How to write a Cold Email Pitch to Get Press Coverage — Pressfarm

When you first start your company, you want to grow it. You want to get results as quickly as you possibly can. However, like everything that you need to work at, it takes time. You may not have the revenue to create exposure for your business, but once you learn how to pitch, things will work out in an effective way.

In this guide, we will go into detail about:

• What is a cold email?
• Key components of writing an email pitch
• How to write a cold email

What is a cold email?

You’ve got to start somewhere right? Even though they are widely discouraged in the marketing industry, they are email messages that are sent out without any previous relationship or conversation with the journalists or their media outlets. It can be harder than most communication because, as mentioned before, you don’t have a relationship yet and you lack non-verbal feedback, so you can’t modify your approach.

But, they do and can work. Lots of people and startups have been launched through cold emails. Not a lot of research has been done about the effectiveness of cold emailing but, from what has been shown is that an effective cold email does these things:

• Tailor the message to the recipient
• Validate itself
• Focuses on the needs and wants of its audience
• Stays short, easy, and actionable
• Is appreciative

Would you like to have experts send for you the cold emails instead? That is where Pressfarm shines. At Pressfarm, we have helped hundreds of clients work on their email pitches, build their media lists and even send out the cold emails for them including follow-ups. Several of our clients have been successfully published in media outlets and industry blogs as a result of this strategy. Talk to us anytime to help out with your campaign.

1) Tailor the message to the recipient

Much like everything else, you need to do your research. When it comes to cold emails, you need to personalize the email as much as you can. To the journalists it shows that you have thought about who they are, how they see the world, what interests them and what they want. It also shows that you have put work into understanding them.

You need to include you are emailing them and not anyone else. People are more motivated to help others if they feel like they are uniquely qualified for the task and by telling them exactly where they fit in, you can tell a story that makes sense to

2) Validates itself

When we meet strangers, we want to get to know them. The same thing applies when you send an email pitch to people you don’t know. However, in this case YOU are the stranger. Do the research on the people that you are emailing. Since they don’t know anything about you. Show that they can trust you and you are a credible business.

One way that you can do that is to mention someone or something that you might have in common because it shows that you are no longer a stranger; there is a direct connection with them. However, if you also have any authority, credibility, or social status that might be relevant to the media outlet you are talking to, that helps as well. The more “important” you are, the more likely you are to get a response. But if you don’t, being part of the same industry and group is also an important connection. You can look for unexpected connections to bond.

3) Focus on what they want or need

If you have figured out a problem that the journalist’s audience might have, you can try and alleviate the problem by offering relief with your product or service. If you can solve a problem, you can equally give people something that they want. However, whatever you decide to provide or gift them, it needs to feel appropriate to the situation.

4) Keep it short, easy and actionable

Shorter emails are more likely to be read than long ones, especially ones that request clear, specific actions. One of the best ways to keep it short and simple is to write the way that you would talk. Make it sounds as natural as possible. Do as much work for your audience as you can. This makes them exert a certain amount of mental energy to make a decision that would be beneficial for the both of you. Ultimately give them the final decision depending on how you have presented yourself.

5) Be appreciative

You need to remember that you are asking someone that does not know you to do you a favor. If you were to express gratitude and vulnerability, you give them the feeling that they have that little rush of power and status because you are approaching them. This sounds like groveling, but this actually gets results.

Putting the ball in their court actually doubles response rates because you are thanking them for their time and effort. Even by thanking them for their time and telling them that it is fine if they are too busy makes them more likely to help you because it also gives them a way out.

Key Components to writing the perfect pitch

• The body of email is short but personalized
• The subject line is concise, but able to attract the reporter to open the email
• Addresses the reporter by name
• Sent to relevant journalists who write about your topic.
• If you already have a relationship and ready to pitch a story, you can explain why your press release would be beneficial to their publication
• Holds an emotional hook for reporters, so they want more information.
• Don’t use buzzwords

Tips to help your startup get noticed

When you first start out, it is important to spot your journalists. Send your emails to the right people. You want to make sure that you are finding the relevant journalists for your company. You can do that by following industry-related publications, searching on search engines or even better, asking Pressfarm to build a media list for you.

Before you even send an email, you need to do your research. You need to have prior knowledge and research about the audience and market you are trying to emerge in. Try and talk to other writers and gain all the knowledge you can.

In today’s world of journalism, it is important to have a social presence because everything is getting shared and posted through social media. You can even build relationships with journalists by following their profiles and offering comments on their articles in addition to sending cold emails.

Time to write

When it comes time to writing, it is important that you make a good impression. You need to keep your subject line short, concise and specific. Stay personal and don’t sound like a robot. Just straight into your story and don’t waste time on useless information, go by the 5 W’s.

It needs to be short and concise because journalists are getting so many pitches and emails sent to them daily. Use your own words and tell your story, appeal to people’s emotion.

Another way to attract media outlets is to add visually stimulating content to your pitch, you can even create video pitches with photos and graphics to build visual interest.

Ultimately, you want to be professional and allow journalists to contact you and finish your email with a question because it invites a reply and it raises interest. Pressfarm has cold email pitch templates you can learn or borrow from.

The Pitch Itself

The important thing is that when you pitch, you need to create something worth mentioning. It takes effort to broadcast to people, so it needs to be important. You also need to realize that it is a two-way street, you need to not only think of what the media outlets are doing for you, but what it is also doing for them.

Include this in your pitch because it will be what attracts press. Try and be yourself as much as possible, people like to be spoken to not only with respect but also in a language that they understand. Write and talk how you normally would if you talked to your family and friends.

To gain Maximum Impact

It is important that you pitch the right story at the right time, which means that you need to keep your emails current and appropriate for the situation. It is also important that you keep every email personal because no media outlet wants to be seen as one of the rest. It will make them more interested if they see that you really want to work with them and not just picking the one that gives you easier access.

You also need to give them advance notice because they plan for months on what they are going to post. Finally, avoid simple mistakes when writing an email or pitch because you could lose credibility and they don’t want to spend too much time fixing mistakes that you could have easily done yourself.

Follow-up

It is important that you are patient, but you have to ride the fine line between being persistent and being annoying. Give your contacts time to read what you have sent to them. If they haven’t sent a response, wait a few days to reach out again Even they say they are not interested, let them be and email other journalists.

You can also use other mediums to get your idea across. Do not underestimate current non-traditional ways to communicate because it can help you in the long run.

Conclusion

Figuring out how to write the perfect pitch is a work in progress. It is something that you keep learning. It takes some serious time and effort, but if you understand the audience you are trying to target and the things you can do to stand out from the competition, you will do a great job.

Cold email pitching can be tough, but keeping in mind the basics will get you a long way. Stay personal and make sure to include all the necessary information that will benefit you, the media outlets, and your audience because they need to know that you will go over and beyond compared to your competitors. Pay attention to every aspect of your email pitch from the introduction, the body, and the signature. Detailed information and a well-constructed signature can help get more traction and have a higher chance of getting read.

If all this is too much work, contact us at Pressfarm and we will take care of your campaign for you.

Originally published at https://press.farm on July 31, 2020.