{"id":8776,"date":"2018-08-25T22:31:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T22:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/tips\/?p=8776"},"modified":"2024-04-25T17:36:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T17:36:40","slug":"9-opening-lines-that-doom-your-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/tips-of-the-week\/9-opening-lines-that-doom-your-pitch\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Opening Lines That Doom Your Pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Issue #1252 Aug. 25,\u00a02018
\nPublisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”<\/h2>\n

In This Issue<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. 9 Opening Lines That Doom Your Pitch<\/li>\n
  2. 23 Hidden Instagram Hacks<\/li>\n
  3. Yet Another Way to Tweet Tips<\/li>\n
  4. Hound\u00a0Video\u00a0of the Week<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This Weekend in the Hound House:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I’m heading home today from Denver, where I spoke twice yesterday at the Author You Extravaganza. Summer’s almost gone, and I have canned nothing so far. The peach truck is long gone. The beets I bought and stored in the fridge turned gross. Apples and pears are right around the corner. Next year, I promise to be more diligent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    1. 9 Opening Lines That Doom Your Pitch<\/h3>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    I always cringe a little when someone sends me an email pitch and opens it with “Hey Joan.”<\/p>\n

    “Hi Joan” tells me you’re serious, businesslike and well-mannered. The informal “hey,” used mostly by Millennials, makes me think you’re sitting there in a dirty T-shirt, wolfing down take-out from a white cardboard container.<\/p>\n

    I thought it was just me until I read that former Chicago Tribune metro editor Mark Jacob<\/strong> dislikes that greeting too. It’s even on his list of dreadful opening lines that force him to hit “Delete.”<\/p>\n

    Here’s another. Don’t try too hard to be clever, Mark says, or use hip jargon like this:<\/p>\n

    “I’m writing to suggest a barktacular story idea for Chicago Tribune with some useful tips on how Chicago dog lovers can build a stronger connection with their furry BFFs.\u201d<\/p>\n

    My beef: Use the correct name of the company you’re pitching. Don’t say, “I’d like to write for Publicity Hound.” My trademark company name is “The Publicity Hound.” Growl.<\/p>\n

    To do:<\/strong> Read Mark’s seven other opening line boo-boo’s and his five positive practices in his article “9 dreadful opening line errors that will doom your pitch.<\/a>” And forgive me if I ever emailed you with “Hey.”<\/p>\n

    #PRPitches #MediaRelations<\/p>\n

    2. 23 Hidden Instagram Hacks<\/h3>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Ever wonder why some people on Instagram have bios that stand out from most because they’re using elegant, luxurious or eye-popping fonts?<\/p>\n

    Sure, you can use emojis, but that’s as far as your creativity goes. Here are two ways to access fancy fonts for Instagram, courtesy of Braden Becker<\/strong> who writes for Hubspot’s blog:<\/p>\n

    On mobile, use a website like LingoJam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    On a laptop or desktop, Font Space<\/a> has a library of fonts you can download and copy into your bio in seconds.<\/p>\n

    To do:<\/strong> See Braden’s simple step-by-step instructions in his article “23 Hidden Instagram Hacks and Features Everyone Should Know About.”<\/a><\/p>\n

    #Instagram #InstagramHacks<\/p>\n

    3. Yet Another Way to Tweet Tips<\/h3>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Publicity Hound Stephanie Callahan<\/strong> has been following the items here on how to tweet tips so they read like an article.<\/p>\n

    She saw my suggestion last week on how to tweet the tips backward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Stephanie does it an easier way: by simply writing the introductory tweet first and then retweeting that tweet every time she wants to add a tip. See the results here.<\/a> I think that’s how Kevin Williams<\/strong> did it. And their way is better than mine because it shows the larger type in the introductory tweet.<\/p>\n

    To do:<\/strong> Let me know when you read something here and when you think I’m wrong or when you have a better way to do it. That’s what I love about my community of Publicity Hounds. Just click “Reply.”<\/p>\n

    #TwitterTips #Twitter<\/p>\n

    4. Hound\u00a0Video of the Week<\/h3>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Meatball<\/strong>, an adorable Corgi, loves running on the carousel in his backyard so much that he doesn’t want to get off. And when he gets off, well, watch what happens…<\/a><\/p>\n[Tweet “#PublicityTips — 9 Opening Lines That Doom Your Pitch #PRPitches”]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week<\/h2>\n

    – Issue #1252 Aug. 25, 2018<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. 9 Opening Lines That Doom Your Pitch\n<\/li>\n
    2. 23 Hidden Instagram Hacks<\/li>\n
    3. Yet Another Way to Tweet Tips<\/li>\n
    4. Hound Video of the Week<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":3,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[217,29,537,506],"class_list":{"0":"post-8776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tips-of-the-week","8":"tag-instagram","9":"tag-media-relations","10":"tag-pr-pitches","11":"tag-twitter-tips","12":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}