If you are in PR how should you reach out to reporters?
I teamed up with Mila Che this week to do a training session for PR people that went over best practices for how professionals should approach journalists.
What we realized is that with the landscape so competitive — there are 7 PR people for every journalist — tailoring a tight, effective pitch matters more than ever.
It’s been a minute since I actually worked as a reporter (two decades actually!) so I reached out to friends currently working as editors and writers to see how practices may have changed.
The key points they made:
- Find the right reporter. One said 90 percent of the outreach he gets has nothing to do with what he is working on. “It’s just embarrassing.”
- Read recent coverage so you are clear what they have been focusing on.
- Email first. Call only if the reporter knows you, or if you have a real exclusive.
- For exclusives win. Put “exclusive” in the subject line. Pitch a few days ahead. Include the deadline to reply, who will give interviews, and why the audience should care.
- Keep it short. Three or four sentences, key dates in bold, bio below where it isn’t in the way. You don’t need boilerplate or deep background.
- Don’t send AI slop. Every reporter said AI pitches are DOA and undermine credibility.
To those, I have a few of my own to add:
- Make it clear when the person can be available for an interview
- Include the person’s POV. Don’t say, Joan Smith can talk about AI; say :”Joan Smith thinks there is a 25% chance AI will kill all of us by 2035.” That gets attention.
- Whenever possible encourage clients to personally reach out to reporters and meet up for coffee or Zoom to establish a relationship before you need them. This is particularly true for businesses which lack broad coverage.
(Normally, I ghostwrite or train executives on building a social media presence; but this opportunity came up and it seemed like it would be fun. Reach out if you run a PR or comms group and might be interested in doing something similar.)
