Last week I attended the Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC)
monthly luncheon featuring a panel of five magazine journalists and freelance
contributors who discussed how to best to pitch them.
- Kendra Chaplin, publisher of Chicago Woman magazine
- Cindy Kuzma, a contributing editor at Runner’s World magazine, and contributes to print and online
features for Men’s Health, Women’s Health,
SELF and Prevention
- Sarah Ryan, editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Weddings and deputy editor of CS Magazine
- Hilary Shenfeld, a Chicago-based freelance reporter whose
work has appeared in People magazine,
Newsweek and more
- Kate Silver, and award-winning freelance writer and editor
specializing in health, food and travel stories
The panel provided many great tips and insights that we can incorporate into our ongoing story pitching for our clients.
Keep Email Short
All the panelists strongly preferred to be pitched to via
email, with one panelist admitting she hates receiving phone calls from people
she does not know and will not answer the phone. They all also want short,
concise pitches and subject lines that get to the heart of the message within the first three lines.
“Tell me the story the way you would at a cocktail party,”
said Kate Silver, who emphasized
including the juicy details and keeping pitches conversational.
Leave a Little Wiggle
Room
When pitching via email, PR professionals can sometimes get
impatient and send follow-up messages to editors and writers within 24 hours of
the original message. The panel agreed that PR pros should allow more than 24
hours before a follow-up email is sent, preferably a few days.
Likewise, when offering exclusivity on a story, the writer
or editor may not respond until three to five days later. If there is a tight
deadline for exclusivity, include that timeline in the email pitch so the
writer is aware. That way, when the deadline passes, PR pros can feel free to
move on to the next writer.
Mix it Up
The majority of the panelists work for outlets that create
both print and online content. They encouraged PR pros to send new ideas,
studies, announcements, etc., to the media ASAP because they may have a use for
it immediately for an online piece, or down the road for a print piece. Trying
to map out exactly when a topic might be of use for a long-lead print placement
may not always work, as each print outlet has its own schedule it works off of.
Online content, on the other hand, can be turned around within a day and may be
valuable anytime.
Some panelists explained that the preference for online or
print for specific stories has shifted over the past few years. While
traditionally longer pieces would be used for print and shorter pieces for
online, many are realizing the opposite is true today. Online enables them to
experiment with a broader range of topics, without being confined by space or
specific sections/departments for stories to fall under as in print.