Want to tell the media about your company? You need an effective pitch letter that’s short, sweet and ready for email. Check out this recent pitch letter from JPR Communications, describing ProStor Systems’ growing channel program. Your PR efforts should follow JPR’s lead.
The entire pitch from JPR read as follows:
“ProStor Systems has signed up more than 30 VARs for its ProAlliance Partner Program in five months for its InfiniVault archive and compliance appliance, the only removable disk system on the market. The VARs are involved in finance, government, healthcare and legal, to name a few. If you would like to talk with Bill Lewis, ProStor vp of sales, or need additional information on the news release pasted below, just let me know.”
In three short sentences, JPR Communications managed to:
- Describe multiple facts, figures and milestones for ProStor’s channel program
- Describe why ProStor claims to be unique
- Indicate which markets ProStor serves
- Offer up an interview with a ProStor executive
Memo to PR folks across the tech landscape: Stop writing long pitch letters. You have four sentences or less to grab the media’s attention. Fill those sentences with facts, figures, a clear company description and a call to action. And make sure you understand the media platform’s target reader.
Full disclosure: The VAR Guy isn’t very familiar with ProStor — but at least he understands the company’s elevator pitch, thanks to good PR.
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The pitch tip is spot on. It’s almost the same strategy as the first paragraph in a press release. Be sure to have the most important information there. Bullet points are also helpful if more information needs to be included after the paragraph. It’s easier for journalists to read. For another great pitch idea, check out http://shankman.com/spectacular-pitch-jenny-parks/
On the flip side, be sure to read The Bad Pitch Blog to learn from others’ mistakes. http://badpitch.blogspot.com/
PR TIP
As you know, reporters are constantly looking for sources. They’re always writing stories, reporting on something, and always need experts in the field of whatever they’re reporting.
Problem is, they don’t often know how to find them.
On the flip side, if you’re an expert at something (And come on, everyone’s an expert at SOMETHING,) how do you let the media know you’re available to talk and be quoted when they’re writing a story?
Well, I joined a free mailing list that solves both problems.
Basically, reporters send the list owner queries about what they’re working on. (”I’m writing a story on farming, and I need someone in NYC who’s grown a windowsill garden,” or “I’m doing a story on General Electric, and need a financial analyst who covers them.”)
Peter (a rather high-energy, but seemingly decent guy (www.shankman.com) puts these all queries together, and emails them out, three times a day. There are usually anywhere between 10 and 25 queries per email, organized so you can read all of them in about five seconds. If any work for you, simply scroll down, and email the reporter with your details and why you’re an expert. If they don’t, simply delete them.
It’s that incredibly simple. Like most brilliant things are.
Oh yeah – it’s all free. The list has over 12,000 members that have joined since it launched three months ago, why not be one of them! Members have been quoted in everything from the NY Times to CNN to the Washington Post to the NY Daily News to Fox News to TV to radio to bloggers around the world.
Sign up here: http://www.helpareporter.com
If you’re a journalist and want to submit a query: Submit it here: http://www.helpareporter.com/press
That’s it! Use it well, happy quoting!