A fellow PR professional e-mailed me this success story today:
"...i sent this pitch to an editor and the subject was 'a badass in new orleans who gives a damn' because i decided i needed to stand out and thought it meshed with the culture of the magazine and i got a response today that she's taking it to her (Editor in Chief...i think we should incorporate curse words into pitches more often :)"
Her approach is brilliant because it was calculated. Obviously she knows her client but she also took the time to think of a clever pitch that fit the publication. I admit that I take part in the way too impersonal
"Hi (insert first name), (insert pre-written pitch). I think this fits with (insert name of publication) because of (insert pre-written reason for writing on this topic). I'll be in touch soon to talk with you about this story. (Insert signature) (Copy and paste release)"
pitches. When you're a PR professional working on a campaign with only one or two pitching partners, sometimes the personality you have, research you did and know-how you've picked up gets thrown out the window because of lack of time. This goes to show that really researching your target publications and brainstorming a way to stand out to each one of them individually pays off.
This is definitely a media relations best practice if I've ever seen one. If the pitch pays off big time I'll post the article (if she'll let me).
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