Read Before Pitching

Any PR person worth his or her salt will tell you that the number one rule for media pitching is to read the media outlet – and even better, the journalist – before you ever pick up the phone or tap out an email.

I am FaceBook friends with freelance writers, I follow editors and reporters from places like the New York Times and NBC News on Twitter, and of course I read several blogs per day. But working with mainstream media still constitutes a very large share of the work we do, and I still read a lot of media the old fashioned way – in print, after the mailman or newspaper delivery person drops it off.

I work from a home office, and my mail carrier has to wonder what in the heck goes on in here.  Here’s a sampling of the magazines he has delivered to my door over the past few days: Washington Technology, Information Week, Franchise Times, Water Utility Management, CRN, Working Mother and Equipment World.

I view online versions when I can, but sometimes the best way to get a feel for a magazine, a section or a columnist is still to pick it up a couple of months in a row, flip through the pages, hold it in your hands and read it. 

Want extra brownie points with a client? Pick up the scissors, cut out an article they’d find interesting, and drop it in the mail with a stamp and a handwritten note. Or, better yet, bring it to your next client meeting and hand it over in person. It’s old fashioned, I know. But it works.