I run a PR agency that lands our clients in TechCrunch, CNBC, & other world class publications on a consistent basis.
My superpower? I can make anything sound newsworthy to the journalist I'm pitching.
These are the 2 golden rules I follow that 10x my placement rate: 👇
1/8 🧵
When I pitch a journalist through email, I try to write my subject line the same way the journalist writes their story headlines.
Framing the story for them goes a long way, and shows you've actually done your research.
The WSJ reached out to us to feature a client in both an article and their “The Future of Everything” podcast.
“We kept seeing your client’s name in trade publications,” they explained.
Y’all: 👏 Don’t 👏 Sleep 👏 On 👏 The 👏 Power 👏 Of 👏 Trade 👏 Publications 👏
It took three pitches to get a TechCrunch reporter to interview a client for a piece.
It took two hours of media training to prepare the client for the interview.
It took a minute of the client dodging questions and forcing their own product as the solution to kill the piece.
Here's a little secret…
If a journalist hasn't replied to your first 5 pitch follow-ups, chances are they won't respond to the sixth either.
Also… you shouldn't be sending 5 pitch follow-ups in the first place.
Thinking of PR-based horror movies. Here are some of my ideas:
“Broken Embargo"
"The Blair Pitch Project"
"What's the ROI"
Now I wanna know - what are yours? 😂
I hate that PR pros are depicted in movies almost exclusively as ditzy and privileged young women who don’t take work seriously.
PR =
Grueling hours. Non-stop attention to the news cycle. Competing for the attention of a shrinking pool of reporters.
PR is hard.
The best way to get PR coverage is to pitch journalists who are interested in your subject matter and have a track record of writing about it.
It’s really as simple as that.
The deeper I dive into PR Twitter, the more I love it ❤️
Everyone here is so friendly, smart, and supportive. I’m excited to interact with more of you!
PR isn't just about getting press. It's brand storytelling, crisis management, and reputation building. Most people only see the tip of the iceberg. There's so much more happening below the surface.
PR secret hack: reporters will search their inbox when looking for expert opinion on a subject they’re writing about. If you do a good job of inserting the right keywords in your pitch, you might still win a placement down the line (this has happened to me).
A journalist’s job is NOT to read every single pitch that they receive. That would be impossible.
A journalist’s job is to report the news that’s important to their audience.
Spend your time finding the right journalists, not mass-blasting pitches.
PR is not easy. You can’t do PR with ChatGPT. Going on HARO won’t make you a PR pro
PR requires skills that are difficult to master: communication, psychology, branding, relationship-building, technical-subject matter expertise, and research—plus years of experience.
Not easy.
I’ve noticed that a lot of new PR professionals really underestimate the value of local media.
Sometimes local stories have MASSIVE impacts for brands.
If you can pitch a journalist a relevant story for their audience in a timely and efficient manner, they’ll see you as an asset moving forward instead of a bother.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that media coverage is the only measure of success of a PR campaign.
A successful PR strat isn't just about generating media coverage, it's about creating an organic conversation around your brand that engages your audience & drives results.
Many conflate PR w/ marketing or advertising. They intersect, but PR is distinct.
While marketing sells & ads dazzle, PR cultivates genuine customer relationships, crafts narratives, & navigates crises. It's not just about being heard/seen, but being understood by your audience.
99% of people think PR is only about generating publicity or media coverage.
But PR is also:
- Brand storytelling
- Crisis communication
- Reputation management
Let’s stop glorifying hustle culture. Burnout, anxiety attacks, and a life consumed by work aren’t sexy.
Instead, let’s glorify doing great focused work, spending time with friends and family, and having the time to pursue other passions.
A balanced worker is a good worker.
Hey PR pros: to increase your success rate, make your pitches easier to read & skim.
That means:
— Using bullet points
— Writing in simple language
— Bolding the most important parts
— (the big takeaway, unique talking points)
— Avoiding life-threateningly large paragraphs
For every pitch we send as PR professionals, a journalist receives 10 pitches just like it.
Journalists: What makes a pitch stand out in a crowded media landscape?
A peer in a PR group I’m part of broke down in tears.
Honestly, I could relate.
Our industry is tough.
Not just because:
- It doesn’t matter who you “know”
- Getting top-tier placements is an art + science
- You have to be scrappy, adaptable, and tenacious to succeed
But also
If you want to make it in PR, you need to maintain a good reputation with journalists.
How?
Focus on building genuine relationships with them, not just spamming them with pitches.
A candidate for a PR role we’re trying to fill told me she was handling 15 accounts at her current firm.
Here’s why that’s wrong on so many levels.
If you’re one of those clients:
- You’re getting very little by way of communication
- Your PR pro is stretched so thin they’re
PR tip: Don't sleep on LinkedIn News for tech clients.
We landed an AI startup client a feature that reached 15M people there (LinkedIn has 10 million C-level users). Two months later, we pitched the same reporter, who ran a second story about the client that reached another 15M
I hate that PR firms who charge 5 figures a month, delegate to interns, and get zero features give the rest of us an awful rep.
Real PR pros work their butts off to land features week after week.
Real PR pros do their work with integrity & dedication.
Real PR pros give a damn.
PR isn't just about securing coverage; it's also about reputation management.
How do you handle crisis situations for your clients? Share your go-to strategies.
It’s impossible for a journalist to read every single pitch they receive. It’s also not their job.
A journalist’s job is to report news that’s important to their audience.
Spend your time finding the right journalists, not mass-blasting pitches.
When you pitch a journalist, take the time to:
- Read their previous articles
- Understand what they’re interested in
- Adapt the story to their writing style
You’ll spend hours more on every pitch.
But your acceptance rate will go up by hundreds of percent.
Tailor your pitch to each journalist on your media list.
It's time-consuming, but generic pitches rarely resonate.
Make it personal, show you've done your homework, and explain why your story is relevant to their audience.
If you can provide a journalist with a timely, relevant story that resonates with their audience, you'll become an invaluable ally instead of another annoying PR person in their inbox.
PR is not just about generating publicity - it's about cultivating a positive brand image, managing perceptions, & fostering strong relationships with stakeholders.
Your goal isn't just to create noise, but to shape the conversation around your client in a beneficial way.
Too many PR firms:
- Have no clue how to get PR when you don’t have news
- Charge 5 figures per month but put an intern on your account
- Get *one* piece of coverage every 6 months and then celebrate
And they give the rest of us a bad rep.
PR is an industry that takes time to understand.
If you aren’t landing placements right from the start don’t be discouraged. The longer you spend in the pitching trenches, the more effective you’ll become.
Nine out of ten PR firms will get you coverage when you have a new announcement to make. Very few are able to generate news when you’re just plugging away day to day.
Find a PR firm innovative enough to get you attention *between* major announcements.
PR ≠ marketing/advertising.
They intersect, but PR is its own beast.
Marketing & ads sell; PR builds genuine customer relationships, crafts compelling narratives, & navigates crises.
It's not just about being heard/seen.
It’s about being understood.
I’ve had PR ideas that got our clients coverage in the WSJ, TechCrunch, and WIRED come to me while:
• Walking the dog
• Watching a horror film
• Vacationing in Florida
Y’all: 👏 don’t 👏 underestimate 👏 the 👏 power 👏 of 👏 disconnecting 👏 from 👏 work 👏
Journalists, how do you feel about exclusives?
PR pros, have you had success with offering exclusives to secure coverage?
Let's discuss the pros and cons.
PR agencies that:
- Charge multiple five figures
- While assigning junior staff to your account
- And waiting around for you to ideate instead of being proactive…
…do *not* represent the rest of us PR pros.
(thanks for attending my tiny angry Ted talk.)
PR is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every client is unique, and requires a custom-tailored strategy that aligns with their goals, values, and voice.
It's time to stop idolizing hustle culture. Burnout, anxiety, & a life overwhelmed by work is NOT it.
Instead, let's celebrate great focused work, quality time with the people we love, & the freedom to chase other passions.
A well-rounded, happy worker is an effective worker.
Common CEO complaint:
“PR firms only get coverage when we have a new company news.”
This is unfortunately often true, but *does not* have to be.
Here are 3 tips for getting coverage…
…even when you don’t have “big news”.
1/5 🧵
The most successful PR professionals are always learning and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and news in their clients' industries.
If you want to be the best, adopt a permanent student's mentality.
Scored placements in The Hill, Fortune, Fast Company (2x), Morning Brew, Town & Country, and CN Traveler all in the last two weeks. 👀
Proud of my team and the fact that we consistently get coverage even in the absence of "hard news" for our clients!
I’ll spend 20 minutes *just on the subject line* of a PR pitch for a client.
Sounds ridiculous? Remember these folks get hundreds of emails a day.
Making mine stand out is the *only way* to get clients earned media placements.
In PR, it's important to know when to be a sprinter & a marathon runner. Some campaigns require a burst of energy to get off the ground, others need consistent effort over a longer period of time.
Understanding how much effort to apply & when is 1 of the arts of a true PR pro.
I read about a company that:
- Laid off the *entire* PR team
- Assigned their work to marketing
Y'all, having marketing do PR is like hiring a chef to do open-heart surgery.
Some skills may transfer.
But the result is going to be catastrophic.
If you’re looking for a quick win, put your money in paid media, not earned media.
Don’t get me wrong, though.
We’ve gotten clients in publications like Wired, Forbes, and Business Insider within one month of working together.
And they’ve been able to use that recognition to
Contacts don't matter in PR.
What does matter:
- Understanding your industry, niche, & audience
- Knowing what publications and journalists to pitch
- Reserchin and crafting a compelling pitch
- Hyperpersonalizing to ensure acceptance
Rant over.
Sometimes, my best PR ideas come when I'm not working at all — during a morning walk, a late night read, or a weekend getaway.
Never underestimate the power of disconnecting from work.
I’ll:
- Only pitch newsworthy items
- Spend hours researching
- Write 10 subject lines & choose best one
- Hyperpersonalize for the journalist
- Get feedback from team members
- Only submit when I *know* it’s compelling
- Coach the client to nail the interview
TL;DR
PR is hard.
Journalists, we know pitching via email is king, but is there ever a time when you prefer to hear from a PR professional over the phone (or even social media) first instead?
Folks think you hire a PR firm, get featured in the WSJ a week later, and sail off in a mega yacht.
Look, we’re weaving a compelling narrative about your brand, getting the press to bite, and guarding your reputation.
That takes time.
Also, mega yachts are for the insecure.
In PR, people sleep on the trades because they’re blinded by the glimmer of top-tier publications.
That’s a huge mistake.
Placing our clients in the trades got:
— F100 execs to reach out & talk biz
— The WSJ asking for a feature/podcast appearance
One of the biggest mistakes I see PR pros making is to underestimate the value of local media.
First, a geographically contextual piece can have huge ROI. Second, if you include the local placement in a pitch to a big pub, it’s more likely to land.
PR bitter pill:
Reporters aren’t obliged to:
- Open your email
- Read your pitch
- Publish your story
Reporters aren’t even obliged to acknowledge your existence.
You have to earn it.
And as a PR pro who’s put in her 10,000 hours–
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Most PR is newsjacking, or ommenting on the current news cycle.
Which is hard because a million other people are doing it 24/7.
The real secret is to figure out what’s *not* being talked about.
I’ll give you an example.
In the first week of the pandemic, I pitched a
While PR certainly has growth hacks, there are no shortcuts to landing major coverage.
The more effort you put into research and pitching, the more placements you’ll land.
PR pros should only have a handful of clients at a time.
The time your PR professional has to focus on your pitch and your pitch only and the number of placements they land have a direct correlation.
PR pros, staying ahead means smart scheduling. Align your high-demand tasks with peak energy times.
Create an 'untouchable hour' in your day for strategic thinking, free from emails and calls.
It's not indulgent; it's essential for sustained high performance.
Smart PR agencies know that a 'strategic pause' can be a secret weapon.
Regular time-outs to reflect on goals, team well-being, and brand journeys keep campaigns sharp and strategies smarter.
PR professionals often have a tendency to overdo it when it comes to pitching journalists.
There’s a difference between hustling and being a crazy stalker…. Finding a journalist’s personal number and pitching their voicemail is not kosher.
In PR, no two days are the same. One day you're planning an event, the next you're firefighting a crisis or pitching a story.
I love the chaos - it keeps me on my toes & ensures that every day is a new learning experience.
I know I can’t be the only PR pro who feels like this!
The most underrated PR hack:
Adopt an abundance mindset.
Between the sheer number of publications out there and the human capacity for creative ingenuity, there’s always a home waiting for your pitch out there.
Hey founders, just a heads up: If you're not getting PR coverage, it's probably because you're pitching to the wrong journalists. It doesn't *necessarily* mean your business isn't interesting.
No, journalists do not *have* to read your pitch.
They get hundreds a day. They’re only interested in the ones that are meaningful to their audiences.
Want to stop getting ignored?
1. Find the right journalist
2. Craft a relevant pitch
3. Summarize it in the subject line
Boom.
If you keep sending the same sleep-inducing vanilla pitches to the same reporters, they’ll end up creating a filter that sends your emails straight to the trash.
Don’t. Pitch. Unless. You’re. Offering. Something. Compelling.
PR growth hack: Do things the slow way. Hand build your contact lists and pitch journalists 1 by 1.
Journalists don’t like BS. They’ll read right through the lines of your pitch (if they read) and quickly find out how much research you’ve done about them and their publication.
22 “easy” steps to get a client placed in a top-tier publication:
1. Research for 3-5 hours
2. Write catchy email subject line
3. Rewrite catchier email subject line
4. Write 5 more catchiest email subject lines
5. Write pitch
6. Share with team
7. Choose best subject line
8.