When is it OK to follow up on a pitch?
Owen Lystrup has written a post about media relations over at Into PR that has stirred up some really valuable discussion. He’s presented the following question:
When pitching a journalist on a story, do you call after sending an e-mail and release, or wait?
And several people have taken the time to contribute some really insightful answers via comments. I do believe the overall consensus is “It depends.”
As I noted (and I know this thought is shared by many) you should most certainly start with doing the research to make sure you’re sending it to journalists or bloggers who would actually be interested in the information. Plus, I feel that while it’s your job to present your client’s angle … you’ll certainly get better results if you take the journalist’s perspective into account as well. By thinking your pitch (or your follow-up) through from their perspective, you’ll be able to present it in a way that will be more appealing and yield better results. Quite frankly, if a journalist hasn’t responded to a pitch you sent … and when you stop and think, “If I were this person, would I care about what I just pitched?” … and the answer is “no” … don’t follow up!
On the other hand, if you know that journalist would genuinely be interested in that information and you’re honestly concerned that the email got lost in his/her Inbox or whatever … then yes, you could consider giving them a call. (Also factor in any previous relationship you or your client has with them.) Furthermore, as Todd And suggests in a comment:
The trick is never to say “I’m just following up to make sure you received my release.” That’s the fast track to the reporter’s bad side. Instead, I prefer to add a piece of information or a fact not mentioned in the press release. If I can give the reporter something they don’t already have it will demonstrate value and increase my chances of arranging an interview (and therefore increase the odds of placement).
But read Owen’s post and the ensuing comments to get the whole idea.
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