Things You Should NEVER Email a Journalist
In the spirit of relationship management, here are some things to never say to a journalist in an email
Hi TTC community!
Thanks for tuning in for another exciting newsletter. We’re so thrilled to hear how helpful these have been to our community. If you’re a member and haven’t checked out our archives yet, here are a few of our most popular that we’d highly recommend reading.
Here’s a FREE POST to give you a taste of what we offer weekly (and our most popular to date):
Our TOP Tips from 2022 (spoiler: they ALL still apply in 2023!)
A few other greatest hits:
5 Golden Rules of Sending Press Packages (and here are 6 more!)
8 Things You Need to Do to Help Prep Your Clients for Interviews
PART 1: A Look INSIDE the Process of How Writers Handle an Inbox Full of PR Pitches
The Right And Wrong Ways to Handle Your Clients' Titles When Submitting Them As Sources
How to Make YOUR Product Stand Out From ALL the Other Product Pitches In a Writer's Inbox
In-Person and Virtual Events, Client Desksides, and Others Ways to Network with Journalists
Still not convinced you should subscribe? Check out this testimonial we just received from one of your peers (we’re literally blushing over here!):
“I've been working in the public relations space for a decade, and the transformation of editorial and journalism throughout my career has shifted far from where I started. Top Tier Consulting is an essential investment for me as a publicist running my own business because it's up to me to know all of the ins and outs of the industry and to learn insights from the journalists we work with daily. Not only do Nicole and Jill provide an understanding of what journalists want from the publicists they collaborate with, but more importantly, they share what they don't want. I can't say enough great things about the value their perspective brings to my clients and me. I recommend subscribing to anyone starting their career in public relations and those who have been in the game for a long time. This industry constantly evolves, and direct insights from those who intuitively understand the landscape are truly invaluable.” — Beth Booker, CEO + Founder, Gracie PR
There are just a few slots left for our upcoming Become a Journalist’s BFF: Networking & Relationship Management session 3/29!
Yes, we offer these 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 details:
What: 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.
Format: 1-hour workshop via Zoom with Jill and Nicole includes:
45-minute formal presentation of our best relationship-building and management tips
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.
15 minutes for Q&A: Anything and everything is on the table for discussion here and you will walk away with your questions answered.
Opportunity to network with and learn from your colleagues
Date: March 29th at 10:30 am PST/1:30 pm ET.
Can’t make this date but interested? Email us and let us know. We’ve started a list so we can add a second date.
Pricing: $199 per person for annual Top Tier Paid Subscribers; $259 per person for Free Subscribers (prepayment is required to hold your slot)
(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 — including our vast archive of 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!
Sign Up for Our Next Top Tier Talk
It’s time to RSVP for our March Top Tier Talk, which will be on Tuesday, March 28th at 10 am PST/1 pm EST. This is open to all paid Substack subscribers. We’ll be taking your questions plus chatting about the latest happenings in the media world.
Can’t make it? As always, we’ll send out a Zoom video recording to all paid subscribers following the event so you can watch when you have time.
A More Intimate Way to Interact 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!
Things to Never Email a Journalist
Now onto this week’s topic. At TTC, we’re constantly writing to you and doing sessions where we dive into our best tips for helping your PR pitches to stand out in a journalist’s inbox. These are always suggestions on tiny tweaks you can make like coming up with the perfect subject line that will catch a writer’s interest, ways to make your emails more scannable, the importance of including the right information about products and talking points for sources.
But what about the emails that you send to writers outside of pitches?
As writers, we’re pretty easygoing. And we rely on pitches from publicists to generate the many ideas that we pitch to our editors. We pretty much welcome any and every interesting client you want to send our way that you think is a fit for our beat and the publications that we write for.
But there are some emails that PR reps send us that 1) Admittedly drive us crazy and 2) Are honestly a waste of your time.
So what should you never ask a journalist in an email? Let’s dive right in.
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.
Not a paying member? Upgrade your membership today to keep reading + to receive access to our extensive archive of content AND the ability to join our monthly Top Tier Talks where both of us are on a Zoom with you to answer any questions that came up during the month. We also bring in experts to talk about all your burning subjects like affiliate marketing and beyond.