Digital PR: how to write an email to a journalist?

Press release finalized and approved. Photographic materials ready. Media list completed. Dissemination plan designed.

And at this point what is left?

One last action: writing the text of the email (the media pitch) that is to convey the press release and the "news" we want to communicate to the media.

But how can we set up an email to send to a journalist with whom we have recently come into contact (But who still confirmed his interest in receiving communications from us)?

Let's quickly look at some concrete examples of emails that were sent to journalists and that Have been answered in the affirmative (thus leading to an article or radio/TV report).

As always, this article comes from direct experience. No assumptions, no "hearsay," just professional experiences that we live daily in agency (Every day, in fact, we get several publications in the most authoritative media: newspapers, radio, TV, magazines - online and offline - for all our clients, so we have the opportunity to share and showcase dozens of case studies).

Texts are given, but not only that: you will also find screenshots, which we decided to include to demonstrate that these are communications that were actually sent (we have blacked out the name of the journalists and the company being talked about and the exact references).

1) This email led to an interview on Business Insider Italy.

Let us analyze the most important parts of this media pitch:

This email and its contents led to an interview later published in Business Insider Italy.

The challenge, for PR and media relations practitioners, is just that: to be able to get the journalist's attention so that from an initial contact comes real insight.

It is not simple, and the determining element is always the information content that is built.

Therefore, curation of individual content is a vital ingredient.

2) This email led to the publication in Corriere della Sera (The Labor Cloud).

SUBJECT: [release - startups] - X launches Innovation (...): the tool to measure the potential (...) of founders

BODY OF THE EMAIL: 

"Hi Y,

I am writing to inform you of the launch of Innovation (...), by Company X. 

Innovation (...) is a tool to measure potential (...) and innovators.

X is (...) intersecting the capabilities (...) of agile, open, distributed innovation with the best experiences of startups/scaleups, offering the former (...) giving the latter a chance to have an outlet or acceleration in the market.

Attached is the press release,

good work!"

A concise email, focused at 100% on the heart of the enterprise.

Thanks to the combination of media pitch and press release, we obtained an interview with the company's founders, which was published in Il Corriere della Sera - the Work Cloud.

3) This email led to the publication of an article in Economy (paper - 2 dedicated pages)

SUBJECT: [press release - startup - travel - technology] - X, the company that makes foreign tourists discover the wonders of Y, continues to grow

BODY OF THE EMAIL: 

"Good morning X,

I am writing to bring to your attention a news item regarding Italian startup X (travel industry).

X, a company that makes (...) continues to grow and has among its goals to make personalized travel itinerary planning more human.

Tourists, average spending per traveler and revenue are growing: X's numbers are doubling year on year (last year it was surpassed (...) and this year the startup is aiming to end the year with revenue just under (...)).

The attached press release tells the news of this enterprise, among Italy's technological excellences in the field of tourism.

It also features two photos: one of the founder and one of the team.

For any clarification and information, I am here,

Thank you very much."

This media pitch led to an interview with the company's founder. The interview was published in the print edition of the monthly Economy.

The value of a print publication is very relevant, precisely because of its "prestigious" and exclusive nature: in fact, the barriers to succeeding with one's story within a print publication (without resorting to advertorials) are much higher than for online publications.

4) This email led to an interview for Radio Deejay.

SUBJECT: "Content Proposal - For those who love weddings: 5 new ideal professions."

BODY OF THE EMAIL: 

"Hello X,

I thought I would write to you to make a content proposal for the Radio Deejay website, on this topic:

"(...): the 5 ideal professions for people who love weddings"

For some time, in fact, I have been following Y, (...) (here an interview with him for Corriere). 

Y would be really happy to provide you with information and materials for a piece, should it be an interesting topic for you 🙂

What do you think?

Thank you very much for your attention."

In this particular case we started out by proposing content for the radio site, but actually this proposal led to a'live radio interview.

A press release was not sent out for this very reason: the intent was to make a proposal and then go on to write custom content.

5) This email led to the publication of an article in ANSA.

SUBJECT: [release - living and working abroad] - Studying in Italy, working abroad: not an escape, but a strategic move | The story of (...)

BODY OF THE EMAIL:

"Good morning X,

 I'd like to introduce myself, I'm Jessica Malfatto from Digital PR pro.

I thought I would write to you (I hope I am not disturbing you) to point out a press release regarding the story of (...) and a virtuous, growing company.

(...) all three chose to work in (...) company (...), because they found a match between the European dream of work and personal fulfillment and the company (...).

In fact, (...), it fully embodies the business model of the future, in which people are at the center and not mere cogs (...).

Attached please find the press release that contains the details and also focuses on the "strategic choice" related to the willingness to seek work abroad.

Thank you very much for your attention,

a greeting,

good work."

There are several interesting elements to consider for this media pitch:

1. It was the first time I came into contact with the identified journalist (you can clearly understand it from the language used)
2. The email was sent on January 2 (so in the middle of the holiday season). Our agency, for example, is always open (just like the media). There are rotations, to allow each person on the team to go on vacation, but we never close. (We work when others are on vacation, and this allows us to achieve excellent results even during the holidays.)
3. This is a wide-ranging topic (not "breaking news") and therefore may be a suitable topic only for some newspapers that deal with in-depth

THE FIRST LINE OF THE EMAIL MUST CONTAIN THE FOCUS

What matters is. insert immediately In the body of the email the focus of your communication.

• What does your company do?
• What problem does it solve?
• What is the differentiator from other players in the market?

A journalist receives dozens, hundreds of emails every day, and most of them go straight to the trash after a reading of the first line.

If you think about it, that's what happens, for example, to thousands of "would-be books" that end up on the desk of an editor at a publishing house.

If the first chapter, the first few pages, of a manuscript are weak, have no character, have no elements of strength, then the "trash" destination will be inevitable. The editor does not have the material time to read the whole text.

Thus, even the professionals we contact cannot afford to thoroughly read every release, every email, every communication. And that is precisely why we need to Getting straight to the main topic of our statement.

Then he will decide what to do with that communication, but we We need to create all the best conditions to be read.

ENTER YOUR COMPANY NUMBERS, IF YOU CAN

In addition, if you have available data, numbers to support, enter them, because you will immediately give in the email a demonstration "of the results." Demonstrating is key. Saying "we have many users" is different from saying "we have 90,000 thousand registered users." If you have them, say so. Never invent, but only communicate real data (everything, in the end, is verifiable...)

What if you don't have the numbers?

If you do not yet possess relevant numbers-and therefore if your statement does not touch on data and analytical elements-your communication will probably need to embrace other spheres:

• the story of your project
• your entrepreneurial story
• opinion article
• Informational statement (e.g., "the 7 steps to...")
• scenario statement (in which you start with data from authoritative sources - citing them - to highlight your point of view)

Try, then, to include the strongest element even in the subject line and the first line of the email.

In Example 2, there are no numbers, but the project being talked about is explained right away, putting the spotlight on its objective. 

...I SEND EMAILS BUT RECEIVE FEW RESPONSES

Keep in mind that, even if you send personalized and not "blanket" emails, you will not receive a response to every email you send. Often you will only get a response if what you sent really interests you. But that's part of the game, so don't worry.

There are some journalists who will tell you how they personally handle different types of responses (as in the case of this email you see below that a journalist sent me), but many will ignore your communications (until you send them something interesting).

The reasons why what you send many times does not get the interest you hoped for can be very different.

It may be that that topic has already been covered recently by the news outlet (and therefore the journalist does not have the opportunity to bring it up again), or that there is no basis for talking about a particular product/service (the editorial staff may consider it not media interesting, for example).

You try, from time to time, to fix the small flaws you perceive in the communications you send. Correct them, test different forms of approach, try sending emails with a subject line and an attack A and of the other emails with a subject line and an attack B. And then compare how many positive responses you get.

There are no magic formulas or special recipes. PR does not correspond to mathematics and relies heavily on "non-technical" factors. What a PR specialist has to do is to be able, every time, to best design his or her strategy and, most importantly, execution.

Design to be read and understood. And to be able to capture the interest of the media, so as to healthy, ethical and fair.

USEFUL RESOURCES.