How to Make a Client's Product Truly Stand Out in a Writer's Inbox

Writers receive pitches about supplements, t-shirts, nail polish, jewelry, etc. every single day. Here's how to make YOUR CLIENTS stand out in busy busy inboxes vs the competitors

Hi Top Tier Community!

We’re excited to dive into this week’s topic, but first a few quick announcements.

A quick reminder, if you haven’t read these 2 , definitely give them a whirl!

We crowdsourced and asked publicists: “What do you wish writer would do on their ends to make your jobs easier?” and we had a great convo. Here is the result of that in these Part 1 & 2 posts:

Click the headers below to read:

Part 1: Things Publicists Wish Writers Would Do to Make Publicists’ Jobs Easier

Part 2: What Publicists Wish WRITERS Would Do on Their Ends to Make PR Jobs Easier

Our upcoming Top Tier Talk will be held: Friday, March 21st at 9am PST/12pm EST

This will be an open forum where you can ask anything. We can discuss pitching, the outlets we contribute to, seasonal gift guides, sources/experts, best practices, writer pet peeves, interview best practices, products, deadlines, affiliate programs and more!Link below the Paywall as this is a FREE Zoom as a perk for all paid Substack subscribers

All we request is that you RSVP and include at least one question in the Google doc linked below (after the Paywall as this is a FREE perk for paid Substack subscribers), so that we can ensure we can prepare and use our time most efficiently!

Now onto this week’s topic. Writers receiving hundreds of pitches a day and many are filled with products publicists are pitching. We’ll receive tons of pitches for nail polishes, vitamins, t-shirts, suitcases and purses in the same week — and sometimes in the same day.

So when a writer is looking to feature a product, why your client’s purse? Whey their t-shirt? versus all the others? There are some tricks to help you break through.

Here are a few of our best:

Have all the information handy

Make it easy on a writer. The more information you have handy on your product, the easier it is. If someone has to dig through the email to find a price or a link or a photo or if they have to email you for more information, they will likely just move on to another email, as they will have no shortage of submissions to dig through this time of the year. Include your product’s name and a nice summary of it up top. Have a link to where we can see a photo (or embed one) and a link to where you can buy it or the website link. Include the price if you can and anything else we may need to know.

If a product is trending - that can help to make it appealing. But show us the #s!

Too often we receive pitches that say “This product is trending” but other than that, there is nothing to back it up. Are there facts and figures to help prove something is a trend? X amount of millennials are doing this or reporting this? This % of people have been spotted recently doing this? This is all over podcasts lately? Does it have X amount of #s on TikTok? The reviews on this product are off the charts and everyone is talking about it on all these platforms? This is the top product in its category on Amazon? This lip gloss sells one tube every 3 minutes (that led to a story that Jill wrote all about an actual lip gloss that was trending!).

Anything you can give us that’s concrete is crucial here. If we tell our editors that something is a trend, they will instantly ask us how. Keep in mind that we have to prove that on our end and if you can help us do it you have a far better chance of landing coverage.

Remember that gift guides aren’t just for the holidays and they are a great way to get products placed

Yes, holiday gift guide pitching season is the Super Bowl of gift guide pitching. But when it comes to getting your clients included in articles, don’t forget about other gift guide opps. Writers do gift guides for everything from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day to best products for summer travel to best graduation gifts, and more. Pitch those when appropriare!

Pitch your own gift guide idea

It’s also important to note that just because a writer isn’t sourcing for a gift guide doesn’t mean they aren’t open to working on them — anytime of the year. There have been many times that we’ve been pitched products and publicists have positioned them as being “the perfect graduation gifts” and that actually inspire a writer to go to their editors and say “Any interest in doing a graduation gift guide this year?” And that that turns into a story opp where they’ll include the client who inspired it.

Read on for more of our tips including our NUMBER ONE suggestion below.

Shoot, there’s a paywall and our best advice lives 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.