One of my favorite PR websites is The Bad Pitch Blog.  For us PR geeks, it’s a great place to get a laugh at the expense of some other publicist.

It is also a great reminder of the embarrassment you can suffer if you don’t pitch responsibly.  I have vowed that I never, ever wanted to see one of my pitches on the site, and I have accumulated a few tips over the years that any publicist can follow to keep themselves off the Bad Pitch Blog. These may seem like common sense, but the folks at the Bad Pitch Blog have proof that there are plenty of publicists who don’t know how to pitch responsibly, and seriously, those few are just making us all look bad.

To keep yourself off the Bad Pitch Blog always remember:

Do your research: Before you pitch a journalist, take a moment to research their publication and their past work.  Then, instead of blanketing everyone with one generic pitch, customize your pitch to each journalist. Just show journalists you did some homework, I promise they will appreciate it.  I once met a freelance journalist for lunch, and she told me she responded to my cold pitch and wrote about my client because I was the only publicist to actually google her, go to her website, read which publications she wrote for and what subjects she covered, and reference her past work in my pitch.  She has since become a great contact and has written about a number of my clients.

Tell a good story:  Send an INTERESTING pitch.  You are trying to sell your client and make someone want to write about them, so make sure you don’t bore them.  This also means spell check your work and make sure there are no typos.  It only takes a couple of seconds and it really does make a difference.

Be Patient: Relationships take time to build and it takes awhile to earn a journalist’s trust and respect.  And don’t expect instant results from your pitches. I have often sent a pitch and six months later gotten a response, when the journalist was finally working on a story that my client was a fit for.  This also means you do not need to follow up with editors every day and leave 30 messages.  Trust me, they got the first message.

Be available and ready:  Journalists are often working on tight deadlines, so if you pitch them a story, be proactive and anticipate what an editor will ask for and have it ready, whether it’s quotes, photos, information, or a representative to interview.  This is especially crucial if you are pitching breaking news.

Don’t take shortcuts:  Finally, and most importantly, even though there are a lot of tools and technology to help publicists do their jobs these days, there are still no shortcuts.  You still have to do the work if you want to be noticed in the sea of publicists, so don’t be lazy!

What other tips would you recommend for pitching responsibly?