Yesterday, I visited Jason Falls’ Social Media Explorer blog and spotted a tab that read “How to Pitch SME.” Bloggers who receive pitches might be interested in presenting guidelines, especially if the people who pitch do not seem to be caught up on their reading of Getting Ink or The Bad Pitch Blog.
Below are the guidelines that Jason wrote (good thing he isn’t an AP reporter – hat tip to Kami Huyse for that previous link):
Social Media Explorer is PR pitch friendly. Jason Falls is, after all, a public relations guy by trade. But, as with any media member, blogger or otherwise, we have some preferences that will help you get through to us for strong consideration.
- It better be relevant to social media, public relations, marketing or advertising. We don’t review gadgets. We do accept free ones that we’ll keep and never write about, though, if you’re feeling generous
- It should be brief. I like Stowe Boyd’s suggestion of the Twit Pitch — 140 characters or less done via Twitter. I understand if you need a few more characters though and we will accept emails (jason – at – jasonfalls.com).
- Do NOT send me a press release. That should come as a follow up to a pitch or as a link in the pitch. If you send a release, you’ve already violated rule No. 2.
- Unless your CEO is Elizabeth Shue and will go to dinner with me, I can’t imagine a compelling reason to talk to them. If I do, I’ll ask.
- If you don’t hear from me within 48 hours of sending your pitch, you violated a rule above or I’ve been hospitalized. I send, “no thank you,” responses or notes saying I’ll keep it for consideration.
- If you get a no thank you, don’t pitch me again on the same thing.
If I were the AP, you’d owe me $657.85. But I want people to read my content, so consider it a donation this time. Heh. Thank you for sharing my pitch tips. In order to help idiocy among the PR profession, I recommend all bloggers do something like this, even if it’s a few sentences in the sidebar or footer, just to have a record of their pitch preferences out there for PR folks to see. (Even if it’s, “I don’t do PR pitches, so don’t send them.”)
Thanks, Jason! I just followed your advice by adding a “pitch guidelines” tab to my blog.
Good thing I am not the Jason Falls content police. Just kidding, he makes a great point, we all need to take responsibility for our own part in the pitching problems of PR.
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