by
Bill Stoller, Publisher
Free
Publicity, The Newsletter for
PR-Hungry Businesses
Stripped
down to its core, publicity is
little more than one person
persuading another. You, the
publicity seeker, must persuade a
journalist that your story is
worthy of receiving print space or
air time. Your ability to sell
your story to a journalist is what
it's all about.
If you've ever sat with an
insurance salesman who droned on
and on, you probably know that
simpler is better when it comes to
persuasion. A few choice words, a
brief, well-reasoned argument and
a strong close can make the
sale. Too much detail, too
much rambling and too much
pontification can kill a deal.
When
pitching a journalist, the same
rules apply: Keep your pitch short
and to the point -- and the
results will come.
Unfortunately, many beginning
publicity seekers -- and even some
old pros -- forget this advice.
Instead of keeping things short,
they seek to overwhelm journalists
with multi-page press releases,
extensive backgrounders and
lengthy fact sheets. If they even
get read (and most just go
directly to the trash) these
voluminous press kits only serve
to bury your main argument in a
blizzard of verbiage.
That's why I love pitch letters.
A
pitch letter is a brief business
letter, almost never longer than
one page. It can accompany a press
release, or it can stand on its
own. Pitch letters serve one
purpose -- to pique the
journalist's interest in your
story. They needn't tell the whole
story. Rather, they are
"teasers" for the meat
of your story angle. If you've
hooked the journalist with your
pitch letter, you have a real
chance of getting the rest of your
press materials read -- and your
story placed.
Pitch letters can be sent by snail
mail but, increasingly, they're
the perfect tool for e-mail
contact. Too many publicity
seekers send entire press releases
by e-mail when a few brief
paragraphs would serve their cause
far better.
If you're e-mailing a pitch letter
to a journalist there are three
rules to follow:
1.
Keep it short. Try to limit your
pitch to two or three
paragraphs.
2. Never send attachments. In
this era of worms and viruses,
that's bad netiquette.
3. Take the time to craft a
short, snappy headline. You
don't have to tell your story in
the headline -- just make it
intriguing enough for the
journalist to click
"open," not
"delete."
Whether
your sending it on paper or
electronically, here's how to put
together a strong pitch letter,
step-by-step:
Start off with your best shot
In the first sentence, try to give
the reporter something that will
make him say either "Gee, I
never knew that" or
"That's an interesting angle
for a story." Or better yet,
try to get him to say both things!
Don't mess around with
formalities, and don't bury your
angle in hype. Here's an example
of a pitch letter we used to
promote "the world's largest
game of Pictionary":
Mr.
Joe Smith
Features Editor
The Daily Herald
Anytown, OH 44444
Dear Mr. Smith:
On November 19, during halftime
of the California-
Stanford game, 80,000 people
will make history.
They'll be helping to establish
a New World Record by
participating in the largest
participatory game in
history -- a monumental round of
Pictionary, led by the
Stanford Marching Band.
Straight
to point and no nonsense. Just the
way a reporter wants it.
Here's another example -- one that
fits the "Gee, I didn't know
that" category. It's to
promote the national winner of a
contest sponsored by one of our
clients:
Dear
Mr. Smith:
A miracle has bloomed and is now
being harvested in the
heart of the South Bronx.
What used to be a trash-filled
vacant lot covered with
used hypodermic needles and
crack vials is now a
spectacular 2 1/2-acre working
farm. Every day, under
the watchful eye of Garden
Director and seasoned gardener
Jack O'Connor, dozens of
neighborhood youngsters come to
tend their garden plots, sing
songs, hear poetry and
learn about nature. Jack has
only one rule of thumb:
Before the fun starts, the day's
schoolwork must be
completed.
Target your pitch
Even if you have only one version
of a press release, you can still
target your pitch to a particular
media outlet by crafting a
specific pitch letter. The purpose
of the pitch letter in this case
-- to frame the story in a way
that makes it clear to the
journalist that it fits in with
that media outlet's approach.
Here's a letter we wrote to The
Paul Harvey Show to pitch the
story behind one of our clients, a
board game company called The
Games Gang. It resulted in a story
on Mr. Harvey's show -- one of the
biggest publicity hits you can
get.
Notice that it's written in a
structure and style similar to
what you might hear on The Paul
Harvey Show. We also played up the
"senior" status of the
Games Gang members, as senior
citizens make up a significant
portion of their listenership.
Here's the letter:
Mr.
John Smith
Producer
The "Paul Harvey" Show
Anytown, OH 44444
Dear John,
In June, 1986, a group of
veteran toy sales people
(average age: 60) were told
there was no more room for
them at the company they'd
served for more than 30
years.
They didn't slip quietly into
retirement, however.
Instead, they set out to prove
the toy industry wrong --
to show that experience and
commonsense are the
keys to success.
They've done it.
The company they formed, The
Games Gang, has taken the
games industry by storm. They've
beaten the odds by
creating one of the most
successful games in American
history -- Pictionary -- and
following it up with another
hit, Balderdash. Today, 10
million games later, the
"Over
The Hill Gang" is at the
top of the game heap, having
surpassed their larger -- and
younger -- rivals.
We think your listeners and
readers, especially those who
feel as if their best days are
behind them, will find the
story of The Games Gang a real
inspiration. We hope you
agree.
I'll be in touch soon.
Sincerely,
Bill Stoller
Show how your story relates to the
reporter's audience
Did you catch this line in the
Paul Harvey pitch letter?
"We think your listeners and
readers, especially those who feel
as if their best days are behind
them, will find the story of The
Games Gang a real
inspiration."
That's the line that probably put
the story over the top. We took
what was essentially a corporate
story and demonstrated that it
could have meaning to a wide group
of listeners -- even those who
don't play board games or care
about entrepreneurs.
Try to find a bigger theme in your
story, especially one that fits
with the mission of the media
outlet you're pitching.
Pitch letters are wonderful and
often underused tools. Just keep
them short, get to the point, try
to show how your story can appeal
to a wide audience and, where
appropriate, have a little fun,
and you'll be pitching like a pro!
Bill
Stoller is the founder and
publisher of Free Publicity,
The Newsletter For PR Hungry
Businesses. A twenty
year public relations veteran,
Bill teaches entrepreneurs and
small businesses how achieve
maximum publicity with minimal
investment. For free articles,
tips and insider secrets about
getting publicity, visit Bill's
home on the web at http://www.publicityinsider.com
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