This is a rule I was taught way back in Journalism School. Being clear is better than being clever. It still holds true today.
When you are pitching the media to get press you need to take this simple rule to heart. It is important to be clear about what you are pitching. It is important to be clear about your message. It is important to be clear about who you are and what you do. Good PR and getting press is about being clear and direct. Don’t make anyone guess what you want, what you are pitching and why.
You might be thinking being clever will set you apart but it will only increase the chance your email pitch will get deleted even before it gets opened. After all, you want your story/idea pitch read, don’t you? Being clever doesn’t make you stand out from the crowd it just means you are not being clear. You want to make sure the producer or reporter is absolutely clear about the story you are pitching. You don’t want anyone to have to guess, wonder, assume what you mean, what you are pitching and why.
So one of the key rules to pitching journalists is to be clear, not clever.
Make the subject line of your email pitch clear. Tell the producer or reporter what it is you are doing.
- Story Pitch
- Story Idea
- Article Pitch
- Guest Blog Post
You should also have a clear headline for you pitch. Why are you writing the email? Again, be clear over clever. You want to make sure the journalist understands what the story is about from the subject line of the email, even before they click to open it.
- Be clear by using simple to understand words.
- Short sentences with simple language will help too.
- Stay away from cliche, industry jargon or buzz words, clever catch-phrases or slang. You don’t want to use anything in your pitch that might confuse, frustrate or irritate a journalist.
Remember, journalists get hundreds of emails a week (some even get that many every single day) and they have seen just about every clever email filled with bad jargon, buzz words, and industry tech slang. If you decide to go with clever over clear you will not stand out from the crowd, you will likely just get your pitch deleted. Journalists don’t want to waste their time reading through your email to figure out if your story idea is worth their time. They want to hook them with a clear, direct subject line that tells them what you are pitching and why.
Be clear not clever applies to anything you do when communicating with journalists, from the pitch right on down to the final press performance. Being clear will help you craft an effective pitch, build a great relationship with journalists and ultimately deliver a solid press performance.
