Include This Sentence in Your Pitch

Issue #1270 Oct. 27, 2018
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

1. Include This Sentence in Your Pitch
2. A Sample Pitch for Authors
3. Checklist to Launch/Relaunch a Website
4. Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

I’m volunteering as a literacy tutor through my local literacy council. Today, I’ll participate in three hours of training and then be assigned my first student. Each tutoring session, about an hour, requires at least an hour of prep time, including creating a lesson plan. I was surprised to learn that most of the students are from eastern Europe. I’m making a six-month commitment.

1. Include This Sentence in Your Pitch

When pitching a story idea to traditional media, influential citizen journalists, bloggers, and podcasters, you can score points if you set yourself apart from all the other subject matter experts in your niche.

One way to do that is to mention the content you’ve created at your own blog, YouTube channel, podcast, website or on your Facebook page. For example, I might include this in my pitch:

“As a publicity expert, I answer questions, give how-to tips and share success stories from small business owners in the more than 2,000 blog posts about publicity and marketing at The Publicity Hound blog and at Entrepreneur.com.

That tells them, “I know my topic and I help people.”

You can even use this sentence long before you pitch. Follow the influencers on social media, link to your content and invite them to use you as a resource. After you’ve established the relationship, you can pitch later.

To do: If you don’t know where to find the influencers who can help you, let me hunt for some of them for you, and then show you how to do it yourself. During a Rent My Brain session, I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of identifying your target market and finding your ideal customers and influencers online and offline. We use GotoMeeting which allows you to see my screen as I’m recording the session. You get a copy of the video and all my notes, leaving you free to pay attention and ask questions instead of scribbling notes and trying to keep up with me. Read more about how to Rent My Brain.

#PRPitch #Influencers

2. A Sample Pitch for Authors

If you’ve perfected the pitch for your book, congratulations. The pitch is the most important 15 seconds in the life of your book.

But the pitch that’s perfect for a reviewer won’t suffice if you’re pitching a bookstore, a radio show, a blogger, a book club, a podcaster, or people who can donate money for your crowdfunding campaign. Each pitch requires a different approach and details.

Let’s say you want to interview an expert for a fiction or nonfiction book you’re writing. Here’s a sample pitch I created for you:

Hi (Mr. or Ms. Last Name):

Your expertise as (occupation or area of expertise) makes you a valuable source for the (book or novel) I’m writing for (target audience), (title of book).

I am looking for (explain what you need and what the book is about.)

Would you agree to a (what kind of interview and how long) interview within (time period) at a time most convenient for you? I can send you the three most pertinent points I would like you to elaborate on during the call.

(Explain what’s in it for the expert. What will you do in return?)

To market the book, I’m planning (explain how you will market it and how you will help promote THEIR book.)

If you agree, please suggest the best time and date for a call. I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

(Use your email signature that includes your name, company name, shipping address, phone number and a link to your website.)

To do: That’s one of the templates you’ll find in my “19 Quick & Easy Ways to Pitch Your Book.” The digital learning tool includes a 116-page instructional guide, a Media Database Template that helps you easily keep track of the media outlets you’re pitching, and the 19 templates plus corresponding samples so you can see exactly what each should look like. We’re offering the package for half price through Monday night. It’s the only training I know of that walks you step by step through “the art of the pitch” and provides ready-to-go templates. Save time and sanity. See what’s included in “19 Quick & Easy Ways to Pitch Your Book.”

#BookMarketing #PitchYourBook

3. Checklist to Launch/Relaunch a Website

When you’re done building a website and ready to launch, or relaunching a revised sited, website expert Pete Prestipino recommends you ask these questions:

• How long does it take to load?
• What does it look like in different browsers?
• Do you I enough quality content to keep people interested?

Here’s my favorite question: Is my shipping address, phone number and email address on the homepage?

To do: See Pete’s article “The Big Website Checklist–a Basic But Comprehensive Guide for Launching or Relaunching a Website.”

#WebsiteLaunch #WebsiteTips

4. Hound Video of the Week

Get past the dumb introduction and enjoy more than three minutes of hysterical dog Halloween costumes.

[Tweet “#PublicityTips — Include This Sentence in Your Pitch #PRPitch #Influencers”]