May 14, 2008
Anatomy of a good pitch
Far too many of my posts lately have been examples of lousy PR pitches. It's beginning to wear on me, so I thought I would share a good pitch with you for a change. This is courtesy of Mir Kamin from Woulda Coulda Shoulda and WantNot.net, and is one of the examples we discussed at the Improve This Pitch panel at BlogHer Business last month.
One note: while I do black out the names and companies in the bad pitches, because this is not about beating people up, it's about learning how to do it better, I have not done so with this screen shot. The client was Outback Steakhouse and the PR person who sent the pitch is Charlie Kondek of MS&L Digital. A little link love for doing a nice job.
This is a good pitch because:
- Charlie has taken the time over a couple of years to get to know Mir. He regularly reads her blogs -- "pretty pretty Mir" refers to a blog in-joke that Mir and her readers understand without explanation.
- He doesn't assume that "her readers will love this offer" or ask her to write about it. He simply presents it and suggests it might be a nice giveaway for one of her blogs.
- He gives a couple interesting facts and a link, not seven paragraphs, embedded photos and multiple attachments to clog up her inbox.
Let's review.
- Relationship - check
- Relevant, personal communication - check
- Short - check
- Respectful of the blogger, her time and blog purpose - check
- Bonus points for use of humor, which he knows she'll appreciate because, see point one, he has taken the time to get to know her.
I want to write more posts like this one. If you have examples of pitches you really liked, please email them to me at sgetgood@getgood.com
Tags: blogger relations, Mir Kamin, Charlie Kondek, good pitch
Posted @ 1:05PM in Blogger relations
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Comments
Bill from Money Hacks once printed one of my pitches verbatim on his blog.
http://www.money-hacks.com/2008/03/private-mortgage-insurance-tax.html
Yes, that's happened to me too, most recently with some outreach I did for a film about the Chicago Blues.
It's an interesting phenomenon -- your pitch can be printed in full on a blog because someone likes it OR because someone hates it.
Pick your words carefully.
Susan, what a wonderful write-up and good analysis. Thanks so much for including me! I really admire your mission here, too: since we talk so much about who's doing it wrong, with good reason, how can we talk about who's doing it *right*.
Susan, I can vouch for all the good from MS&L Digital. Nichole Hurley is my contact there, and I have worked with her for over a year now. Love seeing her name in my Inbox!
I can vouch for Charlie myself. Great example!