Remember To Include This In Your Emails To Journalists

Photo by Brett Jordan

Hi everyone

Hope you're well.

Remember when you're pitching or answering a ResponseSource to explain what your or the company you represent actually does. I often receive emails eagerly replying to a call out with things like 'CableRA' can comment on this and then detailing the ways they can get involved. Or similarly just people introducing their companies to me by email and yes with a handy hyperlink but not providing any description as to what the business is. A description is such a simple (and necessary) point to add and can mean the difference between a time-poor journalist just deleting your email (as you know some of us are receiving hundreds a day) and choosing to respond to another email which has explained what kind of company it is you're talking about.

Some good news: I'm back on the road again! Well, I've just booked to hold my first physical PR workshop in London in almost two years on December 16. I hope some of you can make it. Please do share with your teams or contacts. I'm holding it in north London as it's a much bigger space than my previous London venue.

Also, if you can't make it, fear not. There's LOADS of tips throughout my online course, Lessons from a Journalist: How to Secure Press Coverage, which is packed with detail on everything from how to write a successful press release to interesting ways to build relationships with journalists. There's now 10% off the course. Just enter the code Winter10 at the checkout*.

Also, head below to check out the AMAZING email I received (without any prompt!) hours after a PR enjoyed a successful Power Hour with one of the brilliant journalists in my network.

Have a lovely rest of the week.

Thanks

Susie

ps If you have attended the same-name workshop or webinars, you're entitled to 50% off my course. Just drop me an email and I'll sort it out for you.
 

One Small Way To Build Relationships With Journalists Right Now

Hi everyone

Just a quick newsletter as I write this from the picturesque moors outside of Conwy in north Wales where I'm wild camping for the night.

I know many people are wondering how to build relationships with journalists during these strange times, given the opportunity for face-to-face contact has fallen off a cliff since start of the pandemic.

But you don't need to have had coffee after coffee or cocktail after cocktail with a journalist to consider yourselves to have a strong relationship. There are many people working in comms and founders of businesses that I have a great relationship with – and are my go-to for case studies and experts – who I have never met in person. How to achieve that features heavily in my course and webinars but I'll just give a recent example of how you can slowly get on that path.

After an article I wrote appeared in the Guardian on Saturday, one of the people I featured emailed me first thing in the morning to thank me for including him, telling me he was thrilled with being included and had shared the piece with his family. It obviously meant a lot for him to be in the paper and him sharing how it had made his day was a lovely way to start the morning, especially as the van we had hired had broken down on Junction 21 of the M1 the night before, leaving us stranded on the emergency lane for three hours. That's another story. But the expert's kind words and obvious gratitude to email me first thing on Saturday highlights how relationships can be started and nurtured even in this digital age by a simple and easy 'thank you'.

Enjoy the rest of the week and the upcoming weekend,

Susie