Category Archives: Email
Tip #174: Delusions of grandeur
If you say the company you’re pitching will one day be spoken of in the same breaths as major consumer brands, perhaps you want to be sure your company actually makes a consumer product. Expedia, Amazon, eBay, Monster… soon [[Company]] … Continue reading
Filed under Common sense, Email
Tip #170: Rafe brain hurt! No like!
I hate to break it to you, but there’s no award for Most Convoluted Pitch. I therefore suggest this writing strategy: Lay off the Red Bull and only write in the still quiet of the dewy morning. Or something. Just … Continue reading
Filed under Email
Tip #168: There is a right answer and a wrong answer
Another one from the Department of Emails We Never Finished Reading: To: Rafe Needleman Subject: Lying awake at night… …wondering ‘what in heck does [Whatever] Systems do anyway??’ One of the secrets to success in business is to get people … Continue reading
Tip #167: Don’t bury the lead
Although it pains me to repeat myself, I post the beginning of an email pitch I received this morning. It’s the perfect example of why I wrote Tip #98: Make it snappy, Sweetheart. Subject: Everyone loves a good pitch in … Continue reading
Filed under Common sense, Email
Tip #164: Whiners never whin
As much as I like hearing from the people who make products directly, if you can’t use nice words, have your babysitter — sorry, I mean PR person — contact me instead. Rafe, I’ve been assuming that you didn’t cover … Continue reading
Filed under Common sense, Email
Tip #162: I love the smell of press releases in the morning
Avoid carpet-bombing your press releases. That is, sending the same release to everyone in a newsroom. It just creates problems. First, it makes you look cheap. If you don’t know who to send information to, sending it to everyone is … Continue reading
Filed under Common sense, Email
Tip #147: Who are you doing PR for, exactly?
Your job, when sending an e-mail pitch to a journalist, is to promote your client. So if you must put silly award logos in your e-mail sig, they should be your client’s, not yours. See also tips #32 and #103
Filed under Email
Tip#144: Prune your lists
This was sent to one our reporters here. Here being CNET News, a technology news site. Emphasis to make sure we’re clear about that. We are? Good. I wanted to get you to Save the Date of April 30. Norelco is … Continue reading
Filed under Common sense, Email
Tip #139: I will honor the embargo… forever
This is really frighteningly accurate, with one exception. No journo would hang out on the phone this long explaining to the flack why they were turning down the pitch. Video by Steve O’Hear of Last100.com. Hat tip to Bill Baker.
Tip #134: Check your work
If your story is that you can find personal information about people, and your pitch includes a sample report on me, you might want to make sure the product is accurate.
Rafe
