Helping the Journalists: Give 'Em What They Want
With so many layoffs and of course the fear of losing your job (that in and of itself takes a lot of energy and, in my not-so-humble opinion, is sort of a job, too) it’s really, really important for all of us to cultivate the cult of ourselves. It’s a clunky way to describe a fairly simple concept, but it’s still something we struggle with.
As publicists, we (at least yours truly does this) talk ourselves into believing that we’re in the business of promoting others. After all, it’s so much easier to talk up someone else than yourself (well, for most of us, that is, though I’m sure you all know someone who really enjoys yakking about themselves . . . ). But I’m beginning to think that even when we’re pitching someone else we are most definitely pitching ourselves. It’s that messenger thing. Don’t shoot her; no, please don’t do that. But it’s unlikely, too, that someone will necessarily take the time to tell us how what a fabulous job we do at pitching. Still, wouldn’t it be nice to know they thought that anyways?
That should be the goal. In the future, I’ll ask some editors, writers, and producers what kind of pitches they like and which ones get ignored. Timing can be critical, but now, with the economy in the proverbial toilet bowl, it’s more important than ever that we make a good impression and one of the best ways to do that is to do our very best to predict in the most accurate way possible what it is exactly that will make a journalist interested.
That’s not so easy when papers are folding and more and more journalists are looking for new ways to make an income. But for those still pounding out the stories (and they’re working extra hard, by the way, in case you haven’t noticed) they still need to hear from us, but only if we have something useful to say.
It would be really swell if we could call these folks up and simply say, “What do you need?” and for some of us that’s actually possible, but another way, one that’s a little more stealth, is to simply scan the journalists’ articles. If you can mention something in your pitch that is in any way related to what a particular journalist is writing about, you increase your chances of getting noticed.
