#JournoRequest: “Don’t phone me!”
It’s well known among PR pros in the UK that perusing the #JournoRequest hashtag on Twitter can help you identify writers who are looking for more information on a story they’re covering.
For those of us in the content marketing industry, this can be an amazing resource to earn media coverage on the fly. It isn’t often that journalists actually tell you what they’re looking for, so that benefit alone is worth spending five minutes perusing Twitter in the morning.
#JournoRequest may be an awesome resource for figuring out what types of content a writer is looking for, but what about general pitching advice?
Some top-tier journalists (writers at big-name publishers like The Guardian and The Telegraph, for example) receive up to 100 email pitches a day! It’s hard enough to stand out in their inbox without knowing their pitching preferences.
What if you could ask journalists for a tip or two on how they actually want to be pitched via email? How can content creators and public relations professionals earn media on websites like The Guardian, The Telegraph and Metro UK?
We wondered the same thing, and that’s why Fractl surveyed 25 journalists, editors and online writers from the UK to learn more about their email pitch preferences in 2019. Read on to learn how to best serve them by following their advice, directly from their own mouths (or keyboards)!
Scroll through the flipbook to learn exactly what journalists in the UK want to see from PR pros in 2019 (as well as what they don’t)!
Relevance
A staff writer from The Guardian covering politics explains that irrelevance is a waste of time for everyone involved.
“It’s probably not worth your time or mine if you can’t name the main story areas I cover. If you pitch something my publication would never run, I will probably distrust any email you send in the future.”
Figure out not only what they’re interested in, but also what their website actually publishes before pitching your content.
Simplicity
A staff editor covering travel for The Telegraph only wants to be pitched clear and simple ideas.
“Please make sure it’s a story you could explain in a sentence or less; otherwise, it’s not a good idea.”
If you’re lucky enough that a busy journalist at a publisher like The Telegraph even opened your email, try to cut to the chase so that they don’t have to spend too much time trying to figure out what you want to say.
Don’t Follow Up
A staff writer covering entertainment for Metro UK hates follow-up emails.
“Get my name right; check what I write about; don’t follow up. If I haven’t responded, it means that the pitch is not of interest.”
While a previous Fractl study found that follow-ups are extremely important for earning media placements, some writers can’t stand them. Once you know that a particular writer only wants one email per pitch, it’s best to listen to their preferences.
Conclusion
Every journalist has their own pet peeves when it comes to receiving email pitches. That’s why it’s so important to record and act on any trends you notice in the feedback you receive from online writers. Help your pitch stand out with these tips from UK journalists, and get your content featured on top-tier UK publications.
Methodology
We collected over 500 responses from online journalists, writers and bloggers (either employed by an online publisher or working as a freelance contributor). We asked respondents a series of questions about PR pitches and their work in online publishing. The above flipbook is their direct responses (edited for grammar) to two questions we asked them in a 2019 survey.
