Pitches not landing? Some quick ways to get your email noticed.
Happy Saturday!
A little bit of a primer for those of you who seem to be needing it today…
There's as many as 1,000 new emails in my inbox some days - especially in the height of gift guide season.
The key to getting through them? For me, it is sticking to those who get all the right info to me as quickly and succinctly as possible.
I always advise people to try to use the inverted pyramid approach when sending pitches - this is something we learned about in our college journalism classes, and involves getting the nuts and bolts of the story -- the juice, so to speak -- out in the first paragraph. In news writing, that'd be the who, what, where, when, why of the story.
But when it comes to pitching, the inverted pyramid serves a different purpose -- you can use it as a vehicle for telling your pitch's story. You want to be engaging and clear, OF COURSE, but you are going to use this newswriting tactic as a structural tool to make sure the journalist gets the most important information first, followed by less essential information - like an inverted pyramid.
That means, when you are sending that pitch, you'll start with the most important information and then keep things neat and as concise as possible — but including all the important aspects while you’re at it.
What IS the most important information, and what to include...and not include?
Here's some pitching tips to help you land that coverage when you need it most.
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