Thursday: Trying to write more effective email subject lines? I have a primer for you.

Plus: Gift a subscription is back! Also: discounted consulting sessions. And: LA! I'm headed to see you next week!

Good morning!

Wow, it’s gonna be a scorcher out there today…

This week, I did a consulting session with a friend and subscriber, and she marveled at how my hair seemed to be flowing in the wind as we chatted. “Where are you right now?” she asked, probably expecting a fun, interesting answer. “My couch…” I responded, sharing that I have fans set up behind and adjacent to my apartment workspace, creating a sort of wind machine effect on a summer day. So, if you too would like to have a summer consulting session with pretend-Beyonce, be sure to reach out!

New content since Tuesday’s email includes for Clean Plates: 11 Best Seafood Picks at Trader Joe’s, According to RDs (all of my fave seafood picks at TJs are on the list, as well as how I like to prepare them), as well as a fun new piece for Forbes.com: Red Robin's Latest Burger Is Inspired By An Actual Olympic Gold Medal. Also, for Southern Living: What Is An English Cucumber? - I tell you everything you ever wanted to know about this fascinating member of the gourd family (yes, it’s true!).

I have a busy week coming up, from speaking at NYU this coming Monday (egads!) to spending most of next week in LA (yay!), so trying to go into this weekend as caught up as possible. To that end, sourcing expert commentary and more for a few new stories for RetailMeNot as well as Forbes and Apartment Therapy — all the details are in the pending assignments section if you scroll down.

Sending a pitch? The subject line of your email is your first impression

*Note: This is the example of the kind of content I go more in-depth on if you upgrade to a paid subscription!

One of the most popular questions asked when I do consulting sessions is if an email’s subject line matters. People want to know if I prefer something cute or witty or punny or want them to get right to the point. This question is so popular that I thought it may be a good thing to broach in today's industry insights edition.

We all know that a well-written pitch email is a big part of getting a pitch read and maybe getting your client written about.  And the reality is that many of us are getting well upwards of 500 emails every single day. During gift guide season, that can double. If you want your email to get the attention it deserves, it just may come down to making that all-important first impression.

1. Stick to the basics

I always tell people I care a lot more about knowing what is inside that email than if the title is catchy or fun. Consider timeliness, targeting, and be specific.  I want to read a subject line and have an idea of what I'm dealing with before even going inside. Consider words like INVITE. TRIP. EMBARGO. RELEASE. or even something that tells me specifically which of my stories you are pitching. Say: CHILI CRISP GUIDE. What does not help me is things like CAN I CALL YOU? or GOT A SECOND? or QUICK QUESTION. This tells me nothing. 

Believe it or not, I get a lot of emails with titles like NEWSLETTER: EXPERT FOR YOUR STORY. My newsletter is not an outlet. This tells me nothing. I contribute to well over a dozen outlets and I’m working on 10+ stories in a given week. Better would be CLEAN PLATES: CLEAN FACE MASK QUERY - it tells me the outlet and the specific story you are referring to.

Also: Play to the urgency of your pitch if it's timely but don't overplay your hand if it's not actually timely. 

2. Targeting

If you are pitching me a great steakhouse in NY, be sure to tell me it's that in the title.  If I'm working on a steakhouse in NY story (and I often am!), this lets me know to go inside and read more.

It ALSO tells me something super important: That you've done your homework on me and know to pitch me something that is specifically targeted for me, my audience, and my content areas.

3. Be clear

I can't say this enough: I care about you being clear and concise WAY more than I care about you being cute.  Stop trying to come up with clever or cute email titles.  Be simple and direct and let me know what I'm working with and we'll be great. You want an email attention that is clear, grabs attention, and then will make the person (me, or anyone else) open it up to get more details. Don't worry about being boring. Boring is fine if it helps you get results!

4. Don't obsess about how long your email title is 

I know you are probably thinking you want to use less words. You don't have to. If it takes a few extra words to get the point across and make it clear what you news is, by all means send me an email with a 10-word subject line.

Size doesn’t matter, it’s how you use it. And when asked about the ideal length of a subject line - or a pitch in general! - I often liken it to a skirt length. Long enough to cover all the important stuff, but short enough to keep things interesting.

Eliminate unnecessary words like “pitch” and “story” and make sure all the relevant bits are covered.

5. Considering your sentence structure

Here's a template for you to use that will work...

ONE OR TWO WORDS DESCRIBING WHAT IS INSIDE: ONE SENTENCE WITH DETAILS

i.e.

EXCLUSIVE: New design-your-own-martini experience at NYC restaurant 

It's giving the what of your pitch, and then telling everyone what they need to know.

6. Leave people wanting more

You want them to open the email, right? Make your email title one that tells them what they need to know, but leaves them thirsty for more information

7. PROOFREAD

Seriously, I'm not going to read your hot take on the Duchess of Sussex if you misspell her name in your email title. Always proofread before hitting send.

8. Address it correctly

This isn’t directly about the email subject, but something that comes up often. When responding to a query in this Substack, please don’t just hit reply on the newsletter. Start a new thread, send it to alywalansky@gmail.com, and make sure to update the email subject to reflect the content of your email. Anything else is a recipe for being buried in the heap and not being addressed in a timely manner.

Is there someone you want to gift a subscription?

Times are tough all around - they are tough in PR, they are tough in journalism. We’re all struggling. So, I want to try to make things a little easier on everyone and offer a special limited-time offer. For today only, if you purchase a monthly or an annual subscription upgrade, I’m going to give you the opportunity to then email me at alywalansky@gmail.com and choose ANY person to give a subscription of the same value to absolutely free. So, for example, if Judy buys a new annual subscription, please email me and give me the name of a friend or colleague.

Perhaps it’s a new member of your team? I’ll give that person a comped one year annual subscription. If Shelly buys a monthly subscription, I’ll comp the person of her choice a one month subscription upgrade.

If they are already a free member, they’ll get an upgrade. Call it a scholarship, call it a fellowship - this is a way of trying to add value to everyone - including those who may not have budget to subscribe right now but still want its benefits.

If you buy a group subscription (which is already at a 50% discount currently) - then everyone in the group person gets to choose a person to give this scholarship to!

Hope it’s helpful!

This newsletter goes out to well over 8,000 engaged publicists, business owners, and journalists each and every day. If you are looking to sponsor a daily installment of this newsletter or have a dedicated section about your client or product (assuming it’s an organic fit for the interests of my audience!), that is now available. Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to discuss.

The steepest discount I’ve ever offered on consulting sessions

In exciting news, I’m doing something I’ve never done before: I’m currently offering 20% discounts on my virtual consulting/lunch & learn sessions. Times are really tough and I am hoping to make these insights as accessible as possible to any of you who are interested. If you want to schedule a session for yourself or your team, to discuss anything from planning an event, media dinner, or press trip to mailers, pitching best practices, followups to…well… anything else…drop me an email at alywalansky@gmail.com and lets chat!

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!

• Clean Plates: 11 Best Seafood Picks at Trader Joe’s, According to RDs

• Forbes.com: Red Robin's Latest Burger Is Inspired By An Actual Olympic Gold Medal

• Southern Living: What Is An English Cucumber?

• Forbes.com: Crystal And Beefbar Collaborate On First At-Sea Location Of Global Steakhouse.

• Apartment Therapy: We Asked 6 Travel Writers for Their Best Packing Hacks, and Their Tips Are Ingenious.

• Travel & Leisure: I Always Wear These Comfy, Wide-leg Amazon Pants on Flights — Plus, 13 More Pairs I'm Eyeing From $12

• Travel & Leisure: Frequent Fliers Say This Genius Hack Makes It Feel Like They've Upgraded Their Seat — and It's Only $35

• Apartment Therapy, I’m a Travel Writer and This Is My Time-Saving Packing Hack

• Clean Plates: 10 Low-Lift, Fast Trader Joe’s Lunches Nutritionists Love

• Food Network: Is Panda Express’ New Hot Orange Chicken Really Even That Spicy?

• Forbes: Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak Has Finally Arrived In New York City

• RetailMeNot: Don’t Spend a Fortune at Those Salad Places: How I Build My Own Salads At Home

• Travel + Leisure: The One Safety Item You're Likely Forgetting to Pack, According to a Longtime Solo Female Traveler

• Forbes: 40 Cocktails To Enjoy In Celebration Of National Martini Day

• Saatva’s Sleep Enlightened: 6 Surprising Sleep Mask Benefits

• HerMoney: How to get cheap hotel rooms when traveling

• Clean Plates: 7 Grocery Store Shortcuts for Fast, Easy Lunches

• Southern Living: The 9 Best Brown Sugar Substitutes That Will Be Just As Sweet

• Clean Plates, 11 Mediterranean Diet Foods You Can Get at Trader Joe’s

• RetailMeNot: How Using My Air Fryer Makes Cooking on a Small Budget (and In a Small Space) Possible

• RetailMeNot: How to Save on Food Delivery Apps: 10 Tips That Actually Work

• RetailMeNot: How Growing My Own Herbs At Home Has Helped Me Keep Meals Creative Without Busting My Budget

• Clean Plates: How to Clean and Organize Your Fridge for Spring

• RetailMeNot: Savings Star Origin Story: How I Learned to Eat Well (In NY!) On a Shoestring Budget

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.

Here’s what I’m working on:

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.

Apartment Therapy

I’m working on a story - The One Item Pro Travelers Would Never Pack in Their Carry-on Again - for this story, I’m looking to chat with professional travelers (so, travel writers, but also travel agents or flight attendants) about the one item they've packed in their carry-on that they never would again. Maybe it's shoes they'll never wear, or a super heavy coat, or too many skincare products? But who knows!  Please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com if you have someone game to weigh in.

RetailMeNot

I’m working on a huge guide to the best student discounts of 2024. This is actually an update of this story from last year. For this article, I’ll be fact-checking the discounts included already, and keeping any/all as they are, if they are still correct - so if you represent someone included last year, it’d be a huge help if you can email me with any changes/updates to that deal. the same. As I’ll be removing many that are no longer active, and want to keep the list length about the same, I’ll also be adding a bunch more, so please feel free to pitch deals that are not on this list and include the elements that the current items do (just take a gander at the link above for format!) - so far as what chain it is, what the deal is, how to claim it, any disclaimers, etc. As you can see from last year, open to deals across the gamut, from travel to tech to clothes and restaurants.

Budget shopping and cooking/eating smarter: As you all know, I write a lot of content for RMN related to budget shopping and cooking/eating smarter. I’m going to be working on a monthly column on the subject of cooking/eating well on a budget. The next column in this series will focus on bulk buying groceries and household essentials, which is something I personally SUPER believe in. I am constantly buying in bulk to save on per unit cost and benefit from the best deals. I even buy family packs of meat and fish to portion and freeze. I’d love some expert commentary on why bulk buying (rather at the supermarket on sales or at warehouse stores), is a great way to maintain a household meal plan and also live within our food budget.

Forbes.com

National Caviar Day is a few weeks away, and I’m starting to round up some fun dishes AND cocktails involving caviar! This is going to be more fun than in years past because caviar is just seen in SO MANY unexpected places these days. If you have a drink or dish involving caviar (must exist on a bar or restaurant menu), please send me name of dish, where it can be found, description, and a quote about the dish with name of person being quoted (and a photo, also with appropriate credits).

We’re in salad season. I’m looking for fun summer salads that the salad chains are doing (these are takeout “create a salad” type chains in major cities) for the warmer months. If you have something, please email me with what the salad is named, what’s in it, how long it’s available for, and an image, and how this mix of flavors calls for summer desires (would love someone to quote!). thanks!

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!)

<3

aly