The 5 Mistakes to Avoid when Pitching (from Mediabistro.com)

Mediabistro.com put up a great post by freelance writer and book publicist Marian Schembari on its blog about the 5 mistakes to avoid when pitching - everything from blindly emailing press releases to sending irrevelant pitches. The key to the perfect pitch? Personalize it. Marian writes these 5 tips below:
  1. "Hello New York Journalist” is not a greeting. New York Journalist will stop reading there. Even if the pitch is perfect and 100% relevant – if it hasn't been addressed an actual person, it's is going in the bin. Take five minutes and find a name.
  2. Acknowledge something by said journalist. Reference an article or award. No need to be gimmicky or go overboard on the praise, just stick to why the product is worth their time. Ex: if pitching a book on automobiles to the auto blogger for the Times, say something like, “I read your piece on the new Mercedes. Our author, Bob Jones, loved that car and spends a whole chapter in his new book discussing the features.”
  3. But don’t suck up. Chris Brogan [of New Marketing Labs] just posted on his blog, “Skip the flattery. PR types: starting with ‘I love your blog’ and then pitching me something I could care less about is a bit of a mismatch.” Agreed.
  4. Avoid words like “awesome” (yes, people actually use this word in professional letters).
  5. Stick to the point. If it's necessary to include a press release, do so after the signature. That gives the reader the option to ignore it. Being faced with a bunch of text right from the get-go is nothing but a deterrent. So give a brief summary, hook them, and then give the option to read further.
- Marian Schembari

You can read the original post here.

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