s Nicole’s, if you aren’t already signed up) in which they send out weekly calls for sources. Follow writers on Twitter and see what they are tweeting about that they are sourcing for. Check HARO, Qwoted, Profnet to keep tabs on what journalists are asking for press-wise. And keep tabs on the Facebook forums like Czars and PR Opps and see what they are posting about. That’s truly the best way to keep tabs on this.

A publicist emailing to ask why their pitch wasn’t the right fit.

There are soooooo many reasons why your pitch might not be right for a writer and honestly the short answer to this and the one you should always assume when they pass is “it just isn’t.” A few of these reasons could include:

• You pitched us something that isn’t our beat

• We went through our list of outlets that we write for and we just don’t see it being a fit

• There is no timely angle attached to it

• It’s a topic we don’t feel comfortable covering

• We asked our editor and they said no

• Your expert didn’t have the credentials that we need for the story we are working on

• You pitched an expert attached to a brand and we can’t use a brand mention in our publications

• You pitched a gift guide product or something related to a holiday that we’re not writing about

• We checked out the product and it just won’t be something the audience of outlets we write for are interested in

• etc. etc. etc.

And it could often be a combination of many of those.

We try as often as we can to write back to pitches with a yes or no but oftentimes we have to delete and move on. It honestly all depends on how crazy our inboxes are and what’s on our plate for the day. If we spent time writing back with a no to every pitch that’s a pass with detailed instructions on why it’s a no, then we’d be doing that all day.

Also these emails will inevitably lead to us being challenged by the publicist. They will come back to us and try to give us reasons why the pitch should be right for us when we have already determined that it’s not. If it’s a pass, trust us. Keep pitching us … but pitch something else. We’ll hopefully find a mutual fit for another client or another angle pertaining to that existing client down the line.

Tips for sending a press package that a writer will want to interact with?

Again, such great questions guys. And things we get asked often. This one became a whole Substack newsletter too: Part 1: 5 Golden Rules of Sending Press Packages.

Here’s one of our favorite tips from that newsletter:

NEVER send surprise press packages.

No matter how cool your client’s product is, writers don’t want to be surprised by unexpected press mailers. First, many of us travel a lot and don’t want packages piling up when we’re gone. We’ve definitely had perishables sit on the porch while we’re OOT only to return to sad and spoiled food.

Or sometimes you have to sign for a package and aren’t home, and then we have to do deal with going to UPS or FedEx to retrieve something we didn’t even ask for in the first place.

Also, it could be a package we don’t even want, for any number of reasons (we’ll get into all of those reasons shortly), and now you’ve wasted money sending it to us because we won’t be able to cover it.

But most importantly, it could create an obligation that we’re not interested in taking on … writers resent being sent something they know they can’t place and having that obligation hang over their head.

Bottom line: Communicate your intentions with the writer first and get confirmation of their interest (especially if you already have their mailing address on hand from a previous press mailer. This helps to ensure that the product you’re going to send out is something we realistically think we may be able to work into a story. It saves your client money, you a trip to the post office, and helps us to only have to sift through mailers that fit our beats.

That’s it for this edition. We hope you enjoyed and found this helpful.

As a reminder, our weekly newsletters are for paid subscribers (this one was a freebie special edition). If you’re not already a paid Substack subscriber take advantage of our 30% off sale!

We’re offering 30% off our annual memberships from now to the end of May (that’s just $5.75 per month to have our weekly newsletters land right in your inbox + access to our monthly Top Tier Talks + read all the past newsletters in our extensive archive — including all of the examples we shared above.

A few spots left for our May 18th Group Pitch Perfecting Session

Our February small group pitch perfecting workshop was such a hit that we’ve decided to offer it again in May. Yes, we offer pitch perfecting worships as private sessions for agencies or individuals, but now we’re making them more accessible and affordable for freelance publicists and smaller agencies, too!

Here are the deets:

What: 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 (sometimes one thousand a day alone), 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.

Format: 1.5-hour workshop via Zoom with Jill and Nicole includes:

• 45-minute formal presentation of our best pitch-perfecting tips

  • subject line best practices

  • body of email best practices

  • tips to help your pitches stand out in busy writers’ inboxes

  • follow-up best practices (yes, we encourage you to follow up!)

• 45 minutes of providing feedback

  • we’ll dissect one pitch per participant, so come prepared with yours and don’t be shy … we haven’t made anyone cry yet, promise!

  • you’ll walk away with a pitch that’s ready to distribute, advice on how to tailor it to a specific target market, and all our best pitching knowledge in the palm of your hand

• Q&A throughout the session

• Opportunity to network with and learn from your colleagues

Date: Thursday, May 18 at 12 pm PST/3pm EST

Group size: Capped at 10 participants; first come, first served (prepayment is required to hold your slot)

Pricing: $299 per person for Top Tier Annual Paid Subscribers; $359 per person for Free Subscribers

(Note to free subscribers: The TTC annual subscription fee is $99 — so, upgrading would save you $60 on this workshop, PLUS you’d get access to ALL our paid content and monthly Top Tier Talks for just $39 more for the year.)

Questions? Ready to sign up? Reach out to us at info@toptierconsulting.net today!

Book a Private Session With Jill & Nicole

If you’re interested in more direct access to us, book one of our private consulting sessions! 

• Want to workshop a few pitches with two top-tier writers? Try our Pitch Perfecting session.

• Looking to build deeper relationships with journalists? You’ll love our Become a Journalist’s BFF session.

• Have a slew of questions you want answers to? Book an Ask Us Anything session.

• Are you putting together a press trip and need help with the details? We offer a Press Trip Invites and Itineraries session.

• Need fresh ideas for sending mailers to writers? Book our Press Package session.

• Scheduling an in-person or virtual media event? We can help, with our Hosting the Perfect Virtual/In-Person Media Event session.

Have other ideas you need help brainstorming or creating an action plan for? We offer Custom sessions, too! Email us at info@toptierconsulting.net.

Thanks again for being a part of this wonderful community we’re building. If you know a colleague who could benefit from this, please share this newsletter with them. We’re putting so much time and effort into these weekly articles and are thrilled to be able to get them in front of people that are benefiting from them. 

Jill & Nicole

PS: You can always email us with any questions: info@toptierconsulting.net