Pitching To Bloggers Done Right

There’s been a lot of hubbub around pitching to bloggers. The Chris Andersons and Gina Trapanis
of the world don’t want to be solicited to by PR companies. They have
some good points - including explicit warnings not to email them - and
I don’t fault them for their actions.

However, PR does serve a valuable purpose in business and it’s certainly not going to disappear in the new media landscape. In this post, I will describe essential elements of a stellar PR pitch to a blogger.

The Right Pitch

I received a great email yesterday from Christina at The Advance Guard for Coke’s new Facebook widget. Here are the good things about it that too many journalists and PR folks forget:

• Short: The total email was 130 words long. Already, this send the message that she respects my time.
• Introduction: In one sentence, she explains who she is, who the client is, and why she’s writing to me.
• Description: Again in one sentence, she sums up
  the product with a minimum of the adjectives that decrease
  believability (”best,” “great,” “unique,” etc).
• Seduction: I would have made the mistake of
  describing at least one feature or benefit. Instead, Christina piques
  my interest just enough and then leaves me two links from which to
  garner the specs. I had clicked these links before I even finished
  reading the email.

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