trendSpotting Report
Moon Lee

Pitch letters might be the most effective tool in your PR arsenal that you’re not using effectively. Since we took our first PR steps, it has been tattooed in our minds that pitch letters are the Holy Grail in our business and learning to skillfully craft a missive to attract media attention reaps vast benefits.

Then why do many in PR compose epistles that simply fall on deaf…eyes?

Admit it. You know what it feels like to have a gruff editor or a reporter slam the phone down on your enthusiastic ear. It’s so not fun. It’s hard not to take it personally too. Pitch letters are good buffers—to get you in the door and introduce your client, product or service—and done right, you avoid being slammed.

An effective letter shows a reporter that you understand your business and how it fits into his beat. The reporter will be impressed—maybe even shocked—you’ve done your homework. Remember, pitch letters should pique the journalist’s interest in a story. They need not tell the whole story; they are teasers for the meat of your story angle. (You do have an angle, right?).

Here are five tips to help you compose pitch letters that I know really work:

1. Hit with your best shot
In your first sentence, give the reporter something that will make him say either “Gee, I never knew that” or “That’s an interesting angle for a story.” Or better yet, get him to say both! Don’t mess around with formalities. And don’t bury the lead—or your angle—in hype, jargon or buzzwords.

2. Make it personal
You might have basic points important for all reporters, but your pitch letter’s primary objective is to deliver a relevant, customized angle to specific reporters. Trust me when I affirm that a “blast pitch letter” looks like one; reporters will recognize it as such and immediately place it in the ole circular file or Deleted Items folder.

3. It’s method, man
Letters delivered by e-mail need different content than those delivered by envelope with stamp. E-mail limits you to that readable portion of the screen and must be pithy; there’s a hefty word tax for unnecessary expressions. With a hard copy letter, you have a whole page, and as long as you start well your reader might get to the end. There you can also include supporting information—fact sheets, backgrounders, bios, etc.

4. You write, they read
Do not rush a letter. The process—finding the right media targets, reviewing their recent work, writing, re-writing, editing and proofing—takes time. It’s worth it.

5. Proofread. Proofread. And then proofread again.
Proofreading is always important, and never more so than in a pitch letter. Don’t do it and you end up looking—and feeling—stupid. Please stop giving our venerable industry a bad name and ask a colleague— preferably one not on the same client account—to read your pitch letter critically.

The bottom line is: Superior pitch letters are a powerful means to introduce yourself and your client to media. You can achieve masterful results simply by varying the means by which you make contact. The goal is to build long-lasting relationships with the media and to maximize coverage opportunities. That goal that should be on everybody’s list.

As an Account Manager in RLM’s Consumer practice, Moon Lee has a mission: Ensure that her clients get only the best that PR has to offer.