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Sabrina Hughes, an assignment editor at Bay Area NBC affiliate KNTV, shared some pitching tips in Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog newsletter. 

Here are my favorite tips: 

·       Include general “news tip” email addresses in distribution lists. “People should pitch the assignment desk first,” Hughes advises. “If you have a previous relationship with a reporter, pitch them too. All TV stations and newspapers have a general email for news release—please use it. In our office, for example, our newstip email address goes out to all assignment editors, managers and reporters. In one email, you have contacted over 25 people,” she invites. “The more eyes that see it, the better the chance it will get pitched in the planning meeting.”

 ·       Craft tailored subject lines. “This is where PR can learn a lot from newspaper headline writers,” Hughes says. “The subject line should be one phrase to sum up the whole pitch. Don’t put the word ‘pitch’ in the subject line. It makes me want to instantly delete the email. Your subject line needs to grab my attention. I receive over 700 emails a day. Your one-line summary will make me stop and open the email to find out more instead of instantly sending it to the ‘delete’ file.” 

·       Eschew attachments and keep the body of your email short. “No, no, no attachments,” Hughes cautions. “Most of the time, they will make the email bounce back. I am a believer in the bullet point system,” she continues. “Provide the who, what, where, when and a brief graph on why,” when pitching. “Include a cell phone contact for someone who is at the actual event or the PR person handling the client. Include a link to the client’s website where we can get more information—and make sure your client has a good working news section on their website where we can get news releases and electronic media kits,” advises Hughes. 

Read the whole article here