Got a pitch for my blog today. I was kind of honored at first. I don’t get many pitches for my blog. Then I read the pitch. And I was no longer honored. I was just annoyed.
I’m not going to call out the company. But let’s just say they did a few things I wouldn’t recommend doing in your pitches:
- The pitch was asking for a review and giveaway. I have never done a review or giveaway on my blog. Something anyone who read my blog would see pretty quickly.
- The pitch included the following: “I’d love to have you link over to us and send some readers our way for the holidays!” Ah, how lovely. Not.
- The pitch was on a topic I have never covered once in any of my blog posts.
This is not another “check out this horrible pitch” blog post. We’ve all seen those before. But it is a “are we getting lazy as an industry when it comes to how we pitch” post. And it makes me wonder if enough of us are going the extra mile when it comes to our pitching.
7 ways to go the extra mile when writing a pitch
1. Read and refer. It’s fundamental to read the writing of the person who you are pitching. It’s above and beyond to read several posts or articles and refer to actual events or people you read about in your pitch.
2. Tie it back to you. When you’re writing a pitch, you’re also building a relationship. For that to happen, the person you’re pitching has to learn something about you too. If the blogger mentioned she likes Bon Jovi and you are a fan, work that into your pitch.
3. Use the product you are pitching. This won’t work all the time, but if you can use the product your selling as part of your pitch, do it. Pitching a camera, add a picture to your pitch. Not only is it a great way to show what the product can do, but it also puts your creativity on display and helps you stand out.
4. Introduce yourself up front. You’d do it if you were meeting this person face to face. Do it in the email as well. And if you have a common acquaintance, mention that person early in the pitch too. Helps your credibility.
5. Include suggested tweets and Facebook posts. You’re not being presumptuous by doing this. Many bloggers and journalists are super busy and you can help save them some time this way. But always label them “suggested” tweets and Facebook posts. That implies you don’t expect them to copy what you sent word for word.
6. Show your knowledge of their community. When I am researching a blogger or journalist, the first place I always go is the about section or bio. Find where they live and mention something about it in your pitch. I recently pitched someone from St. Louis and started off talking World Series, not the product I was sharing. When the blogger responded showing interest, the first thing she mentioned in her email was baseball, not the product.
7. Follow up like crazy. If you get a placement from your pitch, follow up and mention the story. If you don’t get a reply to your pitch, follow up (at least once). If you see something that reminds you of the person you pitched, use it as an opportunity to touch base. Consistent follow up keeps you top of mind with your contacts. And it can be the difference between working with a blogger once vs developing a long-term relationship.
See, going the extra mile isn’t really going that much further than most of us go. But like with everything else in life, it’s the little things that people remember.
[...] this week comes our old acquaintance Justin Goldsborough from JUSTin CASE. 7 ways to go that extra mile on your pitches is the blog post that caught our attention. We found his article valuable mainly because pitching [...]