How to pitch
I often get questions from PR professionals wanting to know how to pitch me — what kinds of stories do I prefer? How do I prefer to receive information? How soon after the initial message should you try me again?
I actually very much appreciate these questions, so I thought maybe it’d be useful to compile them into one easy-to-reference post! Below, you’ll find some of the questions I get asked most often and my responses. Hope this helps us all do our jobs more efficiently!
Q: What’s the best way to introduce myself?
A: There are a few PR folks who are really good at knowing the audience to whom they’re pitching. I’ve had folks send emails that start off with chatter about the Eagles or Nationals or some random thing I’ve mentioned previously on social media, which will get a response 100% of the time.
Other than that, however, I don’t prefer to schedule introductory coffee meetings (I’m not a coffee drinker; it’s all about tea for me), because at a certain point, they become very time-consuming. I do like engaging on social media as an introduction, because it helps generate some name recognition and makes email conversations more human.
None of this is required, however. If you have a story that’s a good fit with my interests and the publication’s usual line of coverage, cold emails are totally fine.
Q: How do you like to be pitched?
A: Email is always best for me. I also don’t mind being flagged on Twitter. I have typically been pretty adamant about Facebook being my personal space — for sharing pictures of my children, talking sports and keeping in touch with family — but I newly have a public Facebook page, and even though I don’t update it with content often, I respond to messages pretty quickly! I check voicemail very infrequently, however, if you have my cell number, I respond to texts almost around the clock.
I try to be very good about responding to emails in a timely fashion, however, because of the volume of emails I receive, one follow-up email is appropriate if I don’t get back to you, 2-3 days after the initial email, in case it’s fallen off my radar.
Something else that catches my attention is emails with multiple quick pitches in the same message. So telling me about 3-4 different programs or reports or other timely news, and demonstrating in your email that you've actually read the site is always very appreciated.
Q: What types of stories interest are you likely to cover?
A: It might be easiest to say what I will not likely cover: I won’t likely cover anything that’s specifically pitching a product or service, personnel announcements, guest speakers, unveiling of new degree programs, or anything that only really impacts one school or campus. I cover trends and any news with a potential national impact. I’m also particularly interested in stories that offer solutions around serving marginalized populations, and I love data projects.
Q: What types of people are you interested in interviewing?
A: The easy answer is decision-makers. On the education beat, this means I mostly want to talk to school administrators: principals, presidents, provosts, deans. I also enjoy speaking with policymakers and researchers. I don’t tend to interview consultants or those who serve the community from the outside (even if they used to be on the inside), and there are very few exceptions to this.
This same answer applies to the question of from whom I’d accept a bylined article for consideration.
Q: Any other general advice you can share?
A: If you’re pitching an expert for comment on something, it should be forward-looking, and not reactive. If you email me a week in advance to say “this critical court decision is coming down the pike next week, and we have someone who’s submitted written testimony, if you’re interested in interviewing her,” that’s perfect. But an email saying “Today the court decided on [a thing]. We have the top expert on [this thing] on our campus, and he’s available for interviews today between 2-3p.m.” is not good; that story is likely already written.
If you notice that I've already written something, I'm not likely to write on it again any time soon. So, for instance, emails that say "hi, Autumn, I know you've written recently about teacher preparation and wanted to link you to our teacher prep expert..." probably won't get much of a response, unless you can tell me something unique or timely that really necessitates another article on the same subject.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my responses! Looking forward to connecting soon!
I actually very much appreciate these questions, so I thought maybe it’d be useful to compile them into one easy-to-reference post! Below, you’ll find some of the questions I get asked most often and my responses. Hope this helps us all do our jobs more efficiently!
Q: What’s the best way to introduce myself?
A: There are a few PR folks who are really good at knowing the audience to whom they’re pitching. I’ve had folks send emails that start off with chatter about the Eagles or Nationals or some random thing I’ve mentioned previously on social media, which will get a response 100% of the time.
Other than that, however, I don’t prefer to schedule introductory coffee meetings (I’m not a coffee drinker; it’s all about tea for me), because at a certain point, they become very time-consuming. I do like engaging on social media as an introduction, because it helps generate some name recognition and makes email conversations more human.
None of this is required, however. If you have a story that’s a good fit with my interests and the publication’s usual line of coverage, cold emails are totally fine.
Q: How do you like to be pitched?
A: Email is always best for me. I also don’t mind being flagged on Twitter. I have typically been pretty adamant about Facebook being my personal space — for sharing pictures of my children, talking sports and keeping in touch with family — but I newly have a public Facebook page, and even though I don’t update it with content often, I respond to messages pretty quickly! I check voicemail very infrequently, however, if you have my cell number, I respond to texts almost around the clock.
I try to be very good about responding to emails in a timely fashion, however, because of the volume of emails I receive, one follow-up email is appropriate if I don’t get back to you, 2-3 days after the initial email, in case it’s fallen off my radar.
Something else that catches my attention is emails with multiple quick pitches in the same message. So telling me about 3-4 different programs or reports or other timely news, and demonstrating in your email that you've actually read the site is always very appreciated.
Q: What types of stories interest are you likely to cover?
A: It might be easiest to say what I will not likely cover: I won’t likely cover anything that’s specifically pitching a product or service, personnel announcements, guest speakers, unveiling of new degree programs, or anything that only really impacts one school or campus. I cover trends and any news with a potential national impact. I’m also particularly interested in stories that offer solutions around serving marginalized populations, and I love data projects.
Q: What types of people are you interested in interviewing?
A: The easy answer is decision-makers. On the education beat, this means I mostly want to talk to school administrators: principals, presidents, provosts, deans. I also enjoy speaking with policymakers and researchers. I don’t tend to interview consultants or those who serve the community from the outside (even if they used to be on the inside), and there are very few exceptions to this.
This same answer applies to the question of from whom I’d accept a bylined article for consideration.
Q: Any other general advice you can share?
A: If you’re pitching an expert for comment on something, it should be forward-looking, and not reactive. If you email me a week in advance to say “this critical court decision is coming down the pike next week, and we have someone who’s submitted written testimony, if you’re interested in interviewing her,” that’s perfect. But an email saying “Today the court decided on [a thing]. We have the top expert on [this thing] on our campus, and he’s available for interviews today between 2-3p.m.” is not good; that story is likely already written.
If you notice that I've already written something, I'm not likely to write on it again any time soon. So, for instance, emails that say "hi, Autumn, I know you've written recently about teacher preparation and wanted to link you to our teacher prep expert..." probably won't get much of a response, unless you can tell me something unique or timely that really necessitates another article on the same subject.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my responses! Looking forward to connecting soon!
