Emailing a pitch? Put your company or product name in your first paragraph. Better yet, first sentence. Best: first word. I’m not reading to the end of your pitch regardless, so why take chances?
Search
Get the Book!
Like the blog? Get the book!
Order yours today!Recent Comments
- 25 Tips from 25 PR Experts - Make Your Next Campaign Rock on Tip #131: Lullaby
- motivational speaker singapore on Tip #217: Beware the brand promise you can’t keep
- 83Ray on Tip #174: Delusions of grandeur
- Professional public relations tips - Bill Bennett on Tip #42: Restroom pitch
- jouer à hatchimals on Tip #42: Restroom pitch
Brought to you by...
More Bad PR
More Rafe
Rafe’s Tweets
- Elon @elonmusk on removing complexity. Also applies to editing text: "If you're not occasionally adding things back… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
- On parking space etiquette. Tip #1: The Wave-around... callercallsback.com/dont-be-a-park… 2 days ago
- Met with a contractor today and as he was leaving he SHOOK MY HAND and I was like, What is that thing and what I am supposed to do with it? 6 days ago
- First world nerd problem: Remembering the names of all my Alexa-controllable lights. Hall lights? Main lights? Entr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 month ago
- Today's Etiquette Guide: How to Blame Technology. callercallsback.com/how-to-blame-t… 1 month ago
Post calendar
Meta
Rafe
Pro PR Tips · Advice from a jaded tech journalist
I write for the Chicago edition of a daily men’s e-newsletter and receive all manner of pitches, many of which share this very difficulty.
I seem to remember this lesson from the FIRST day of my FIRST PR class in college.
Since they don’t seem to understand this, I will now be sharing the link to this post so they can “get the memo”…from you.
I disagree. I’d rather have a statement of the product’s benefit in the first sentence. “A new mind reading interface from SuperPhone will make the guesswork of voice dialing and touch screens obsolete.”
Yvonne, how about, “SuperPhone has launched a new mind reading interface that makes voice dialing and touch screens obsolete?”
Rafe, how about, “SuperPhone just came into a lot of capital from investors who didn’t quite hear their pitch and will be out of business before year end.”
Pingback: Tip #167: Don’t bury the lead | Pro PR Tips
Pingback: Tip #170: Rafe brain hurt! No like! | Pro PR Tips
Pingback: Tip #194: Don’t bury the embargo | Pro PR Tips
Pingback: Tip #197: Assistant Executive Superstar. Got it. | Pro PR Tips
Pingback: Tip #198: Don’t subject me to this | Pro PR Tips
Pingback: They don’t want to hear it!!! | PR Boutique Dreams