PR Pitch From Hell - Flacks: White Space is Your Friend!

Dear Flacks: White space is your friend. And don't say "Booyah!" in a pitch. This is among the worst I've received. The site was interesting, but to protect the guilty, I've left out the name of the company and the publicist. It's not so much what she said, but how she said it. Because I am, indeed, interested in social media marketing metrics.

"Wanted to share with you how New York advertising agency ABC is leveraging social media monitoring for their campaigns. With social media now a ubiquitous and powerful force for consumer empowerment, and with consumer vigilantes taking to the blogosphere, message boards, and social networks, now more than ever agencies need a way to monitor the online consumer dialogue. Early-adopters have long known the socialized web to be a source of underground information--and it has only been in the last year that business has taken serious note of this huge cultural shift-- the democratization of information and the empowerment of the consumer through unregulated self-expression. ABC is using XYZ's real-time social media monitoring for their client campaigns and have found the intelligence vital. Not only are they able to monitor a campaign's successes or weak spots in real time, but it allows ABC to adjust campaigns as needed on the fly. XYZ's product, DEF, provides real time data from blogs, message boards, and social networks, reporting both hard metrics such as inbound links and soft metrics such as tonal sentiment. One of the best features is XYZ blog "blank" monitoring which precisely targets top influencers within specific online communities. The result for ABC & their clients: campaigns with higher ROI's through precise execution based on real time feedback. Booyah!"

Tips for better email pitches:
- don't be cute in the subject line
- don't be mysterious in the subject line
- say what the pitch is about in the subject line
- Keep the pitch short
- Explain it in one or two short sentences, max
- break the content into bulleted points or short paragraphs
- Use white space between paragraphs
- Don't say "I just found your blog ..."
- Don't say "I'm sure you'll want to cover this"
- Keep it short
- Make a point
- Don't say Booyah!

Wow - I suppose the person forgot to read your post about how to pitch you from your MarketingSherpa interview. By the way, you said "don't be cute in the subject line". What was the subject of this email for future reference? Thanks, Cece

Sounds like BuzzLogic. If I'm right, do I get a prize? ;-)

Nathan - can't say, but no prizes. :>)
BL

Drat, fair enough :)