Part 2: Tips for Ensuring Your Clients Will Be THE Source Writers Want to Use Again
This advice can help your client become a go-to expert for writers (read: the ultimate pitching ROI!)
Happy Wednesday, Top Tier fans!
We got such great feedback on last week’s Substack (see below) that we’re back with part 2! If you loved our first 8 tips, you’re going to love the next batch, too.
Grab Your Recording of the 2024 Holiday Gift Guide Affiliate Marketing Session Today
Last week, we hosted a workshop all about affiliate marketing rules in relation to holiday gift guide pitching … and we were joined by affiliate marketing guru Sarah Karger. She is a master-level gift guide pitcher (we should know … we’ve featured plenty of her clients’ products over the years because her pitches are always on point!) and a whiz at all things affiliate marketing.
We spent 30 minutes walking through a comprehensive powerpoint presentation, and then tackled a ton of questions you had on this topic for the remainder of the hour.
We discussed:
The latest platforms and which ones editors care about the most these days (and which MAJOR platform is sunsetting!)
What editors are focusing on this holiday season
How to mention that a client is on an affiliate platform in a pitch: What essential information to include and how to position it
How to get affiliate links in the hands of influencers this holiday season
Is it a deal breaker if my client isn’t signed up with an affiliate program?
How do I contact e-commerce writers/editors to get my clients into these gift guides?
When it comes to commission percentages, what gets an editor/writer’s attention?
If you missed it, dont’ worry … we’re selling the recording so you can get caught up!
Rate: $49 for Paid TTC Substack Subscribers; $99 for Free TTC Subscribers
(Hint: you can upgrade today to get 50% off this workshop and a discount on future workshops … plus you’ll get access to all our paywalled content and archives, too!)
Ready to sign up? Send an email to info@toptierconsulting.NET and we’ll collect payment and send the recording right over.
Need some advice tailored to your specific agency and client goals? Book a 1:1 consulting session:
We offer a variety of consulting packages. Contact us at info@toptierconsulting.NET for more information. Here are a few of our most popular sessions:
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 to pulling off a successful press trip is 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!
Part 2: Tips for Ensuring Your Clients Will Be THE Source Writers Want to Use Again
Ok, now back to this week’s topic!
We figured this was a good time to offer some of our best advice on how publicists can help their clients be great assets to a writer’s story — after all, you don’t just want to nail THIS inteview, you want to become a go-to-source for future stories, too, right? Read on to discover 7 more things you need to know!
Walk your client through the tone of the article. It’s also important to note that potential sources need to understand the tone of an article. For instance, if the topic is “TK Surprising Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Cancer” then they need to bring some actually surprising ways to the table … not overused advice like “eat healthy” or “maintain a healthy weight” or “wear sunscreen.” We’re looking for truly UNEXPECTED advice the average consumer hasn’t read in 100 other articles already. And if we’re sourcing for something like that, it can be great if they come to the interview prepared with studies they can reference.
Make sure your client isn’t focused only on their own agenda and plans to prioritize the needs of the article. Sometimes, sources are very focused on their own agenda (like promoting their latest product launch) and forget that this isn’t a sales opportunity (though their brand/product MAY get mentioned … the writer/publicist should discuss this upfront to set expectations for the source). It’s important to stay focused on the writer’s agenda and the editorial opportunity at hand.
We’ve had many instances of interviewing sources only to have them say, “Well you just need to read my book to get that information.” Those interviews can be like pulling teeth (not to mention, what writer has time to read a 300-page book in order to write an article? We’ll just move on to the next source if that’s your attitude!). We usually can mention someone’s book or project but we can’t tell readers that they have to read the book in order to get answers to questions. We’ll need quotes from your expert in order to use them as a source, which can then allow us to tease their book in the story.Let your client know it’s OK to bring up something that’s not in the interview questions if it’s relevant and a clear miss. If the journalist hasn’t asked about XYZ, but the source thinks it’s important to the article angle, they can certainly say something like, “We haven’t touched on XYZ, but I think it would really help round out the story because …” Sometimes, we’ve learned that we’ve completely missed an important detail/aspect of the story and we’re happy to include it. Othertimes, we don’t agree that it’s relevant to the angle (or it’ll put us over word count and we can’t swing it) and thank the source for the info (even if we don’t plan on using it). Either way, they are the expert, so we’re open to hearing about any possible holes in our story!
Make sure they’ve reviewed the questions, if shared ahead of time. If the journalist shares their questions ahead of the interview (not all will, but it doesn’t hurt to ask), make sure the source takes some time to review them. We can’t tell you how often we share the questions and then when we hop on the call the source will say, “So what are we talking about today?” And occasionally, when we share the angle, they’ll say they aren’t really familiar with that topic or don’t have much to say on it … which they would have known if you had shared the questions with them ahead of time. Also, seeing the questions helps them do any prep work (if they need to brush up on some recent studies/data or take some time to think about their viewpoint or come up with analogies) and makes the direction of the article crystal clear so they can stay on topic.
Make sure they have a point of view AND a personality. Sure, they’re an expert. But do they have a unique point of view? Do they have something INTERESTING to say on the topic that hasn’t been said before? Writers are always looking for new and interesting soundbites from sources and novel information that will make their stories stand out from others on the topic. Having a point of view and being able to articulate it lends credibility to the source and increases their chances of getting included in the piece.
Also, nobody wants to talk to a robot spewing generic answers. Your source should be able to inject a little personality into the experience, like sharing some anecdotes or using an amusing or shocking analogy … you know, speaking like a human being instead of sounding like a Wikipedia page on the topic. Again, fun soundbites that will catch the reader’s attention is the goal here. New studies that aren’t widely publicized, new talking points = a win for a writer, which means a win for their editor!
Don’t let your clients plagiarize from others or themselves — and please don’t let them give us quotes written by ChatGPT. This sounds super obvious but unfortunately we see it happen too often. If we send out email questions, please make sure that your client knows that in order for us to run them, writers need 100% original quotes. That means they cannot pull quotes from other websites or submit anything that has been published in the past. We get a lot of submissions where people copy and paste excerpts from their own blogs or take quotes verbatim from other websites, like the Mayo Clinic or American Cancer Society. Using published material, even on their own sites, is still plagiarizing!
Using quotes that are plagiarized can result in a writer getting let go from a publication. And then there goes your contact to pitch for that outlet and also your relationship with that writer.
Even if you are sending some quick thoughts back to questions you see in an initial SOS Media, Substack or Qwoted request, please make sure it is original content. And if it’s not and you’re just trying to give a writer an idea of what your source could talk about in an initial reach out and want to just pull blurbs from the client’s website to showcase the type of information they could provide, make that clear up front — “This is the type of content they could talk about and I pulled this from their website to give you an idea. Do not use this. These are not original quotes but we will provide some once you send questions.”
Ask the writer for any clarification that you need. Before moving onto an interview stage, get clear on the due date for the answers, the topic, the scope, and any expectations from the interview (i.e. we’d like an expert to talk about some recent studies that would be helpful if they could pull ahead of time or we would love a list of their top 5 recommendations on xyz.)”
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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 or topic suggestions for future newsletters: 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 fine-tune your approach and tactics so that you can apply these learnings when pitching other journalists.
