I’m in a strange position of being on both sides of the journalist/PR fence, as I contribute a couple of articles a week to New Media Knowledge, the online new media best practice resource from the University of Westminster, as well as my regular PR and social media training gigs. This means that I receive pitches from PR professionals and it is fascinating to be on the other side, rather like a tech industry Janus, staring in both directions.
Some PR pros are excellent, with relevant, targeted, short pitches without the much fluff which journalists regularly moan about but that never seems to go away (hello, who’s training you?). I put out a Response Source request for opinion yesterday and have emails before me which include hyperbole such as ‘cracking’ and, yes, ‘leading’. I even had an estate agent-esque phone call, with that all-too-familiar undulating tone. I am worried that the rest of the PR industry is morphing in estate agent-hood and that soon we’ll be driving branded minis around the block clad in pinstripes.
Here’s the thing: To be successful at pitching to journalists, PRs don’t need to be something they’re not and, although it’s a sales-like job, the art is to NOT sound salesy. Be yourself, get to the point. You have ten seconds to hit the spot, either by phone or by email.
For more, listen to my podcast with Gordon Kelly about pitching to journalists.
Yes and no. Being yourself is great, but I think quite a lot of the time PRs need to be the multi-personality schizophrenics of the marketing world.
I completely agree that we need to avoid fluff in emails and keep phone pitching to a ‘cheesy’ minimum. However, there are some journalists who I am completely comfortable talking about Batman comics and Fulham’s march to glory with, before any pitch has taken place. And then there are some journalists who I am completely not myself with. I adopt a different tone, attitude and pitching manner depending on which journalist I am speaking to. The same as, I imagine, a sales person would handle different clients, some more familiar others less so.
In fact, with clients – personality will almost certainly change. Some clients prefer their PRs to be suited and booted and straight down to business, then others prefer to get the work over and done with as quickly as possible so that happy hour is taken advantage of. A PR may be one or the other in terms of personality, but will have to adapt to both situations.
Good comments, John, and it all shows the value of building a long-term relationship with a journalist.
Clients, as you say, are a different breed entirely – some are numbers people, some are creatives, you need to tackle each one as they come.