City Publicity's 30 Free PR Pitch Tips

1. If you’re really good you can pitch your release in 140 characters ( twitter)
2. A good phone pitch should be about 15 seconds in length, (about 140 characters) right? Everything has not changed.
3. Best pitch is timely, personal, unique. Bad pitch is spam with no understanding of the reporter
4. Don’t twitter-spam journos – follow, engage, build a relationship first then pitch ( if relevant to their field).
5. The best pitch is face-to-face. Show you’re excited. If you freelance, call the editor and tell ‘em you’re in the neighborhood.
6. QUIRKY ANGLE for a PITCH FOR RESTAURANTS:
   a. Chef / author who does “online” book (or cookbooks) signings. Reserve a time – they’ll sign book via webcam and ship to you. Golden angle & DIFFERENT!
   b. “Ask the chef “question hour ( via twitter/skype/IM) make a time when they will be PERSONALLY online to answer food/cooking related questions and allow foodies/followers to engage & interact.
7. Journalists don’t like it when PR’s tells them what’s relevant. Just give them a quick summary and send release.
8. Pitch tip to Blogger: “I have read your blog and I think you’d be interested in ____ because _____.” Then wait for them – DO NOT HOUND.
9. Ask a reporter “what does it take to get a story like [mentioned feature you liked] what are you looking for?”
10. A bad pitch starts with a wrong name
11. A bad pitch is probably written by the same people who crafted the corporate mission statement.
12. Bad pitch —terminology specific to one industry
13. You need a hook to pitch well and “unique” DOES NOT CUT IT
14. Bad pitch - not knowing the reporter’s name or their beat, no contact information, no online companion pieces and no relevant photos.
15. Bad Pitch = Not relevant, not researched, not timely, not personalized.
16. Bad Pitch: “This is my Search Engine Optimized Headline and I am Spamming it to you and 800 other journalists the same way”
17. Update your media lists, if you find the journalist who you sent a pitch to has moved on –ask who has replaced them, and if they are interested in being sent the same information. Don’t assume.
18. Bad pitch: Not researching enough about the company and market. You look stupid. Seriously.
19. Bad pitch = self serving, non-informative
20. Pitches with a generic opening are doomed
21. Bad pitch “hi, i saw you wrote about our competitor and thought you might want some info to write about us”
22. Bad pitch: using sales copy, lots of adjectives, and changing persons throughout release.
23. Bad pitch :Bad headline, no point, no benefit to audience
24. PR TIP: Develop a Solid Marketing Foundation = Who are you?
25. PR TIP: Does your company have an easy to understand corporate identity and logo? Ask your customers & reward them for feedback.
26. PR TIP: work out what your company's top 10 selling product/services are & tell new customers why.
27. PR TIP: Target Audience = ppl buying your products right now.
28. PR TIP: work out what media channel your target audience listen to/ use, then engage with them though it.
29. Point of difference point of difference, point of difference – find yours and communicate it
30. Numbers/ statistics & facts - use them if they are relevant and if they ad weight to your story.