Good Pitch, Bad Pitch

In the last few weeks, members of PRowl Public Relations have sent out many pitch letters on behalf of our clients.

For instance, just last week we sent out a pitch letter to Philadelphia community news writers about the Dutch Umbrella brand.

When sending out a pitch, we always make sure to:
-Target the correct person. What good is sending a community related pitch letter to a local news reporter? No good at all. We do our research to ensure that we are sending the pitches to the correct writers or editors.
- Personalize the pitch. We make sure to personalize the pitch by including that writer's name and targeting the content to what that person writes about it.
-Follow-up. After sending a pitch letter, we make sure to follow up with the writer or editor by phone the next day. Instead of just asking them if they received the pitch letter, we make sure to ask them if they have any questions that we could answer. Also, we ask them if they are on deadline before we bother them any further. If a reporter is on deadline, they will be less willing to talk!

Shannon Cherry from Common Sense PR gives other examples of how to create a pitch that will get the attention of the media.

What are your pitching tips? Do you have any suggestions for PR students on how to effectively send a pitch letter to the media?