The three S’s of pitching

I’ve bounced around on a couple of topics on this blog. But one of the most common cries for help/lashing out in anger I see around PR is over the pitch. I’m not sure how many PR people have actually been pitched before, but it can be quite annoying at times.

So, I want to offer my perspective on pitching. I used to be a reporter and, while I wasn’t on an TechCrunch or ReadWriteWeb scale, I did have a lot of other work to do and the pitches would frustrate me. That being said, I’ve come up with my Three S’s of Pitching: sincere, succinct and scalable.

Sincere

I talked about being genuine recently and sincerity goes hand in hand with that. You are asking a busy reporter to take the time to talk to/cover/link to your client. Provide that person some legitimate reason why you believe this is important. This is about believing in the brands/clients/products you represent. Here are some tips on sincerity:

• Avoid hype language. If you claim to be a leader, attribute the source.
• Be humble. Acknowledge the blogger’s position and that you appreciate any time they might be able to give.
• Be newsworthy. In journalism, it’s called the news hook. What is different or unique or special about this news or pitch that makes it newsworthy?
• Diction. The words you choose carry great weight. Only one product can be unique. It is not fairly unique.
• Show don’t tell. Remember that old axiom? It’s so applicable when pitching. Give details to support your claim and make sure they’re accurate.

Succinct

By keeping your messages short and to the point, you’ll endear yourself to, well, anybody really. When I was in college, I invented a word — “concisification.” A verb exists as well — “concisify.” The general premise is to take what you’ve written and rewrite it in half the space.

Simple enough, right? But to quote Mark Twain, “If I had more time, I’d write a shorter letter.” And it’s true. So how do you concisify something?

• Active, not passive. Avoid passive voice like the plague. That is all.
• Dead construction. This is a tricky one. Phrases such as “There is…” or “There are…” rob you of space. Instead of “There is new features…” Simply state “New features…”
• Be assertive. Phrases such as “This product could very well be the next big thing” shows weakness and is not compelling. “This product is the next big thing.” Is tighter, more active and easier to read.
• Avoid excessive similes and metaphors. Overusing these literary tools is like using a jack hammer to remove a tooth. Sure, it may work, but it can be quite painful.

Scalable

Let’s face it, we’re busy too. The expectation is that every pitch sent is a perfect, unique display of your PR prowess. But how realistic is this? The product pitch is essential and needs to be deployed at the ready.

So, a good pitch is scalable and can be sent out to different contacts but still be effective. I think that really, this is as simple as having a Word or Google Doc with the generic text in it. But deploy it from there. Don’t copy/paste from an email or use the forward feature. Mistakes can happen. Other tips on making your pitch scalable:

• Micro pitch it. Use social media to spread the word.
• Force it viral. Have your client send out a brief email to its contact base and ask colleagues/partners to post to Twitter and other networks.
• Incorporate the sincerity and succinctness described above.

So, there you have the three S’s of pitching. What methods do you use? What are some successful tactics you’ve used in the past?