Last night I did something I never did before, by choice... I watched C-SPAN. I tuned in to watch Sen. Hillary Clinton speak at the Democratic Convention as I wanted to hear how she planned on convincing her passionate supporters to vote for Obama (as opposed to voting for McCain or not voting at all).
The crowd in Denver ate up Sen. Clinton, cheering, applauding and even chanting her name during her 35 minute [or so] speech. I found the video her daughter, Chelsea, narrated to be very interesting and personal. The pictures of a loving mom and wife put a very different image in my head of the Hillary I've always been skeptical of. For a moment, I almost forgot about the scandals of the Clinton presidency as I watched her husband mouth the words, "Love you, forever and ever," to her from his seat in an upper level suite. Her rhetoric was exciting and the response of the audience proved to be more than I had expected.
As I watched her speak, I couldn't help but think, "Whoever wrote this speech knew what they were doing... How can I use words of my own to get media contacts this excited about my clients?"
Writing a pitch, whether you email, fax, mail or say it over the phone, takes time. You have just a few seconds to capture the attention of the journalist or blogger so you have to make the most out of the subject line and first sentence of the pitch or else you'll lose them. This is much easier said than done!
Unlike many public relations firms who provide little PR training to their new hires or interns, Dittoe PR works one-on-one with each new employee to explain and demonstrate how we do business every day.
What it essentially comes down to is: Do your homework. Read recent articles from the media contact you are planning to pitch - does their beat fit with your story? If the contact does prove to be a legitimate match, then write a personalized pitch. Every pitch we send out, even if the story angle is similar, is different because we recognize that no two journalists or bloggers are alike and what interests one may not even so much as raise the eyebrow of another. We spend a tremendous amount of time on writing targeted pitches and researching contacts. Because of this, you will not see Dittoe PR on any "SPAM" list.
I guess you could say that Sen. Clinton's speech got me excited about public relations. I came into work today with more confidence and excitement than normal. Now, did she convince me to vote for Obama? Time will tell. For now, my goal for the day is to come up with the most creative pitch that will truly get journalists and bloggers excited about my clients.
