Affsum Session: The Ultimate Pitching Guide

Date: Sunday, January 11th, 2009.  Session 2d, 1:30pm.
Session Description:  Experts share their best (and most outrageous) secrets for getting attention from merchants, media and the masses. You’ll learn the tips, tricks and techniques to get the attention you seek. The panel consisted of:

• Lisa Picarille, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Revenue Magazine (Moderator)
• Anita Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, SmallBizTrends.com
• Jim Kukral, Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com
• Peter Shankman, Founder, Help a Reporter (HARO)

I was looking forward to this panel, and it didn’t disappoint.  I also learned that Peter Shankman never needs more coffee – he’s animated enough as it is!

Bullet Point Review!

• A good pitch solves a problem.
• This might be common sense, but DON’T PLAGIARIZE!
  • Make sure you have a discussion with young PR people that plagiarizing is NOT ok.
• Know who you’re pitching to!  It will help determine the angle of your pitch.
• Resource: The Bad Pitch Blog
• Take 5 seconds and read what a reporter wants & oblige – that will get you in the door to just follow submission directions.
• No attachments – filters often delete those emails.
• A reporter must be able to get the point of your pitch in 7 seconds.
• Getting attention from a blogger is different than getting attention from traditional media.
  • Leave comments consistently to get noticed.
• If you develop a personal relationship, it’ll help.
• Use the reporter’s name in blog posts.
• Make your pitch sound like a scoop, like you’re an industry insider.
• Do something timely and a little different to get noticed.
• Book: Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work–And Why Your Company Needs Them
• Some reporters now will only accept pitches via Twitter.
  • If you can’t pitch in 140 characters, you need to work on brevity anyway.
• Try live streaming and letting people interact with you in real time.
• Twitter has replaced focus groups with the use of search.
• Publish your news wherever you can, like blogs.
• Book: Marketing Outrageously: How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts!
• Press releases will be obsolete very soon.
• Resource: Twittering Journalists Wiki

I don’t remember there actually being a Q&A in this session.  If there was, I think I included any good points in my notes already.

Overall this was an excellent session.  They really didn’t use any slides, so I can’t share any.  But with a session like this, it was more about their past experience and real-world knowledge than any special slides or data.