How To Pitch Bloggers and Journalists

When an experienced blogger puts together a list of tips and suggestions on "how-to" pitch fellow bloggers and journalists, people should take note.

Paul Stamatiou offers a checklist of what marketing and public relations people should look for before pitching bloggers and journalists with press releases. There are some excellent points here for anyone promoting content or releases.

Here's a point that hit home with me:

5) Are there any other value-added perks along with your press release? This includes everything from beta invites to the service's closed-beta, exclusive rights to post something (ie, you only send the press release to me for the first day), a full version of the software to good product images or screenshots that can be used in my post. If your press release is about a hardware item, you will get a reply from me asking if I can review it. Don't make me ask, just send it over (bonus points if it's for keeps):

 
Years ago when I worked in the theme park industry and we were planning to launch a new roller coaster or Broadway-style show, we always sent media people a themed tchatchke (chotch-key) with the press release. Journalists expected it, and we were happy to give it to them since it almost always meant an interview for the park. Fast forward and you'll find bloggers have joined the journalistic ranks in broadcasting news so it stands to reason the gift-giving and interview-getting ritual would still work and prevail.

Read the rest of this excellent article for useful tips on How To: Pitch Bloggers, A Checklist for Public Relations People.

October 3, 2007