Let's Leave the Mystery Out of Your Pitches, OK?
Plus: Sign up for our Become a Journalist's BFF: Networking and Relationship Management" Workshop + Snag a 1:1 Session With Us for February
Good morning, Top Tier Community!
Do you love reading mystery novels? Do you love watching mysteries on TV? Great, so do we!
But one thing NO journalist likes is a MYSTERY PITCH … yet we receive them surprisingly often. In this week’s newsletter, we’re going to explain what we mean and share a handful of examples. And of course, we’re going to explain why this approach could actually undermine your pitching efforts.
Instead, journalists are looking for transparency in 2024… it helps us build trust with our PR contacts, eliminates our concerns about our time being wasted, and ultimately will lead to more editorial hits for your clients and more assignments for us. Yes, transparency is THAT powerful!
Before we dive into all that, check out these 2 announcements of more ways to interact with us. We have some exciting stuff coming up!
RSVP for Our Popular "Become a Journalist's BFF: Networking and Relationship Management" Workshop
Are you looking for best practices on staying in touch, following up with, and creating meaningful long-term relationships with journalists? Then our upcoming workshop is perfect for your goals.
During the course of an hour-long workshop, we’ll help you:
Learn how to meet new journalists and develop a lucrative working relationship with them
Discover best practices for staying in touch
Learn the finer points of following up that will increase your response rate
Discover how to become a writer’s go-to source
Learn how to stand out when answering a writer’s call for sources (whether that’s on HARO, a FB group, Twitter, Substack etc.) — there is definitely an art to this and we will walk you through our magic formula!
Discover how to avoid common writer pet peeves that may make someone want to pass on working with you again.
We’re looking forward to sharing all this with you!
Only 2 Slots Available for a 1:1 Session with Jill & Nicole in February
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.
Ok, back to our topic at hand: Why you should leave the mysteries for books and movies!
Following are some common mysteries both Jill and Nicole see on the regular and hope to avoid from here on out:
1. Mystery subject lines for pitches
We see many subject lines where publicists exercise their creativity in hopes of compelling a writer to click … but more often than not, when we can’t figure out what a subject line means, we just delete it and move on to the next 400 in our inbox.
Your goal with a subject line should be to clearly state the client (product or expert), the angle and the timeliness. We covered this extensively in last week’s Substack, so check it out if you missed it: 8 Pitching Bloopers.
Required Reading: A Subject Line is Your Pitch’s First Impression — Here’s How to Nail It
2. Mystery locations for events
Jill recently received an invitation for a “sit down dinner” with a brand she’s never heard of to “celebrate their U.S. launch.” The weird part? The invite included the date and time, but then stated, “Location will be given upon RSVP.”
Jill wasn’t even sure the event was in her hometown of Phoenix … so she was forced to ask. Turns out, it’s in NYC. Can you imagine what would have happened if she RSVP’d yes, only to find out afterwards that the event was thousands of miles away? What a waste of time for everyone (including for this publicist’s client, who would have planned for the head count).
There’s no need to maintain a sense of mystery about the location of an event … and certainly not what CITY and STATE it’s in. What writer is going to agree to something without all the facts? Even if it’s in the same city, it could be at a venue they don’t care for, or 45 minutes across town and they aren’t willing to make the drive.
Also, be sure to check what city a journalist lives in before you invite them somewhere — Jill gets WEEKLY invites to events in NYC and LA, but lives in AZ, which means these publicists aren’t doing any due diligence.
Required reading: In-Person and Virtual Events, Client Desksides, and Other Ways to Network With Journalists
3. Mystery mailers/product samples
Sometimes, we’ll get emails from publicists that say, “Please send me your address, I want to send something fun your way!” or “I’m popping a few other fun things into your mailer to check out.” We know your intentions are well-meaning, but this is not a best practice.
What are these things? What if we don’t want them? What if we’re allergic to them? What if we can’t eat them because we’re on a diet or keep kosher? What if we know for a fact we’ll never cover them editorially? What if we’ve already tried it and didn’t like it? What if we don’t have space in our house for it? What if … a million other things.
The thing is, you don’t know. And you can’t be expected to know. So please tell us what you plan to send us, so that we can agree or pass. Sending us something we didn’t request can create a weird sense of obligation (even if you swear there are no strings attached) and put us in an awkward position. Let us make an informed choice. Also save your client money by not sending out something a writer may not be able to cover without a writer’s consent.
Required readings:
Don’t forget this cardinal rule of sending a press sample
5 Golden Rules of Sending Press Packages
6 MORE Golden Rules of Sending Press Packages
4. Mystery virtual event purpose
Another thing we see from time to time is an invitation to a virtual event without a clear purpose … and all we’re told is something like, “Join XYZ brand for an exciting event with a mystery celebrity guest. All will be revealed, but we know you’ll love it!”
We aren’t able to make any decisions based off this lack of information. Writers are insanely busy, and we aren’t going to join a call or Zoom unless we know it will be worth our time — and that means something we can eventually sell to an editor.
Please share all the details so we can decide if the event is a match for our needs … your client should also want only the most engaged, on-target writers in attendance, right?
5. Mystery sources/experts
Sometimes, publicists will respond to our calls for pitches and say, “I have a great source for you, and they’re already working on getting you answers. Will send later today!”
Whoa … hang on a sec. WHO is your source? What are their credentials? What’s their education? What’s their exact expertise in this field? Are they tied to a brand I’ll have to mention? How are they answering questions we haven’t even asked yet?
Required reading: Wait for a Writer’s Green Light Before Sending Your client’s Unsolicited Commentary to a Query
In short: How does the writer know if your mystery source meets their outlet’s stringent requirements??
We don’t. And you don’t either, because a lot of those details stay behind the scenes. Writers know the perfect source when they see it, but first we need to know our options.
Always share your source first, and then wait for us to let you know they’ve been selected.
Required reading: How to SELL Writers On Your Client vs. Just Telling Us They Exist
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Did you learn anything new today? Any questions on this topic? Our comment section is open and we ALWAYS reply!
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 who are benefiting from them.
Jill & Nicole
PS: You can always email us with any questions: info@toptierconsulting.NET
*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 help you fine-tune your approach and tactics so that you can apply these learnings when pitching to other journalists.