Most of these letters are messages from PR people asking to publish some press release. But only a few of these materials make it to the site. Firstly, because many releases, unfortunately, are made on the principle of “that’ll do”: they are uninteresting and irrelevant. Secondly, because some PR people are lazy or simply do not know how to write cover letters. In large media outlets, not all releases are trashed, sometimes they are read. The thing is that releases can become newsbreaks or a source of valuable information for readers. This helps attract traffic. So how can a PR person or marketer write a letter so that the editorial office opens it, reads it and posts the release? I propose to analyze typical mistakes using real examples and derive a formula for a good letter for the media.
Design of the letter
Some letters are sent to the trash just because of the subject. The editorial office will almost certainly not open a letter with the subject line “Press release”, “Please post information”, “Article for editorial consideration”, and so on. Even if there is a colon after these words and some gist is conveyed – the editorial office is already bored and has realized that you need jeans. The surest way to finally “dissuade” the editor from publishing a release is to formulate the essence of the material poorly. For example, “Article for editorial consideration: “Training, motivation, mood, nutrition and sleep.” Perhaps the sender considers the subject of the letter successful – interesting, clear and concise. But the editor will see a set of random nouns and will not open the letter. And yes, DO NOT WRITE THE SUBJECT IN CAPS. It won’t make you more noticeable, but it can spoil the overall impression. Well, try to avoid typos.
A phone number database is a list of phone phone number database numbers, usually organized for purposes like marketing, sales, or reaching out to customers. This list often includes extra information such as the person’s name, address, and other details about them, along with their phone number. It’s important to follow the law when using these databases, especially rules like GDPR, TCPA, and CAN-SPAM, which need permission from the users for marketing. These databases are usually bought from companies that gather data or collected through online forms, surveys, or other methods where people agree to share their information.
Preheader first sentence
Even if the subject of the letter aroused the editor’s interest, it does not mean that he will open it. In addition to the subject, the mail displays a preheader – a piece of the first phrase of the letter. And it can ruin everything. The worst phrase to start a letter with is “We’ve been communicating remotely for a long time.” If you write letters and the editors ignore them, it doesn’t mean you’re communicating remotely. And yes, why remind them about yourself if you’ve been “communicating remotely for a long time”? Another ridiculous formulation: “What if you want to publish some of this?” But what if you don’t?
In my opinion, the word “want” is not applicable at all in the context of editor – material – media. In any media there is at least: a) editorial policy; b) agenda. And also readers’ expectations, advertisers’ demands, etc., etc. If a site writes about marshmallows and unicorns, then it is useless to offer articles on how to open a bottle of port with pliers. A good way to start a letter is with the phrase “You’ve written about… / You’ve published material about…”. The editors will open such a letter at least to see what’s going on with the material. And here you are – whoops! – you’ve caught the editor and almost handed him your release. Although there are nuances here too.
Contents of the letter
In the main part of the letter, PR people make the following classic mistakes.they write to the wrong address; they write without first studying defining buyer personas is key to lead generation the site; attribute some of their own problems, interests or expectations to the editorial board. Sometimes all at once.
Advice for PR people
Do your job well. Sloppy work is always visible. The media will not cooperate with a person who slops: if he cannot do well for himself, he will not do well for others. Study the site carefully before sending the release. Understand how you can hook the editors, what benefit you can bring to the audience. Disguise it. Calling a release a release is pornography. Call it a study, survey results or rating – that would be erotica. The most important thing is that the afb directory content is relevant, and that the anchor or main part of the letter actually contains something informative and worthwhile. In this regard, Roskachestvo, Avito, HeadHunter, SuperJob and Yula make good releases.
Situation
But seriously, such division by topics only exists in industry-specific media. General-purpose authors usually work in broad-based media. And even if they are assigned specific topics, they don’t go into them in depth, because the general reader is not interested in it, and won’t understand it. If the organization you represent has a narrow specialization, it is better to write to thematic/industry media. Or expand on the topic.
But the letter, naturally, did not end with responsible subsoil use:“We believe it is important to keep the editorial team informed about thematic news, regularly share important information, provide background for articles…”
What seems important to you may not seem important to the editor. Not because he is mean and stubborn, but because the topic is not interesting to the audience. Before offering any information and facts, be sure to look at what topics the site covers.