Credit Union Industry Media Pitching: My Top Dos and Don'ts

Reporters Are People Too

They like to hear nice things. No one likes to feel like they're part of a cattle call where you copied and pasted a press release and blindly sent it to 50 reporters. So, do your research and make sure you're sending your pitch to the right person. Reporters often have certain topics they cover. So, I suggest reading some of the reporter's previous stories and personalizing your email. Consider adding a line (or compliment) about a story you recently read of theirs and why you think the story you're pitching is relevant to them. I promise this will help you earn brownie points, if not a possible media placement.

Subject Lines

For starters, do not, I repeat, do not ever just say "press release" in the subject line. This will ensure you're ignored. However, don't you worry – I've made my fair share of mistakes. I'm embarrassed to admit that when I got my start in media relations, I sent several media pitches that just included the name of my organization in the subject line – talk about a snooze fest. I quickly learned the error of my ways when I received zero responses. I say all that to emphasize that you shouldn't get down on yourself if you've done the same thing. We've all been there.

So, what can you do? While there are multiple approaches one can take for subject lines, I suggest using the subject line as your one-line pitch.

As an example, I recently received an email from Bethpage Federal Credit Union with the subject line "Bethpage Appoints First Female Chair." If I could capture a perfect subject line, this would be it. In one line, I learned the name of the credit union and the news hook (first female chair). I used information from this release for inclusion in the most recent People column. Here are a few additional tips to consider when writing subject lines:

• Consider this: If you could tell the story in one line, what would it be? Make that your subject line.
• Avoid using acronyms that aren't generally known.
• Practice brevity.
• Get creative. Make the person want to open your email (remember, curiosity killed the cat).
• Avoid using just the name of your organization, i.e. "Tahira Hayes Federal Credit Union."
• Avoid just saying "For Immediate Release."

The Body of an Email

In the media pitching class I recently took, one of the most important takeaways I got was that reporters are busy people, so do the work for them. Consider the following:

• Personalize your press release. Do not send the same text to every person in your contacts list.
• Get to the point quickly.
• Include the most important information in the first paragraph and why what you're sending is relevant.
• Go into further detail in the following paragraphs, including the who, what, where, why and how.
• Your email should not be more than one page. Remember, reporters are busy people and don't want to read a book-long press release.

Photos

Photos are a wonderful medium for enhancing a story or even telling a story better than words ever could. However, this is your opportunity to get creative. We've all seen the smiling check photo. It's generally two or more people holding an oversized check with font that may or may not be legible. The check often represents money an organization is giving away or money it's receiving. These photos literally make me want to take a nap. Let's get creative. Consider an action shot demonstrating what the money was used for. For example, if your credit union donated money to a school reading program, take a picture of the kids from the program reading books. Here are some other photo tips:

• Action is always better than inaction.
• Avoid large photos that could potentially crash a reporter's email.
• Use the rule of thirds when taking photos (if you don't know what that is, Google it).
• Include short captions identifying the names of people in the photo.

Attachments

I'm just going to be honest here folks, I hate attachments (except when it comes to photos). Plus, they often cause emails to go into the spam folder. In my media pitching class, they told us to not ever include an attachment. I think this is a bit extreme, but I would suggest including your press release/media pitch in the body of an email versus attaching it to an email.

Persistence

Persistence is essential in any successful media placement. I always suggest a follow-up email or call. But remember – be persistent, but not annoying.

So, the next time you're preparing a pitch, I hope you consider these tips. Feel free to send me an email if you have any additional suggestions to include!

Tahira Hayes is a Correspondent-at-Large for CU Times. She can be reached at thayes@cutimes.com.