Filed under: Google (GOOG), salesforce.com inc (CRM), Small business

Every day, I get a variety of media pitches from companies and PR folks. No doubt, I try to evaluate all of them.

The problem: some of the pitches don’t work. As a result, a company may miss an opportunity to get some exposure.

However, there are some strategies to improve things. So, let’s take a look:

Know the journalist: Most of us focus on certain topics (or have a so-called beat). Thus, read some of a journalist’s work. If he or she doesn’t cover your industry or market focus, then it’s probably a waste of time to make a pitch.

Now, for those who are a right fit: put the journalist’s name in a notebook or a database (there are free online offerings, such as Zoho). You might also look at other publications the journalist writes for. Oh, and it’s a good idea to keep reading the journalist’s work. To this end, you might set a filter with something like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) News.

Craft a personalized pitch: OK, I will respond to a canned pitch. But, it better be highly targeted.

Although, if you want to improve your odds, try to find ways to show that you understand my focus and work.

For example, you could start a pitch with: “Hi Tom, I saw that you recently wrote a piece about on-demand software operator, Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM). I think you might be interested in another company in the space, which is called…..”

Believe me, I’ll pay attention.

Keep it short: I’ve seen pitches that have hundreds of words. Don’t do it. Instead, I like pitches that are just a couple paragraphs.

Basically, find a way to grab me and then perhaps have a press release (but don’t have it as an attachment — I’m scared of opening them because of security concerns).

Provide a hook: I get press releases on such topics as new-hires of executives and other typical stuff. But, unless the hire is a big-time person, does it matter? Probably not.

In other words, think about the following: what is the angle (that is, the hook)? Why would I be interested in writing about your pitch?

In fact, try to state the hook in an email’s subject line.

Don’t pitch every day: Yes, I get some of these. And it’s annoying. It means that you are really not targeting me; rather, it’s kind of like spam.

Some resources: To go further, there are certainly good books on dealing with the media, such as Media Training 101: A Guide to Meeting the Press and The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Goog news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.