This challenge has landed me in some challenging situations—for instance, when strangers stop me on the street or at conferences to say that they love my work and writing. A sentence that I hear over and over? “I’ve emailed you dozens of time, but I never hear back.”

That bums me out because I know good stories are falling through the cracks. To help the right stories get the attention they deserve, I decided to write this blog post featuring my best attention-grabbing tips from reading tens of thousands of HARO pitches.

1. Be personable and helpful

When working on a blog post “How to Overcome Fear of Risk” for Entrepreneur Magazine, I was floored to have received nearly 200 pitches in just 2 days.

As much as I wanted to read and include every single story submission, I couldn’t. After skimming through all 200 pitches, I realized that only 5 were worth the follow-up. The reason boiled down to a few common mistakes:

• The majority of pitches that I received were too promotional and pretentious. Many “talked up” the experiences of the to-be interviewees but failed to provide substantive details that were relevant to the story.
• Many of the pitches asked “if I’d like to see more information.” At the time, I had a 48-hour turnaround, which minimized my available bandwidth for back/forth communication. I needed details off the bat—follow-up communication would have slowed me down.

I realized that there were a few things that would have improved the majority of these pitches. Here’s a quick list that I would have liked for all of these to have:

• A friendly introduction
• A fun fact
• Humility
• Keywords or bullet points that describe the story

The bottom line? It’s possible to make more of an impact by writing less.

2. Make source attribution easy

One of my biggest time sinks as a writer is sourcing. I go through painstaking lengths to research my interview subjects and make sure that I’m referencing them correctly. It’s often a challenge to aggregate information from different sources, so I am more likely to respond to pitches that provide the basics from the start.

Thinking of sending journalists a quote? Make sure to include:

• Who said it
• What that person’s website is
• Their job title
• Their company
• Their social media links
• A link to a press kit
• A Link to a high-res headshot

One tip: HARO doesn’t have the most robust user interface for sorting and categorizing messages, so it’s easy for communication to fall through the cracks under tight deadlines. The content world is chaotic. Make a simple email signature, so writers can find the sourcing details that they need, in one place.

Here’s an example of one of the best HARO pitches that I received for this story:

In addition to sharing a great story, the  pitch included the person’s name, company details, email address, and social profiles.

3. Don’t assume the writer doesn’t like you

It can be demoralizing when you spend hours writing thoughtful emails, and nobody responds. Don’t take it personally; the majority of writers are too slammed for their own good and juggling far-too-many conversations. Our email inboxes look like this:

Note: For context, this is my HARO-dedicated email inbox.

Be persistent. If you see someone you’re trying to reach at an event or conference, walk up and say hi. There’s no need to take us to lunch, leave us voicemails, or try to fight for our attention. Instead, focus on building a true relationship. Remember: Our careers are going to last our entire lifetimes. Expect paths to cross, over and over.

Your thoughts

What lessons have you learned from pitching journalists? What works? What doesn’t? Share your own best practices in the comments section below. Or tweet them to @BuzzStream.

The post 3 Short & Memorable Mindhacks for Better HARO Pitches appeared first on BuzzStream.

If only someone could sit down and write a definitive ‘etiquette’ guide with detailed answers for every question. The challenge, however, is that the answers aren’t always straightforward. Every person, company, and industry has its own systems for best practices.

But there are some universal process optimization tips that can help the influencer outreach process feel less nebulous, confusing, or awkward. Here are a five tips to keep in mind when planning your strategy.

1. Strive to build lasting, long-term relationships with leaders in your industry

Influencer marketing isn’t a PR stunt; the brand-building benefits should be secondary to your core strategy. Your ultimate end goal should be to build relationships with leaders in your field.

Focus on creating a platform for influencers to reach members of their target audiences. To see this idea in action, take a look at Teachable, a company that sells SaaS software for courses. The company uses its blog to feature interviews with expert instructors in their fields:

The value proposition to influencers is that Teachable is connecting them with new audiences. Meanwhile, Teachable becomes a resource for valuable stories.

2. Don’t be superficial with your outreach

Many marketers are under pressure to launch campaigns quickly. As a result, they may cut corners—for instance, by creating  an “influencer marketing strategy” that involves a few click-to-tweet buttons and interesting quotes.

While these tactics do have the potential to be effective, they need to be a part of an end-to-end process. Your readers want a cohesive, interesting story, and your influencers want to hear an interesting value proposition (i.e. more exposure, the opportunity to communicate their stories in a different way, an outlet for reaching a new audience).

Instead of citing an existing secondary source, conduct an original interview with a new angle. When your blog post launches, don’t just tweet the people featured; reach out with a ‘thank you’ email, with friendly sharing instructions.

Position your brand as a strong collaborative platform. You never know what relationship-building opportunities may come up later Consider the case of Greats Brand, a luxury men’s shoe line, as an example. In addition to influencers endorsing the products, the company partners with athletes to design core product lines.

Influencers who genuinely like your brand will want to support your growth. Use your influencer marketing strategy as an opportunity to build a rapport with individuals who may become a bigger part of your brand down the line

3. Offer a strong value proposition to the influencers that you bring into your community

If there’s one thing influencers have in common, it’s that they’re busy. Talented as they are, their time is high in demand–it’s up to them to pick and choose how to spend it. That’s why your company needs to offer a strong value proposition to your influencers. Here are a few ideas to help you come up with the right approach to pitch your idea:

• Give your influencers the opportunity to be part of your brand’s story. Provide an explanation around your mission and vision to show how you align and why it’s important for you to join forces. Share your founding story, and describe how your company aligns with your influencers’ values. Successful people often want to give back to their communities and will be open to hearing your recommendations.
• Help your influencers expand their reach. If you’ve built an extensive brand community, offer to share the content that you produce together. You may even consider co-branding a marketing initiative or sharing your email lists for lead generation purposes. Bonus points if you’re able to help your influencers tap into a new audience.
• Help them share an interesting story. Influencers often have messages that they want to promote but may lack a channel to do so. Offer up your brand as vehicle for them to tell an untold story or teach a valuable concept that they haven’t been able to do in other forums. Give them a resource that they can share within their own communities, too.

For inspiration, take a look at the ‘Ask Me Anything’  (AMA) feature on GrowthHackers.com. This SaaS company, featuring a community of talented marketers from around the world, regularly hosts virtual events with experts to answer questions. In exchange for sharing their knowledge, AMA guests reach a new audience of growth marketers from around the world.

When reaching out to influencers, answer the question “What’s in it for me?” right off the bat.

4. Don’t limit your strategy to already-visible people

Remember that influence comes in all shapes and sizes: it’s not always the person with the biggest Twitter following that has the best story to tell. Instead of focusing on the same people everyone else is targeting, look for influencers in hidden corners.

For instance, you could seek out a founder with an unknown company but high-value customers. Chances are, this person likely has a private email list or strong referral network. Or, you could reach out to an individual who seems to be an educator in a particular field.

Not every human being wants to spend time on Twitter, having conversations with people in 140-characters or less. Many people prefer to be lurkers, maintaining relationships one-to-one. Others prefer to share knowledge outside of the realm of social media.

Look beyond mainstream media to find individuals with unique, interesting stories. Your audience will enjoy their unique perspective, and your influencer will appreciate the opportunity to have a valuable message to share with his or her own community.

5. Give your influencers structure

If you mention an influencer in a blog post, webinar, or tweet, don’t expect him or her to automatically reciprocate. Offer up a little structure: for instance, if you’d like your influencers to tweet an upcoming co-branded webinar with your company, supply some suggested web copy, along with some recommendations on how many times to tweet about it and what hashtags to leverage.

Your influencers are busy people. While they’re happy to help, they don’t live and breathe influencer marketing like you do (that is, of course, unless they’re influencers in the space of influencer marketing). They need you to take the reigns and show them exactly what steps to take.

Remember that at the end of the day, you and your influencer are after the same goals. Don’t be shy, and don’t worry that you’re asking too much. Of course, you don’t want to bombard your influencers with too many requests. So don’t be pushy — make some of your emails optional to read. Condense essential steps into a set of short, concrete, and easy-to-follow instructions.

Final Thoughts

Success with influencer marketing doesn’t just happen. A successful strategy requires a process of careful planning and practice. Every person who you introduce to your brand will have different goals and objectives. Don’t assume that you know what your influencers want: ask questions to make sure that you’re headed in the right direction.

The post 5 Dos and Don’ts of Reaching Influencers appeared first on BuzzStream.

ShutterStock/Brian A Jackson

Help a Reporter Out: From a writer’s perspective, it’s the best of times and the worst of times for the exact same reason—you meet tons of people. Personally speaking, I’ve met some amazing entrepreneurs, business leaders, PR professionals, and other contacts through the platform. At the same time, I receive dozens of irrelevant pitches per day, and quite candidly, these messages drive me nuts because I have no choice but to ignore them (and that’s a really rude thing to do).

Over the last 3 years, I’ve been pitched more than 10,500 times. I know this number because I had one of my team members count every single response to every single query that I’ve ever submitted. Out of this batch, there have been a few hundred pitches that have really stood out: they were relevant, on-point, unobtrusive, and truly helpful in speaking to my goals.

In reading roughly 60% of my HARO pitches (I read as many as I can), I’ve recognized the following trend: almost every single person who pitches me is genuinely thoughtful and obviously working hard to make their clients and teams happy. I very rarely see bad apples, and I have immense respect for people seeking coverage: almost everyone has a great story to share. But when I receive more than 100 responses to a single query, how do I pick the 3 or so people who I choose as interviewees? In answering this question and providing some transparency into my process, my hope is that I can empower you to deliver your best pitch.

After reading thousands of HARO pitches, here are my best tips:

1 – Focus on the story, not the interviewee’s bio

I receive countless HARO pitches with source bios that are 2-4 paragraphs long. I know your interviewee is amazing, but when I’m scanning hundreds of pitches, it’s very easy for me to get lost in the details. Ideally, I’d love to see a one-sentence bio, max—one that allows me to quickly scan the person’s vantage point and experience.

What I love, however, is when PR pros send me a sneak preview into the candidate’s interview: a few sentences, or paragraphs, that clearly demonstrate what the person has to say. This information allows me to decide whether an in-depth interview is worth it: thoughtful, to-the-point comments yield thoughtful, to-the-point interviews.

I care about what the interviewee has to say and am less concerned with how many patents the person holds or how many 30 Under 30 awards that he or she has won.

2 – Stick to HARO’s system

Like the rest of the world, I’m buried under avalanches of email: I receive hundreds of messages per day and send upwards of 50-80. Almost daily, someone sends me a really amazing HARO pitch over email, and I end up forgetting about it. Why? HARO is my tool for keeping query responses organized. I log in when I’m ready to filter through responses, which I usually do in batches. If I receive a direct email—no matter how amazing—I’ll likely ignore it (see amazing pitch example that I accidentally ignored below).

Having heard from thousands of PR professionals, I can empathize with why they’re hunting down my direct contact information: they think that I’m more likely to see and remember something that hits my main inbox. Receiving so many emails, however, I need a system for organizing PR requests— and it’s not my brain. It’s HARO’s interface.

As an additional sanity check, I also maintain a separate inbox where all of my HARO communication goes. I make sure to read as many of these messages as possible: it’s easier for me to organize than filtering through my main inbox.

Rest assured that your messages are being seen, and I’m less likely to see them when I filter through the details in a systematic way. I’m actually more likely to ignore messages that end up in my main email inbox.

3 – Keep your journalist relationships strong

I’m always thrilled when I see a familiar face and PR rep on HARO. There are a dozen or so amazing publicists with whom I’m in touch, and I can honestly say that I wish this list was longer. I’ve met many in person and some have even, out of the blue, referred me to clients.

I love getting to know PR pros because I know that I can ping them when I’m in a pinch. I also love when PR pros get to know me because they consistently share stories from relevant clients. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic thing.

The takeaway here? In your HARO pitches, mention whether you’ve worked with a journalist on a story before. This simple action will jog your recipient’s memory and kickstart a conversation. Show that you’re paying attention: we’re listening, and good journalists appreciate the thoughtfulness.

4 – Answer the question in a direct way

I receive many one-liners asking whether I’d like to talk with a particular interviewee. The short answer: I don’t know, because these pitches fail to provide enough detail for me to make a decision.  I end up ignoring these threads as a result.

In all of my HARO queries, I include a specific question or set of questions that I’d like answered. The best responses I get are ones that answer these prompts directly. That way, I can make a quick, in-the-moment decision about whether to follow up. All of the information that I need is right in front of me, and I can send a quick, focused, and constructive email reply.

The end result is a great process on both sides, from start to finish. From the get go, no details are left to the imagination.

5 – Keep the process low-touch

Many PR pros who pitch me will assume that I want to hop on a 30-minute call. Running a business, I’m on 5-9 hours of calls oneasy day, and I do not want to schedule more calls. In some situations there are extenuating circumstances: the topic is confusing, or my interviewee needs the guidance of a live q&a—that’s totally fine.

What’s less okay is when a PR pro schedules me for a 6AM call, when his or her contact would prefer to send an email anyway.

I try to keep the process low-touch and clear by specifying the type of interview that I’d like in my HARO query. Many other writers do the same, so please try to pay attention. I always love when PR pros ask if I’d prefer email or phone-based responses. As often as possible I’ll opt for email, and the end result will be outstanding.

6 – Don’t ask when a piece will be published

I don’t say this out of annoyance: I say this out of wanting to save you time. I, like many other freelance writers and content producers, write for dozens of publications. Because I’m independent, I have limited insight into these companies’ editorial schedules. It’s just easier that way—editors are great at what they do and don’t need multitudes of writers as additional cooks in their kitchens. Plus, writers have enough on their minds and can’t humanly track the many moving parts of publishing a piece of content.

It’s worth saying that out of all my tips in this blog post, this one is probably the most controversial. After all, PR reps, clients, and interviewees are thoughtful enough to offer up their time. Not to mention, some writers are editors who are managing their own editorial calendars. The best answer I have is to feel it out. Don’t take a nonresponse as a sign of disrespect, and be content with “I don’t know” as an answer.

Be patient, and you’ll see the story run. And if you’re a PR rep, be transparent about this process with your client, too. Present a realistic view of this process, and your stakeholders will understand.

Final thoughts

HARO is a beast to navigate, and my perspective is one of many. I’d love to hear others’ tips for making the most of out this platform: what are your best tips for reaching and engaging with journalists? Help a marketer out by sharing your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post Tips for Rocking HARO: Lessons from 10,500+ Pitches appeared first on BuzzStream.

That’s where content syndication enters the picture. You can still get the benefits of guest posting—traffic acquisition and  brand visibility—without the high-touch effort and resource investment that goes into creating additional blog posts.

It’s a practice that media companies like Business Insider, Slate, Investopedia, and Quora have been leveraging for years to drive traffic and increase audience size. There is a strong opportunity for brands to grow their presence through syndication too. Here’s what you need to do to get started.

Step 1: Decide where you want to syndicate your content

Syndication is 100% relationship driven, meaning that you won’t find an open call to submit articles like you would for guest posting opportunities. It’s up to you decide where you want to syndicate your content. Answer the following questions to help focus your search:

• What blogs or publications are your audiences reading?
• What blog managers or media companies do you have relationships with?
• What blogs or publications would you like to build relationships with?

For instance, some of my company’s syndication partners include The Next Web, Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), and Business Insider. I’ve also syndicated content with The SAP Innovation Blog and Ragan.com. It’s a mix of media companies and fellow businesses. In some cases, these companies approached me, asking if I would be willing to contribute regular guest posts. I pitched syndication as an alternative option.

You can also syndicate content on publishing platforms where you have immediate access, starting with LinkedIn and Medium. Both of these platforms offer valuable, added distribution opportunities, and they’re channels that you control.

When choosing opportunities for syndication, it’s important to cast your net wide. As with customer acquisition and PR, you won’t want to rely on one partner or channel to cross-publish all of your material. Rather, you’ll want to syndicate your blog posts in bits and pieces, on different channels.

Step 2: Build and nurture relationships

Syndication is a hidden, untapped opportunity. The plus? Ambiguity means that you can take charge and set the status quo. The con? You pitch potential partners, which means that they may not ‘get it’ off the bat. You need to manage expectations and deliver the most compelling possible pitch. So here’s what you do:

Think like a sales or business development person. Take the list that you created in step 1 and jot some notes about the value proposition to each potential partner: syndicated content is free content, which your partners can use to drive traffic to their own websites. For instance, I re-published this blog post on Clarity.fm from a fellow founder, Austen Allred after seeing the article take off on Twitter and GrowthHackers.com. I reached out to him and asked permission to re-publish it. The Clarity team then promoted the piece through its email lists. The article generated thousands of pageviews to the Clarity blog, at zero cost.

Anticipate potential concerns and frequently asked questions. Syndication is a scary idea for most blog managers. Why? Many are worried that there will be detrimental impact to SEO. It’s important to address these concerns off the bat with the following information:

• Syndication won’t cause duplicate content issues if you cite the original source in a clear and visible way. Google’s algorithm is smart enough to process this information and won’t ding you (or your syndication partner) if you’re upfront about what you’re doing and publishing. If you both include a healthy mix of syndicated and original content, you’ll be fine. If you want to be especially careful on both fronts, you’ll want to ask your syndication partner to use rel=canonical tags. There’s a detailed guide, with how-tos and an explanation of benefits, that you can follow here.
• There are often more benefits than drawbacks. When it comes to digital marketing, SEO is only part of the equation. Syndication is a source for driving incremental traffic, for you and your syndication partner. That being said, you and your partner will need to assess marketing tradeoffs, for each piece, on a case by case basis.

Know who you need to pitch and figure out how to reach them. This step is crucial. As you’re well-aware, editors at media companies are slammed with requests, all day every day. The cold-pitching process can be brutal: whenever possible, try to get a 2nd-level introduction from a trusted colleague or shared connection who knows you well and can vouch for your skills. You’ll also want to be very clear about who you’re ultimately trying to reach. For instance, many media companies have contributors editors who are responsible for overseeing guest submissions. Find this person, and figure out a way to pitch them in a meaningful and compelling way.

Articulate your value-add. When pitching potential syndication partners, you’ll want to come to the table with an irresistible offer. The best way? Share data. For instance, you may have a post that has been gaining strong traction on your own website. If that’s the case, make sure to sure this information and explain why the same post will gain traction on your partner’s site too. Here’s an example template to follow:

Hey {Person},

I wanted to pass along a post that you might consider syndicating on your blog. It’s one of our most popular posts, having generated X visits in the last Y days. Given our shared audience of social media managers, I think it could bring you a lot of additional traffic too.

Feel free to use it: just make sure to attribute the original source so we don’t get dinged on the SEO front.

Just like any relationship-building effort, you should go into the process expecting an uphill battle. People are going to say no. You may need to do some negotiating. Your emails are going to get ignored. Keep trying, and you’ll eventually find some potential wins.

Step 3: Optimize your content

Once you jump through your relationship-building hurdles, there are a few loose ends that you’ll want to keep in mind. Here’s a checklist of items to consider including for all syndicated content:

• Make sure that the original article is clearly visible, along with a link. At the top or bottom of your article, include a sentence, “This post originally appeared on [your company’s blog].”
• Include 4-5 internal links within each post, to help drive traffic back to your website. These links should direct to other pieces of content rather than promotional offers.
• Consider including a call-to-action (CTA) to a targeted offer such as a webinar, ebook, or other resource at the bottom of your blog post. Some partners will be fine with this approach. Others won’t. Figure it out on a case by case basis.

As you optimize your content, keep experimenting in terms of number of links, offers, and content that you link back to. You may consider bringing on a UX expert for some ideas to test. Over time, you’ll begin to notice some trends with an idea of what works for your content. Iterate and learn. It’s that simple.

Have questions?

Content syndication is new terrain for many marketers, and you’ll be making many situation-specific judgment calls. If you need help or have questions, feel free to tweet me @ritika_puri, and I’ll do my best to respond. Happy syndicating and strategizing!

The post Content Syndication: The Definitive, Insider’s Guide appeared first on BuzzStream.

One important quality top PR leaders share is a passion for learning, experimenting, and growing. Even though the field is timeless, it’s also one that evolves constantly thanks to new social media channels and communication mediums.

As a result, PR leaders have to wade through lots of noise.

Some reporters, for instance, are difficult to reach due to the hundreds of pitches that they’re receiving per day via e-mail and Help a Reporter Out (HARO). What PR leaders need are techniques to stand out and outsmart the accidental mess created by the industry.

This process involves learning and experimentation with new communication, content marketing, and information management tools—more importantly, it involves a paradigm shift in how the PR industry builds connections with the media world.

The time to explore and try new techniques has never been better. Here are 7 resources to help you make the most out of your next brain break.

1 – This TED Talk from Life Coach Tony Robbins

Watch time: 22 minutes

Titled ‘Why We Do What We Do,’ this TED talk dives into the heart of motivation—which Robbins explains to be only partially driven by money or self interest. Robbins argues that creativity and determination are the ultimate currency and encourages people to spend time thinking about what it is “that shapes us.”

While this talk isn’t PR-centric, it is directly relevant to the challenges that media executives, marketing specialists, and account managers face each day. It’s really really hard to get a journalist’s attention and to manage client expectations. Success, in the everyday, comes from hustle, relentless cold-pitching, and asking.

This talk will help PR leaders learn how to build more empathetic connections—and stand out from the industry status quo of noise, chaos, and information overload.

2 – This Lean Startup Conference Talk from FunnyBizz Founder Rachman Blake

Watch time: 5 minutes

In the PR industry, hustle is a professional’s most valuable asset. When cold pitching, building media lists, and reaching out to busy journalists, it can be challenging to stand out and make an impact—in fact, the majority of your emails are probably going ignored.

Blake, an entrepreneur with a marketing and stand-up comedy background, has learned that humor can help. The challenge, however, is that most people struggle to be funny. Unless you know what you’re doing, it’s hard.

Luckily, humor is a trait that anyone can develop—with success evolving from structure, practice, and process. This talk explains ‘best practices,’ with examples of tactics to try.

3 – This Guide to Medium from Buffer

Read time: 30 minutes

As a growing blogging platform and community, Medium provides a fun and engaging way for people to share their ideas. From a marketing perspective, however, the platform provides more—much more.

In addition to being a resource for bloggers to share their ideas, Medium is also a powerful distribution channel. Leveraging their existing distribution channels, some companies are amassing tens of thousands of followers in a matter of months (this actually happened at one company where I’m writing).

PR leaders may be curious about Medium but confused about how to build distribution and leverage the platform from a business perspective. The fact is that ‘viral’ campaigns don’t happen overnight—success on Medium needs strategy rather than luck. This blog post helps by walking through ideas for tactics that you should try.

4 – This Book on Finding Your Breakthrough Idea by Dorie Clark

Read time: 3 hours

For PR leaders, ideas are everything. Even the most awesome clients and companies need breakthrough stories to forge relationships with the media. Sales pitches, generic business advice, and product launches may be interesting—but they aren’t news.

As Clark points out, the process of becoming a recognized expert is “a mysterious and opaque process.” In this book, she explains how to navigate this complicated journey. You’ll learn:

• How to identify ideas to set you apart
• How to promote them
• How to build a community of followers

These tips will give you a set of proven methods and processes to share with your clients. As Clark puts it:

“It’s not about self-promotion. It’s about changing the world for the better while giving you the ultimate career insurance.”

5 – This PR, Marketing, and Media Czars Facebook Group

Read time: Ongoing

In marketing and PR, the best way to learn is from the people who have been exactly where you are now. By sharing tips, leads, insights, and resources, we’re better positioned to navigate uncertainty and noise.

Branded as “publicists who actually like other publicists,” this 16,000 person community will connect you with new insights, people, and opportunities to help you bounce ideas and learn about new opportunities.

Rather than ‘reading’ the threads in this group, you can casually browse information in your Facebook News Feed. It’s a simple and passive way to discover and absorb new information.

6 – This Guide to Startup PR from OnStartups

Read time: 30 minutes

Even for the most seasoned PR pros the process of generating media exposure is hard. This blog post, written by one of the world’s most visible startup founders, can help.

With this guide, you’ll get a list of actionable tactics, along with demonstrated examples, to try. You’ll learn the following:

• How to ensure that people remember what your startup does
• How to find reporters who can help (and who you can help too)
• How to get featured on the sites that you’d like for your business

What differentiates this resource from many others is that it’s written from the perspective of someone who didn’t have a PR budget and was looking at the media landscape with a very fresh eye. Rather than pitching journalists, he spent time building out a platform for storytelling. You’ll learn about the channels that he leveraged, the results that he achieved, and the ‘best practices’ that he uncovered along the way.

7 – This SlideShare Describing What 500 Journalists Seek Out in a Pitch
Read time: 15 minutes

As this SlideShare presentation eloquently explains—”this is a story about a noise:value ratio that has gotten out of whack.” PR professionals outnumber editorial voices by 5:1, meaning that journalists are likely bombarded.

The best way to stand out is to return to the basics—to write an awesome pitch.

Based on a survey of more than 500 editors at publications like Time, BuzzFeed, Upworthy, and Scientific American, this SlideShare presentation will help you accomplish this goals. Learn from actual journalists and improve your pitching style with this (blunt) collection of tips and best practices.

Final thoughts

What have you read recently that you’ve found interesting, inspiring, and helpful? Share your words of wisdom with the rest of the PR community. Pick resource #8 on this list by leaving a comment for this blog post below. Let’s keep learning and growing together.

Photo Credit: Peshkova/ShutterStock

The post Inspire Your Next Campaign with These 6 PR Resources appeared first on BuzzStream.

The PR community is under immense pressure to translate efforts to ROI—a task that often feels daunting, nebulous, and sometimes impossible. While common sense tells us that media outreach and community relations are among the best growth-drivers for our businesses, our spreadsheets are a little less forgiving.

Enter this blog post.

The beauty of data is that ‘success stories’ are often in the eye of the beholder. Because there is no universal tool or formula to measure the success of our efforts, we’re in a strong position to establish our own benchmarks.

We asked 6 PR leaders to share their best tips for measuring and communicating the ROI of their media relations, community-building, and SEO efforts. Here’s what they shared.

1. Look beyond attention to measure sentiment

Tip nominated by: Sylvia Ng, VP of growth and analytics at ScribbleLive

In PR and content marketing, success is often tied to establish standards of reach and impressions through Media Rating Points or share of voice. What these perspectives overlook, however, are how people react.

That’s why Ng encourages PR leaders to quantify sentiment, in addition to reach

“Attention metrics measure not only how often someone is mentioned, but how people react, explains Ng. “By including sentiment and engagement metrics, you can quickly see which campaigns are moving the needle in terms of influence.”

2. Quantify potential losses

Tip nominated by: Steven Giovinco, reputation management consultant

PR leaders are well aware of the fact that one negative review can wreak havoc. Giovinco points out that according to one forecast, one unhappy customer can cause a business to lose 30.

Using this benchmark, Giovinco and his team often share anticipated loss projections with their clients. He encourages PR leaders to follow these simple steps:

• Determine an average customer value
• Multiple that value by 30

One negative review to a company with an average customer value of $1,000, for instance, would result in a company missing out on $30K.

When using this forecasting process, we need to make sure that we’re considering potential biases in our data. For instance, companies with negative reviews may also be more likely to deliver lower quality services. A negative review may not be as hard-hitting to an otherwise loved brand. Treat this average as a rough benchmark, and understand that there is likely a range in actual opportunity costs.

3. Craft a clear business story

Tip nominated by: Tyler Williams, PR manager at Alterna Haircare

Like many PR leaders, Williams measures the success of his PR initiatives through placement and impressions. But he doesn’t let the story stop there. He makes sure to contextualize these ‘branding’ numbers into a sales and revenue story.

“We mark certain placements has high quality if they meet certain criteria (ex. Clear product shot, certain amount of brand/product messaging, etc.) so we can measure how much of our impressions were high quality,” Williams explains. “Further, we also look for spikes in sales at our retailers and on our e-commerce site correlating to specific initiatives or placements.”

These perspectives allow Williams to build a clear connection between wins, brand successes, and results.

4. Determine whether your brand is more visible to target buyers

Tip nominated by: Samuel Scott, director of marketing at Logz.io

PR’s core function is to increase a brand’s visibility with target-market buyers. It’s this foundational view that inspires Scott to measure success based on SEO performance and down-the-road sales conversions.

“In terms of PR, I look at the following specific metrics: Increases (or not) in branded search terms in Google Webmaster Tools as well as in clicks to my website from those searches,” says Scott. “Seeing the number of conversions and/or sales from referral traffic as a result of links in publications in which we were mentioned.”

Scott also prioritizes the following growth metrics:

• Whether social followings generally increased following the coverage
• How search-engine rankings increase over time for non-branded search terms as a result of the natural, authoritative links that PR campaigns create
• Comparing the conversion rates and bounce rates for referral traffic from various publications — that helps to clarify what publications are the best to target in future PR campaigns
• When we publicize our own content, I see how that content then contributes to our conversions and/or sales

These perspectives contextualize brand visibility from multiple perspectives, ranging from SEO to social media, referrals, and transactions.

5. Measure credibility

Tip nominated by: Christine Pietryla, owner at Pietryla PR & Marketing

As Pietryla points out, one of the biggest reasons why it’s hard to measure ROI in PR is that efforts, often, are not tied to sales. Buyer journeys are complex and often span multiple interactions. While PR may be a point of discovery and website traffic, audiences may take time to transact.

That’s why Pietryla encourages PR leaders to take a step back and measure ROI in terms of the variables that impact sales.

“For instance, credibility is important to the sales process,” says Pietryla. “Measure credibility in net promoter scores, online sentiment, customer surveys — any way that gives you an accurate (read: repeatable) metric that you can measure repeatedly over time. You’ll see where your results increase or sustain positive perceptions.”

6. Quantify influence

Tip nominated by: Anne Milo, public relations manager at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

Smart organizations want to position themselves as industry front runners. One way to capture this goal is to measure a brand’s share of voice. This metric is one that Milo quantifies regularly.

“Our executive team appreciates the share of voice analysis between our competitors and similar events that are taking place across the country,” says Milo. “This perspective allows our organization to listen and read about what interests journalists and piques their interest, and plan part of our media strategy accordingly. The combination of metrics above allows us to measure fiscal year, campaign, and large event media performance which allows us to strategically plan for the upcoming years.”

The community weighs in

It’s your turn to join the conversation. How does your team measure the ROI of PR? Share your best tips, thoughts, general comments, and even your objections in the comments section below.

The post 6 Creative Ways PR Leaders Measure ROI appeared first on BuzzStream.

The challenge, however, is that the media landscape is flooded — and that these core connections can sometimes slip through the cracks.

I’m in a unique position where I sit on both sides of the fence as a journalist and a marketer. Let me tell you — both sides are equally challenging. As a marketer, I worry that busy journalists aren’t receiving my messages. As a journalist, I worry that potentially great stories are slipping by my attention.

Here is a screenshot from Help a Reporter Out (HARO), a wire service that I use to connect with PR professionals for story ideas:

Help a Reporter Out

It’s nearly impossible to respond to all of these potentially great pitches. Similarly, when I’m wearing my marketing hat, I know that journalists on the other side of the computer screen are going through the same pain points that I am.

I reached out to some of the smartest PR minds in the marketing industry to learn about their best pitching tips. Here is what they recommend:

1. Be Short. Be Straight. Get Out of the Way.

Get to the point. Don’t use these super long emails about the company. Tell the story of why its important to the writer’s readership within the first sentence.

Be straight – aka have a good angle that shows you understand what makes news.

 Once you have them, leave them alone to do their job and only help where you can. Stop checking in every few hours.

—Matt Braun, Director of Public Relations at Hanson Dodge Creative

2. Be Ready for Business

Do not leave your pitch half-baked and be ready to answer questions. Have the pitch ready to go as if the reporter will want to run it immediately. The less groundwork a reporter has the do for your story the more likely they are to use it.

—Shaun Walker, Creative Director at HERO Farm

3. Be Relevant

Think beyond just what you (or your client) wants to say, and think about how it fits into a larger trend. Telling a reporter about your client’s new product/service will be a much harder sell than talking to them about a new trend that your client is a part of.

When we read news as consumers, unless it’s a straight product review, we never really see feature stories glowing about one brand.

—Drew Tybus, VP of Brand Marketing at Porter Novelli

4. Seek to Add Value

Don’t be a moocher, be a resource too! Most of the time us PR people are asking from something and not providing additional value back. Help with the stories that you are asking the reporters to create. That may mean having additional resources other than just your client or providing references for journalists stories.

The more you can help them, the more they can see you as a partner and resources. In my experience, if you are willing to help put the pieces together and make the story well-rounded, journalists respond much better and you can develop a genuine partnership with the media.

—Ronjini Mukhopadhyay,Owner at The Silver Telegram

5. Challenge Yourself to Get Loud

Switch things up and practice saying your pitch out loud. If it sounds like BS when you read it, don’t send it.  The key to getting your pitch from email to reality is to be authentic — if you can’t even stand the sound of your voice delivering it, chances are, the journalist won’t either.

—Heather Anne Carson, Co-founder at Onboardly

6. Walk the Line

My favorite pitching tip, and one that works quite well, is to seek out journalists who talk about my client’s competitors, find out what they like about them, and then find ways that our product/service trumps our competitor.

—Brenna Loury, Owner at Loury PR

7. Be Relentlessly Engaging

Make the writer or news producer fall in love with your pitch. General pitches generally don’t get landed. Make sure that your pitch is well written and colorful enough to make your client stand out.

A friend of mine who is an Entertainment Editor for a top newspaper once said that your pitch has to be as engaging as the story the journalist will write.

–Abesi Manyando, President and Creative Director at Abesi Public Relations

8. Ask First, Pitch Second

Whenever I identify a new journalist I’d like to pitch, I always send them a short email to introduce myself and what we do at Onboardly first. I’ll ask if it’s cool if I send over a few high level bullet points on what our clients are working on that may fit their beat.

This short but warm intro is a great way to gauge their interest before I later send the pitch and has resulted in some great relationships with the media.

—Crystal Richard, Director of PR at Onboardly

9. Build a Social Media Rapport

My favorite pitching tip is to connect with the reporter on social media, as well. This works because their inbox is flooded with names of they don’t recognize.

Connecting with them on social media and interacting with their posts on a regular basis will get your name into their heads, so that when your pitches land in their inbox, they recognize your name.

—Brittany Berger, Social Media and Content Marketing Coordinator at eZanga

10. Be Personable

In our company, we believe that the key to a successful pitch is that–to  really cater to the needs of the reporter and to make it personal. You  should be a resource not a burden.

With that in mind, it’s also really  important to nurture the relationships behind your screen. Take the time to get to know reporters, understand their needs, and how you can best help them.

Yes, reporters are incredibly busy, but if you can, take the time to meet them in person, offer to meet them near their office/preferred place of business/industry conference in real time and life. We’ve noticed that the most successful pitches evolve from that.

—Suset Laboy Perez, Owner at LalaboyPR

11. Pitch the Story, not the Product

Pitch the story, not the product. Writers are looking for pitches that offer a story they can put their own spin on.

If all you provide is information with no story, you offer nothing to hook the writer, which means you also offer nothing the writer can see hooking their readers.

—Nick Brennan, Vice President at Janice McCafferty PR

12. Incorporate Calls to Action

End every pitch with a clear call to action that asks a question. The question prompts the recipient to respond, where a statement like “Please let me know” is anticlimactic and doesn’t motivate the reader to reply.

 —Ashley Halberstadt, Director of Media Relations at Digital Relevance

13. Don’t Be a Spammer

I convince clients the shotgun approach- where firms mass blast their pitch to thousands of reporters- the majority of which will ignore the pitch — is wrong and does not generate a return on investment.

Instead, pitch individual reporters with customized ideas that provide real value for the journalist’s readers.

—Nick Winkler, Owner at The Winkler Group

14. Engage Authentically

As a PR pro, once you’ve established a relationship – in person or via  email, it is okay to follow that journalist on various social media channels. Don’t stalk them but, instead, engage with them authentically.

 —Laura Knapp, Social Spotlight Media

15. Proceed with Structure

Craft an outline of the story for the writer. Don’t just tell them they should cover your client. Let the writer know who they can interview (both internal to your client and external if that makes sense), provide relevant website links, attach photos or videos, and offer ideas for images.

—Danya Bushey, President at Carte Blanche Marketing

16. Build Relationships

It’s two-fold: 1. Make a relationship and 2. Say thank you. Media relations is about relationships. Staff members, trainees, interns and others have asked me how I have had success with media, and I tell them that the key truly is cultivating a genuine relationship.

Don’t always ask, request and expect things from your friends in the media. Show interest in the stories they tell, get to know them, engage with them, then pitch stories when they are relevant and newsworthy.

Members of the media are much more likely to listen to you or read your pitch when you have taken the time to get to know them and where their interests lie. On the latter, ALWAYS say thank you.

Whether they accept the pitch or not, thank them for their time. Our team loves sending handwritten thank you notes to the folks in the media for any mention or story they do for our clients. Gratitude matters.

—Tanya Sammis, Co-owner at Sammis & Ochoa

17. Think Big-Picture

 PR is about much more than an initial placement in the media. It is about building and maintaining relationships with key media, when you have a story to pitch as well as when you don’t.

 —Lauren Lewis, Owner at Lauren Lewis Public Relations and Communications

Your Thoughts

What PR lessons have you learned the hard way? What valuable tip would you share with emerging leaders in the space? You pick #18 on this list. Leave us a note in the comments section below.

The post 17 PR Professionals Share Their Best Pitching Tips appeared first on BuzzStream.