Once you’ve used tools like BuzzSumo or InkyBee to build a media list, you need to actually do some PR outreach. Check out the 10 facts below to keep in mind when pitching reporters and journalists about your Kickstarter campaign.
1. How do you stand out from the crowd?
According to a survey conducted by BuzzSumo, Journalists receive 25-100 pitches via email per day and countless more on social media. In order to stand out, it’s best to avoid cliche buzzwords and stick to a succinct, straight-forward, and relevant pitch
Succinct – Get to the point, and if needed, use bullet-points to highlight the major reasons why this news is important and a good fit for the publication. Don’t write an essay. Your email should be scannable.
Straight-Forward – Avoid PR buzzwords that only serve to make it more difficult to understand your story and why it’s a good fit for the publication. Otherwise, you will sound like all the other companies pitching the journalist and fail to stand out.
Relevant – Why this journalist, why your company, and why does this story matter now? Don’t just copy and paste generic emails. Tailor your pitch to both the reporter and the publication.
2. When is the best time to pitch a reporter?
After conducting several informal interviews, PrDaily put together an awesome breakdown of the best time(s) to reach out to a journalist. Overwhelmingly, all of the reporters surveyed preferred to be pitched via email in the early morning. However, due to the large volume of weekend mail, the participants also suggested to wait until Tuesday, once the Monday rush was over and they had more time to look over each email.
This information is corroborated by MarketConsensus, who also recommended sending pitch emails between 8 am – 11 am and to avoid mondays.
3. Should you send mass emails and if so, when?
Despite the overwhelming industry advice not to send mass emails, I’ve actually responses from them and have gotten stories as a result of them. Many journalists may not like these practices, but they can work if you have a killer headline, pitch, and are going after a bunch of publications with a similar audience.
However, I do think they should be used in conjunction with direct pitching and relationship building. That being said, if you’re going to send out a mass email with services like PRWeb, MyPrGenie, PRNewswire, SBWire, or others, then take into account the best time to send that email. Check out the infographic below, put together by GetResponse.
This infographic was made by GetResponse.
The biggest takeaway I had from this infographic was that subscribers’ top engagement times are 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. with up to 6.8% average open rates and CTR.
4. PR Goes to Experts in their Space
Sometimes when you’re marketing a new product, whether that’s a crowdfunding campaign or other project, it’s easy to forget that you’re in “this” for the long haul, whether that’s becoming an artist or growing a business.
In my experience, experts in their space will never have to worry about getting PR. What was the first thing that happened on TV when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared? The media brought aviation experts on to comment about the event and the implications.
Experts are cited in the media all the time! Even I was quoted in a recent CNN interview. The important thing is to put yourself out there as an expert, so that you can seize these opportunities for some free PR.
HARO is a great free resource for these types of PR hits.
How can you frame yourself as an expert in your space and use that as an angle for a story, or to get some free PR indirectly?
5. 87% of Reporters Love Data, Facts, and Figures.
Have you ever noticed when a “new study” is released that analyzes data points to corroborate or highlight an interesting trend, it goes viral on news outlets?
Just recently, the study concluding that “women outperform men on Kickstarter” went viral, which is backed up by research by Ethan R. Mollick (University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School) and Ramana Nanda (Harvard University – Entrepreneurial Management Unit).
How can you enhance your pitch with facts, figures, and data? How does your company fit into a larger cultural or business trend?
Backing up your vision and story with numbers is a great way to snag attention away from other pitchers, just pushing their “game changing” product.
P.S. Just kidding about the 87%
6. Journalists Must Write About Things They Don’t Want To.
I’ll tell you a little secret. Journalists don’t necessarily want to write about every story, but sometimes they have to.
You’re really going to tell me that if a holiday is coming around, like Christmas, that a publication isn’t going to look for Christmas stories? Or if a particular story is blowing up like the Potato Salad Kickstarter, an editor isn’t going to say “I want this story on my desk by ____.”
Newspapers are in the business of attracting eyeballs and advertisement dollars. Most major publications always need to write about what is trending, or be left out of the flow of online and mobile traffic.
The question is: How can you fit yourself into the stories that are trending or a holiday that is coming up? You need to begin to think about what kinds of stories reporters will be looking for given the time of the year and what’s happening in the current media discussion.
7. Repeat Business = Success.
There is a big difference between a business that has repeat customers and one-time customers. The same is true for PR. Rather than seeking one-time transactional relationships, it’s best to develop a long-term relationship with a journalist, who may move publications in the future or be able to forward you along to his or her friends (who are also journalists).
You should take a long-term view of PR outreach. Why? This is exactly what a PR agency does, and they are in the business of getting their clients stories. Why wouldn’t you take the same approach as a professional PR firm?
A relationship with even a handful of reporters can yield dividends down the road. Going out of your way to be helpful and connecting them with sources or people in your industry they’d like to speak to can be a good way to start.
8. PR Syndication & Press Release Websites Have Value
One of the things we do at CrowdfundingPR is press release syndication, where your press release is featured on several major partner websites. Other companies like PR Web and PR Newswire also offer syndication and distribution services.
There has been a lot of discussion on the web and on our forum as to the value of press releases. The short of it is, projects see different levels of success.
In some cases, even if you get a PR hit and are sent traffic, there is no guarantee that the traffic will convert into pledges or orders.
Still, I believe that press releases have value. Not only does your name come up on all of these websites when you google your company, but you can also include the website logos on your company page to show potential buyers that you are serious about your product, and that your press release has been featured on these websites.
9. Your Headline Must Be Clickable
It’s hard to have a clickable headline without knowing your audience, which brings us back to point #1 (relevancy). Ideally, your headline should be tailored to the individual reporter or publication.
Your name and headline are the first few things a reporter is going to see when they look at your email. How can you phrase the headline to get them interested in learning more?
One technique I’ve found to be helpful is to see if there are any headline commonalities in other articles that have been published by that reporter and then craft your email subject to be similar to those headlines.
I recommend checking out some of these headline writing tips from BuzzStream’s blog.
10. There is No Blueprint.
Although there are “best practices” and mistakes to avoid, getting PR is a learning process. You need to figure out what works well for your company and your industry, which will take time.
Personally, I’ve had experiences that fly in the face of the common industry advice in terms of the ideal times to send emails and how to best do journalist outreach. Keep in mind that these are general guidelines, and are not set in stone.
I think the most worthwhile takeaway you should get from this article is that you need to adopt a PR mindset.
For example, an engineer looks at a car differently than an average driver. A web developer looks at website differently than the common web browser. They question how and why certain choices are made with regard to cars or websites. You need to begin to observe the news, TV, and print media and begin to form questions.
Why did a publication quote this expert, or why did this reporter choose to write about this particular story? Beginning to make yourself aware of the inner-workings of the news media will help you begin to become active on the pitching side
Conclusion
Did you find this article to be helpful? Leave a comment below letting me know about your experiences with PR outreach. I also recommend checking out “Six ways to get your crowdfunding campaign on a reporter’s radar” and our list of free press release websites.
