Most news writers publish only one story per day. Yet half of them get pitched over twenty times per day. How do you cut through the clutter with your story? Here are 6 tips for sending better email pitches.

1. ANATOMY
OF AN
EMAIL PITCH

2. Most news writers publish only
one story per day

3. Yet half of them get pitched over
twenty times per day

4. How do you cut through the clutter
with your story?

5. Not via the S.O.S approach

6. Sending Out Stuff

7. What do news writers say about it?

8. “Make sure it’s relevant – don’t pitch for
the sake of pitching. I get so many that
I have to be pretty ruthless.
Mail Online

9. “Find out what I cover and send stuff
that falls in my purview. Find out my
point of view and look for items that I
would find persuasive.
Chicago Tribune

10. 6
TIPS FOR SENDING
BETTER EMAIL PITCHES

11. From:
1
A specific ‘from line’
Frederik from Prezly
This tells you who the email is coming from, as well as which
company I work for… all before you even open my email.

12. Subject:
2
A short and clear subject line
Relevant, timely & inspire curiosity
33% open email based on subject line alone.
Keep it to 50 characters or less.
list of best practices drawn from analysing 200 million emails

13. Body:
3
A brief & relevant introduction
I saw your tweet about Gen Y
employees and thought you might like
to learn the surprising results of a new
study.
Who you are and why you’re reaching out.
Tie it to something personal.

14. Body:
4
A value proposition
Your latest article about Gen Y got a lot
of buzz. Sharing the results of this
study could be a great follow-up for
your readers.
What’s in it for them?

15. Body:
5
Multimedia previews
News with multimedia gets viewed up to 10 times more
source 〉

16. “I begged, begged, PR professionals to
send video and multiple photos with
their news releases.
Clay Morgan,
Former editor, The Daily News Journal
source 〉

17. 9.7x
source 〉
Press releases with multimedia
get viewed a lot more
+ 7.4x
+ +
4.3x
1.8x
= Attachments, soundbites, charts, interactive,…
Tweet this

18. Body:
6
A clear next step
I’d love to answer any questions you
have about the study. Can we talk for
15 minutes sometime next week?
frederik@prezly.com
++320472656889
All contact info

19. GET
MIND
READING
SKILLS

20. Learn all about your contact
Do your research before pitching. Look at the
social profiles of your contacts before crafting
your email to learn what they care about.

21. Rapportive is a simple Gmail add-on that automatically shows you
important social data from people who email you, helping you to
create a relevant response based on where they live, what they’re
tweeting about, and any other recent online activity. The information
appears right in your inbox.
rapportive.com

22. Track who responds to your emails
If you send a lot of pitch emails, tracking them
manually gets tricky in a hurry. It’s easy, though
time-consuming, to keep a spreadsheet of
everyone who writes you back, but for those who
don’t respond, how do you know whether they’re
reading your emails or ignoring them?

23. Yesware is a Gmail add-on that was originally designed for sales
professionals. Use it to monitor opens, clicks, and responses for every
email you send to influencers. You can also create templates to
automate your outreach and track which messages resonate best.
yesware.com

24. BECOME
EVEN
BETTER
AT
PITCHING
MEDIA

25. Subscribe to
our 5-part
email course
Crash
COURSE
HOW
to
PIT CH THE PRESS

26. And external communication teams at brands
prezly
Check a recent case study