The quickest way to sour your relationships with reporters is to pitch stories that have nothing to do with their beat. As Editor-in-Chief of the Jaffe Legal News Service, I receive pitches daily. Most are on topic. A surprising number are not. In the last month, for example, I have received a release not once, but twice, from a national restaurant chain asking me to cover their free-pancakes-for-charity event. I also regularly receive pitches from law firms that make it clear those sending them haven’t even looked at the JLNS.
I know how this happens. Today’s online media databases make it so easy to generate a huge list based on a few keywords, hit send, and be done with it. But, here’s the problem: Reporters have long memories, and they talk to each other. Pitch one badly and they’ll likely remember when they change to a beat that might cover you. They might also tell other reporters who cover the applicable beat, or rat you out to the Bad Pitch Blog (http://badpitch.blogspot.com/). Just one bad pitch could mean never getting the attention of key reporters again.
Here’s how to make sure you’re pitching the right reporters, every time:
- Vet your media lists. Yes, this takes time, but far less than trying to mend a broken reporter relationship.
- Most online media databases have information on a reporter’s beat, interests and pitching preferences. Read them. The reporter has personally provided those to ensure they don’t receive off-topic pitches.
- Pitch each reporter individually, rather than via a mass e-mail. Again, it takes time, but you’ll be rewarded with better reporter relationships. If you’d like to reach a broad number of legal reporters with one e-mail, use a targeted newswire such as the Jaffe Legal News Service to get your pitch in front of reporters who cover legal news.