Thursday Edition! Your questions, answered: A discussion on the best day/time to send that pitch

Good morning!

Happy Thursday. I got some great feedback yesterday in the app's chat threads (and here in the comments section as well) about that recipe I shared yesterday, and that was so exciting.

I promise to share more recipes in the same format very soon. Maybe even tomorrow! Speaking of recipes, this week for Eat This, Not That, I tried some of Chrissy Teigen’s new baking mixes and the results were DELISH. Highly recommend. And I’m normally SO not a baker.

Scroll down to read the story (and see my results)!

Now to today's discussion...

Sometimes, when I do consulting sessions, there's a few questions that come up time and again.

One recent one as we get into the height of HGG season is...What is the best day of the week or time of day to send that pitch to make sure it's noticed?

Well, part of that will depend on deadlines and what I'm working on, and what timeline (you'll notice some stories in my daily newly published stories section are SUCH quick turnaround that they are assigned, written, and published in the same day - meaning they never make it to the newsletter until they are completed) - but in general, I always tell people the following...

Most journalists are on their email 24/7, for better or worse. However, the busiest email day and time is always Monday mornings. My hunch is that many people (like me) spend a lot of time over the weekend answering and scheduling emails, and that's why they all seem to arrive around the same time on Monday.

Your best bet: Don't be part of that burst that comes all at once. So, Mondays are busy. Mornings are (in general) busier than afternoons. If you want your email to be seen the fastest, consider both and try to aim for the afternoon hours midweek or later in the week. Thursday and Friday tend to be my quietest days email wise - especially later in the day. 

You'll stand out from the crowd because your email won't be in a pile of several hundred received in a matter of minutes during a peak time, but rather arriving during a day/time of day that is a less hectic. 

Does that up your chance of being included in a story? Well, that all depends on the contents of your pitch. But it does improve your chances of your pitch being opened and read sooner, and we all know that's a significant part of the battle.

If you are pitching breaking news: You aren’t going to want to send that pitch on a Friday afternoon or over the weekend. You are also not going to want to send on Monday. Monday is the aforementioned scramble of emails and week-starting tasks, head spaces are PACKED. Friday afternoons - while great for your general email pitch can be hit or miss, as far as people perhaps being headed out of the office and not able to first pitch, write and publish a story before the weekend. For breaking news, target the afternoons of the middle of the work week.

Please also keep in mind that we exist in a global economy and a global industry. People you are emailing with may be in a different time zone than you, so you're going to want to try to adjust accordingly.

There’s so much to think about when creating pitches — the right email title, the right contents, hitting all the boxes as far as deliverables. But paying attention to timing will help you get that email opened in the first place!

Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Leave a comment below. (I’ll also open a thread in the app for discussion on this topic!)

Newly published or freshly updated

Since people are often asking about the status of stories from a while ago, and I only share stories in this newsletter that were published or updated in the current week, I have created a list of my author pages at various publications to which I contribute. Bookmark it and make your life a bit easier.

This list will live on my Substack URL and be updated as necessary. That way, you can see what I’m doing at any publication, at any time, from types of stories to general structure of stories to even volume and frequency of my content at that outlet.

This can also help you to target pitching a bit better. That makes your job easier, and mine too!

• The Kitchn: Philadelphia Cream Cheese’s New $20 Kit Will Give You Cheesecake Shaped Like a Designer Handbag

• Food Network: Stouffer’s Bloody Mary Mix Is Inspired by Its Famous Lasagna – And the Brand Is Giving It Away for Free

• Eat This, Not That: I Tried Chrissy Teigen's New Baking Mix—and Now I'm a More Confident Baker

• Forbes: Holiday Gift Guide 2022: The Best Culinary Gifts For Fans Of The Royal Family

• Food Network: Kraft Real Mayo and Juicy Couture Come Together for a Smooth Collab

If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any social media shares! Please remember to tag @alywalansky and the outlet.

What I’m working on now:

Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.

Please remember when pitching me: Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com - do NOT just hit reply on this newsletter, or there’s a good shot your email will be lost in the heap. Give your email a subject line that makes it clear which story you are pitching me for — it’ll help you in the long run.

Please consult my industry insights guides on submitting expert commentary, sending emails that will catch a journalist’s attention, how to craft pitches journalists will say ‘yes’ to, and the right and wrong way to submit photos, if you need any extra guidance before sending your pitches.

TODAY.com

Have restaurant chain food deals in store for Veterans Day? Email me!

A reminder: I’m interested in deals other than stuff like free delivery or extra rewards points in the app. Deals should involve a dollar amount off a purchase or a BOGO of some sort or an actual freebie. And they should be available everywhere, not just at a single location. Please also explain how someone claims the deal and exactly how long the deal will be good for.

Clean Plates

Products That Will Actually Make You Excited to Workout: Believe it or not, some people actually DO get excited about workouts!

Forbes

As promised, I have my first (of more to come...) batch of Forbes holiday gift guides. The topics I am working on in this batch are:

• The Best Gifts For Seafood Lovers: I'm looking for both shippable seafood gifts, but also spices, kitchen tools, accessories related to preparing, cooking, and serving fish.

• The Best Gear For A Starter Kitchen: Think starter appliances, multi-taskers, appliances, utensils, etc, that are good for small spaces.

For any of these, this is how I need to be pitched --

1 - Please start a NEW email, and make clear in the subject line which one you are pitching. Email that email to alywalansky@gmail.com

2 - Tell me the name of the product, URL where it is sold (if it's sold at several retailers, feel free to share links to a few), and price, and a brief description

3 - Include a LINK to a high res image (and please clearly mark and designate those photos)

All items pitched must be currently in stock and have online retail and be shippable nationwide.

Virtual consulting sessions...

Looking for a consult as you plan your next event or trip? Or just want someone to take a look at the pitches you’ve been sending and give some feedback?

I've been popping into a lot of PR team virtual meetings and some other fun stuff (This summer, I even joined in on an agency’s team retreat right here in Brooklyn — it was so fun and I made so many new friends!) and making myself available to answer all sorts of questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective.  I like to keep these things chill and comfortable and relaxed all by sharing perspective and learning from one another.

If you are interested in setting anything up for your own team in the coming months, please email me and we'll get something on the books! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts. If you are a freelance publicist and want to join in with a few other freelance publicist friends and set something up, we can do that as well!

On the fence over whether this is a good fit for your team? Here’s some feedback I received from people who I have worked with recently:

"Aly’s advice and insight is invaluable to our team, not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, she is approachable, generous, and kind too. While we read every one of her newsletters, we decided to go one step further and invited Aly to host a Q&A with our agency. During the session, we felt comfortable asking her everything and anything. She went above and beyond, providing examples and reasoning for each answer, and the team walked away with an abundance of new insight, tips, and tricks, plus a new confidence in handling some of the most crucial parts of our jobs." Sacha Bell, Rachel Harrison Communications

"Looking for a brilliant writer that always goes above and beyond?  Look no further than Aly!  She is an incredible teacher, tells it exactly how it is and is so generous in sharing her knowledge.  She knows what she wants from publicists, is very clear on her needs and expectations, and how to best support one another.  Most of all, her kind personality jumps off the page, and her giggle and smile are infectious.  In this consistently changing world of media, it’s so refreshing to know someone so genuine.” Kirsten Wanket

“Aly spoke to our team to help us all gain a better understanding of the media side of our business. Whether it was the best ways to pitch media or understanding the editorial process of content, she gave us tremendous insight into a vital relationship for mutual success. We were thrilled and our team came away with not only a deeper understanding, but with greater empathy for our colleagues in the media market. Definitely would recommend Aly for any agency looking to better work with their media counterparts.” Dawn Britt, Founder/Managing Partner/CEO of OneSeven Agency

“Aly has very kindly agreed to join a few sessions for us talking to both smaller and larger internal groups, and it has been incredibly helpful for our team to understand more about her process, and garner best practices that we leverage as we work on various programs. From sharing dos and don’ts for virtual and in-person events to pitching tips, Aly is a pro and always so thoughtful in her responses. And her own first-hand knowledge has helped us all to better understand the work process for freelancers and how we can most effectively work with other freelancers like Aly. We always appreciate her time and insights!” Erin Delahanty, Edelman

“I would highly recommend booking a virtual consulting session with Aly for an agency of any size!  She offers up to date perspective on everything from the affiliates to how to get your pitches read to timing your pitching correctly. These virtual consulting sessions literally save you time trying to figure out what the media is looking for and give your team an immediate edge.  Aly took her time and answered questions from the team. She is super friendly and you can tell she genuinely wants to create a win-win relationship between the media and publicists. Our team loved having Aly on and we cannot wait to have her back!  It was a blast!” Leah Cybulski, ChicExecs

“Aly was able to join our agency for a PR Perspectives chat and not only was it so much fun, but it was so informative! Keeping a pulse on the constantly changing media landscape is so important and we loved the insights and expertise Aly was able to share with us. Highly recommend setting up a chat with her!” Jennifer Haile, Dentsu Creative PR

“I am always looking for ways to share new ideas and learning opportunities with our team to improve how we pitch and offer value to journalists and in turn their audience. Aly's no nonsense approach gave us accessible advice about the best way to communicate to media, what formats works best, and basically how we can share our client news in a way that will get us noticed and included in stories. Would do again in a heartbeat!” Samantha Davidson, Say My Name Communications

“For my team’s first hybrid media event for a product launch in the COVID era, Aly quickly jumped on a Zoom and dropped great insights that drove many of the event elements. The direction she provided helped us increase attendance and gave her journalist colleagues a more memorable experience. It was a bonus that she was so easy and fun to talk to.” Apryl Ash, Approach Marketing

Now, it’s your turn! Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to get something on my schedule for this fall.

Looking to up your affiliate marketing game?

Affiliate marketing is complicated, and it seems that the landscape keeps changing. If you are looking to be prepared for gift guide season and all other shopping-related content, you may want to try the Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists. It's a brilliant course and it'll answer all your questions (including some you didn't know you had!)

have a great day <3

aly