The Dos and Don’ts of Following Up Your Email Pitch
There is an art to the press release pitch. There’s also an art to the follow-up. With a bit of a plan, and perhaps some practice, you can create a solid and successful press release campaign that motivates media reps to write your story. To help you get started, let’s take a look at some of the follow-up dos and don’ts.
Do Follow Up
One of the biggest pet peeves for many media representatives is that people don’t follow up when they say they will. It’s a true test of intention and priorities. If you say you’re going to follow up with someone on Friday, then follow up with them on Friday. If you don’t, and they notice, it’s a black mark next to your name and certainly not a good way to build a relationship with your chosen media reps.
Don’t be a Nuisance
Okay, so following up once, maybe twice, is a good idea. It shows that you care and that you are committed to your story. However, following up with a media representative repeatedly makes a bad impression. You may quickly evolve in their mind from a professional to a nuisance. If you don’t hear back from the media rep after you’ve followed up, then try again with another pitch at another time.
Do Personalize It
Just like you should always personalize your pitch to the person you’re pitching to, you should also personalize your follow up. Be specific about how you know them, your connections, or specifically why you feel they may be interested in your story.
Don’t Cut and Paste
Yes, you’re busy, and you probably could whip up a template email message in a few minutes. You could cut and paste that amazing email and send it to 50 media reps, following up with the same type of cut and paste pitch that you sent those same reps. Don’t do this. It undermines your efforts and it won’t get you the type of results you’re looking for. Do the work and personalize your messages.
Do Pay Attention to Timelines
Know when your media rep needs to have the story to their editor or when it needs to be published. This is important not only when writing and sending your pitch, but also when deciding how long to wait before you follow up.
Don’t Beat Around the Bush
Get to the point in your email. Your follow up email should be just a few short paragraphs. The pitch follow up email should remind the rep of who you are, what you’ve pitched, and why it is valuable to their readers.
When following up, remind them of what’s in it for them. If you have additional information to share, go ahead and add those attachments or links. Keep in mind that any content you share or send must be easy to access and read or consume. Make writing your story as easy as possible for them.
Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278
