PR Tips from a Journalist

I get a lot of PR pitches every day. A lot. Some are way better than others -- those get read. The rest end up "spiked" -- that's old-fashioned newspaper-speak for "deleted." The worst of those end up being inspiration for my #PRFail rants on Twitter (like this and this and this and this).

PR friends, you don't want your pitch to end up in one of those tweets.

Luckily, there are plenty of things PR people can do to improve the odds that their pitch gets noticed. I spent part of this afternoon with my friends at Team LEWIS, talking to their staffers about what PR professionals absolutely must do -- and absolutely must not do -- to get on a journalist's good side. Here are my notes:

The first thing you absolutely must do: due diligence

Good editors remind their reporters to trust but verify their sources, and PR people should do the same with their press lists. Make sure you do your due diligence! That means you must:

·      Know the journalist: What does he currently cover? Does she still work for the same publication she did last time you reached out? Does he use his full name or a nickname? Does she prefer emails or phone calls? Is "Chris" male or female?

·      Know the outlet: Take a look at their latest two or three issues, or at their website (and not just the home page! If the website has multiple landing pages or sections, take a quick look at as many of them as possible). Do they still cover the same topics or products they did before? Is your client or product a fit?

·      Know what’s already out there: Who are your client’s competitors? Is there something similar already out there? What makes your client different from them?

·      Know what’s already been written: Has the publication or reporter you’re pitching to written about a similar product before? If so, it’s unlikely they’ll write about your client, and may be irritated by your pitch.

·      Know your product: If a reporter responds to your pitch and wants to know more information, have that info handy and reply right away. Saying “I’ll get back to you on that” is the same as saying “We’re not really ready to have you write about this right now.”

·      Know your audience: Who is going to buy your client’s product? Does the reporter or publication you’re pitching to reach that audience? I wrote about parenting in the mid- and late 2000s. The babies I wrote about then are nearly teenagers now, so, no, I am not interested in your client’s range of organic, cruelty-free, hypo-allergenic, hand-curated, small-batch baby products.

Other things you absolutely should do:

·      Proofread. We all make mistakes, but a silly typo in a press release can make both you and your client look bad. It makes a good journalist wonder: How much reliable information are you going to give me if the data in your press release is incorrect? How much attention to detail is put into the product if you don’t know the difference between “their, “they’re” and “there”? Also: Get my name wrong and your pitch likely will be spiked. Do it again and your email address is added to my spam list, which means I’ll never see any of your pitches again.

·      Be clear. Use easy-to-understand, everyday language to describe your client or product. Unless you’re pitching a white paper to a research firm, there’s no need to use academic terms, and most reporters absolutely hate marketing jargon.

·      Be brief. Reporters are busy – they don’t have time to scroll through three pages of email or listen to a two-minute long voicemail to find out what you’re pitching. Stick with who, what, where, why, and how — who you are, what you’re pitching, where it is located (if it's an event, where it fits into the market if it's a product), why it’s significant or different from the competition, and how to get more information.

·      Remember that you are asking the reporter to help you out. It’s not the reporter’s job to give your client publicity, it’s your job to persuade the reporter to consider your pitch. No one wants to deal with an overly pushy or demanding PR person. Be considerate of the reporter's time; if you’re calling on the phone, the first thing out of your mouth after “Hello, my name is _______” should be “Do you have a minute to talk?” or “Is now an OK time to chat?”

·      Make it easy for the reporter to get what he or she needs to use your client as a source or promote your product. This includes having your contact information visible in a sig at the bottom of your email (if you’re sending a hard copy of a press release, have CONTACT and your name, email, phone and social media handle at both the top and the bottom of the page; if you’re leaving a voice mail, start by introducing yourself and giving your callback number). Even better: Set up a media page for each client on your website, and house hi-res and low-res images, press materials, bios, and contact information there, so if the reporter loses (or spikes) your email he or she can still access assets -- and reach you -- easily.

·      Offer samples or access, if appropriate. A good reporter will not write a review of or promote a product or service he or she has never tried. Offer access or a sample (and a way to return it, like a postage-paid box, if you want it back) when you make your request, but be advised that many organizations do not allow their staff to accept gifts (or keep samples) that are worth a lot of money.

Things you should absolutely not do:

·      Don’t automate your pitches or blast the same exact pitch to multiple people. Not only does in increase your chance of including an error, it increases the possibility that your pitch will be irrelevant to a reporter on your list.

·      Don’t rely on spellcheck. Spellcheck only picks up on words that are spelled wrong, not words that are used inappropriately. Take this phrase, for example: "Sew, adz eye rote bee four...” Not a single word in this phrase is spelled wrong but, obviously, not a single word in that phrase is used correctly. Also: Spellcheck won't tell you if you've spelled my name correctly or not. Both "Lylah" (yes!) and "Lyla" (no!) would be flagged as incorrect, while "Lydia" (also no!) would sail through.

·      Don’t send anything as an attachment. In this day and age of malware, phishing scams and hacking, most emails with attachments end up stuck in a spam filter. If they get through, the chances are high that a reporter will never open the attachment. If your message doesn’t get read, your pitch is worthless. Got a large file to share? Host it on your site or on Dropbox and make it available to download. Got a video to share? Host it on your site or use YouTube or Vimeo so it can be either downloaded or embedded. The only time it's really a good idea to send an email attachment is if you're sending materials that the reporter has already requested and you know they're expecting your email -- and, even then, there's still a risk of infection from a virus or malware.

·      Don’t expect them to click on links. Links can lead to phishing or malware sites, but it's also a good idea to avoid sprinkling them like confetti throughout your pitch because that's like forcing reporters to take extra steps and extra time to help you. It’s fine to offer a brief rundown and then suggest they go to your website for additional information or assets, though.

·      Don’t try to flatter them. Sure, we love it when people say they love our work, but if you say you love the last product review that I wrote, and I haven’t written a product review since 2009, I know you’re being insincere (and that you haven’t done your due diligence). Ditto praising all the articles I've written on health care reform (zero in the past many years).

·      Don’t be too casual. Do not start your pitch with “Hey, Beautiful,” “Hi there, sweetheart,” “Dude,” “Hey,” or “What’s up?” unless you know the reporter well in real life. This is a business relationship. A too-casual approach will make you and your client look unprofessional. (And, yes, I really have received pitches starting with all of the above greetings.)

·      Don’t be cute or gimmicky. Do not snail-mail a package with confetti, perfume or glitter. Do not send cookies or candies for no reason. Do not send a card with a noisy, pre-recorded message. Do not use gifs or other animation in your emails. It’s distracting and annoying (and reporters hate it when animations or graphic-heavy emails crash their ancient computers).

·      Don’t be a stalker. If no one responds to your email or voicemail right away, it’s fine to follow up a few days later. But don’t keep emailing, and for goodness sake, keep the phone calls to a minimum – not only is the writer likely fielding other pitches, he or she is also trying to, you know, write.

Tricky interview questions, and how to answer them, on "The Shine"

When I'm not tapping away at my computer, I'm often in front of the camera, talking about news, workplace, and parenting trends. This week, I was back on "The Shine," Yahoo!'s fantastic talk show (you can find previous episodes at Shine.Yahoo.com). Host Alesha Renee and I were chatting about crazy job-interview questions and how to answer them. Here's the clip!

It's a topic I wrote about earlier this year on Yahoo! Shine ("Bizarre Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)") and it's proven to be pretty popular -- I was tapped to talk about it on Fox Business News as well. Here's a clip of that segment, which aired July 10:


What's the strangest thing you've ever been asked in a job interview?

Industries where women out-earn men, on "The Shine"

This week, I sat down with Alesha Renee on "The Shine" to talk about paycheck fairness and the few industries where women make more than men. Here's the clip!

Revamping your Resume? Keep these items off

I was a guest on Fox Business News recently, talking about the things you should keep off of your resume. It's a topic I've covered for both Yahoo! Shine ("The Worst Things to Put on Your Resume") and for Yahoo!'s talk show, "The Shine,"(you can watch that clip right here) but here's the clip from the folks at Fox:

What not to put on your resume, today on "The Shine"

Today on "The Shine," Yahoo! Shine's new online talk show, I sat down with host Alisha Renee to talk about the things you should never put on your resume. Take a look!

Of course, there's always more... check out the video and my article, "The Worst Things to Put on Your Resume," only at Yahoo! Shine.

Change Your World: Women, the media, human rights, and social change

I'm in Washington to represent Yahoo! Shine at "Change Your World," a summit on women, technology, social and digital media sponsored by Yahoo!'s Business and Human Rights Program. I've met a lot of truly inspirational women who are working hard, on and off-line, to change the world, and the day isn't even halfway done yet.

You watch the live broadcast here (I'm hoping that there will be a recording available later, too), and follow along as the attendees Tweet about it at (the hashtag is #YahooCYW).

The panel that I was on was moderated by Lauren Bohn, a journalist and Fullbright Fellow based in Cairo, Egypt, where she is the founder and associate editor of "The Cairo Review," a foreign-policy journal. We were joined by Courtney Martin of Feministing and ValentiMartin Media, Georgia Popplewell of Global Voices, Holly Gordon of 10x10, Lindsay Guetschow of Participant Media, Lisa Belkin of the Huffington Post, and Mikaela Beardsley of Half the Sky. 

Photo courtesy of Helen Rosenthal (@HelenRosenthal)

We discussed the idea of "Media with a Mission" -- can (or should) journalists be advocates for change? Does online media amplify women's voices more than traditional media? Can a movie be entertaining and empowering at the same time?

During the discussion, I met women who are trying to change their communities from the inside, by running for office (and battling stereotypes and discrimination along the way). I met women who are struggling to change lives of girls in impoverished countries, to improve options for education, to bring technology to the far corners of the world. And they're all making a difference.

Stay tuned to Yahoo! Shine as I write more about these inspiring women and the things they're trying to do to make life better for people everywhere.

Should marriage be temporary? Plus: The Roundup

 

Lawmakers in Mexico City have come up with a new and controversial way to address that city's soaring divorce rates: by making marriage temporary.

Instead of "'Til death do us part," couples would be allowed to decide on the length of their marriage (minimum length: two years). The temporary contracts would contain prenup-like legalese about financial support, how marital assets would be divided, and who gets custody of the kids. And at the end of the contract, happy (or semi-happy) couples could opt to renew for another two years, while those who are tired of being together could simply walk away without a legal hassle.

Mexico has the second-largest Catholic population in the world (after Brazil) and, needless to say, the Catholic Church isn't too keen on the idea.

"This reform is absurd. It contradicts the nature of marriage," said Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Mexican archdiocese. "It's another one of these electoral theatrics the assembly tends to do that are irresponsible and immoral."

What do you think? You can read the rest (and jump in to the 100+ comments) on Shine: I do... for now. Mexico City considers temporary marriages

The Roundup continues! Here's what you may have missed last week:

On Shine:

• Higher peanut butter prices: A peanut shortage could affect your grocery bill
• Denmark starts taxing fatty foods: Would you pay more to eat cheese or chips
• These books were banned?
• Irish farmer asks Rihanna to stop shooting her video in his field and put some clothes on
• Women in Saudi Arabia to be allowed to vote in 2015, but still not allowed to drive
• Saudi woman to be flogged for driving a car

On Work It Mom

• Bonus for coffee drinkers: Lower rates of depression

On 4 Kids or More

• Your most valuable network? Other working parents

A sweet, appreciative post about working moms

One of my co-workers sent me this post by City Mama, and it was so on-point that I just had to share it with you:

To the mothers who work,

The ones who know that staying home with kids is work, too, but who choose who work outside the home because they need to (and, maybe, wish they didn't) or they like to (and, maybe, wish they didn't).

The ones who would like to slow down. Just a little.

Read the rest over at Citymama.com.

Dear Huma Abedin: Please ignore Vanity Fair's terrible advice. Here's why.

Huma Abedin in Africa last week.
AP Photo via Yahoo! Shine

When I saw the Vanity Fair article offering up advice to Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, this past weekend, my jaw just dropped. It seemed straight out of the 1950s: Don't worry about your career, you're pregnant. Think of your baby. Spend more time with your husband. All well and good, but really? What if she can't just dial back her job? And doesn't "spend more time with your husband" imply that his tweeting X-rated photos of himself to strangers is somehow her fault?

Here's my take on Vanity Fair's advice; you can read the full story, "Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife Huma Abedin doesn't need advice like this," over at Yahoo! Shine.

3 ways to avoid e-mail overload

Juggling a full-time job with a freelance career means that I have several email address. I consolidate them to an extent, having most of them forward themselves to my main real-life account (thank you for that, gmail). But avoiding email overload is a challenge.

As I've mentioned before, my inbox can get out of control. Also: I work with a great team of people who are scattered across the U.S., which means that I can't use the cool trick that Nataly and Miss Britt love; if I don't check my email first thing in the day, I don't know what the California part of my team was discussing after I logged off last night, or whether there's a last-minute news story I'm supposed to cover ASAP. Since my teammates are spread far and wide, if we're not emailing one another then we're instant messaging (and that's in between the twice-daily teleconferences), so I can't check email only at set times.

What's a busy working mom to do?

5 workplace rules to follow, even if you work from home

I saw these 5 office etiquette rules at CBS Moneywatch, and they got me thinking about what rules would be on my list if I was the one to wield supreme executive power at the office. Then I realized: Since I work from home now (except when I'm traveling), I guess I do have the power to issue my own etiquette laws, after all. And so here they are: 5 rules to remember—regardless of where your office is.

Why does the wage gap still exist? Because workplace discrimination still exists.

I was thrilled to be in Washington, D.C., yesterday, to speak with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, the chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Preeta Bansal, General Counsel and Senior Policy Adviser at the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President, about issues concerning women and the workplace. If you missed the live half-hour event, which was livestreamed at whitehouse.gov and on the White House's Facebook page, you can watch the video of it right here:




I spent more than a week collecting questions from members of the Shine community, and asked both administration officials about the ones that most of Shine's readers are most concerned about: Why the wage gap between men and women still exists, whether companies will be encouraged to be more family-friendly, what initiatives are being put in place to make it easier for women to rejoin the work force, and whether there are any plans to find better ways to encourage and support the efforts of single mothers who are trying to live without resorting to government handouts. I also took questions from the live Facebook audience about women and finances, education, and work-life balance.

When it comes to the wage gap -- the fact that women continue to earn as much as 25 percent less than men for doing comparable work in certain fields -- there's no single easy solution.

"Well, there are a variety of reasons, a variety of different factors," Jarrett told me. "We have to encourage our young girls to go into fields that lead to profitable careers."

"Women are still carrying the burden of family," she pointed out. "Women aren't able to spend as much time as work [as men] because they have all these other committments and responsibilities. And then another factor is that we still have discrimination in the workplace."

To encourage change, "part of what we've been doing here at the White House, as part of the Council of Women and Girls, is to highlight best practices." Jarrett said. "Employers who have flexibility in the workplace are more productive."

Watch the video above, and be sure to click over to the Manage Your Life section at Shine as we continue the discussion there!

Ask the Obama Administration about women, education, and workplace issues

I'll be in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 30, to chat with White House officials about issues that affect women in education, employment, and work-life balance. I've been collecting questions from Shine readers and Facebook users, and I'd love it if you'd leave yours in the comments here: What do you want us to ask the Obama Administration about women in the workplace, education, or work-life balance?

Earlier this month, the White House published "Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being," the first comprehensive federal report since 1963, when President Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, was released. The 2011 report pulls together data from a variety of sources and studies, offering a big-picture view of the issues women face today, and how women's lives in the United States has changed over time.

At 5:05 p.m. (Eastern Time), I'll be talking about the report with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, the chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Preeta Bansal,General Counsel and Senior Policy Adviser at the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President. Our conversation will be livestreamed at whitehouse.gov and on the White House's Facebook page (I'll be taking questions from the live audience, too, if there's time!). And you can also watch it right here at WriteEditRepeat!

JOIN THE LIVE CHAT

VISIT WHITEHOUSE.GOV

Tune in! And in the meantime, let me know: What concerns do you have about women, education, and workplace issues in America today?

Did parenthood change the way you view your job?

After watching this "60 Minutes Overtime" interview with CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan -- who was beaten and sexually assaulted in Cairo last month, prompting some media executives to consider pulling their female reporters out of Egypt -- I'm struck by one observation she shares.

In the interview, which aired in September 2010, the 39-year-old journalist describes coming under fire while with US troops in Afghanistan. "I ran for cover. Usually, I would run for the cameraman," she says. "But once you have two little babies at home, you have a little different perspective on things."

As working moms, we're all too aware of how other people may (or may not) perceive us once we become parents. Studies show that the age-old gender gap has been replaced by the motherhood penalty. Some companies woo parents with work-life balance-improving benefits and then penalize employees for using them. We worry that we're seen as slackers if we have to dash out of work to pick up a sick child, or if we can't stay late to work on an important project.

But what we don't often talk about is whether our feelings about our jobs change when we have kids. Not whether we'd rather work from home (or go into an office) or whether we want to downshift from full time to part time or opt out of the workforce entirely. I mean how becoming a parent can influence the work we do, and the risks we're willing to take while doing it.

So, let's talk. Did you view your job differently once you became a parent? What do you do, and how did your perspective change?

Photo: CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan in Iraq (Photo from CBS News)

How to use Twitter (and make it work for you)

With all the chatter about social media, it makes sense to take advantage of every chance you get to promote your business or build your brand. Even if you're attached to a large company, your own personal brand is important: It's what helps you stand out in the crowd.

I've written a lot about Facebook and LinkedIn and why I think those two platforms are important. But Twitter? Twitter can feel like being at a cocktail party where everyone is shouting at once. Or it can feel like you're surfing through channel after channel of third-rate infomercials for products you don't need or use. How do you cut through the chaos to deliver your message, find the info, or connect with the people you need?

I've touched on this topic before, over at The 36-Hour Day. Here's an updated version, with tips for making Twitter work for you:

What was your major in college? And do you work in that field now?

I've been focused on college lately. My husband just left the world of journalism for the communications side of academics, my oldest stepdaughter heads to college next year -- the same month my youngest child goes off to kindergarten -- and the fact that top-tier schools cost double what they did when I was a student is very much on my mind.

Twenty or so years ago, when I was in the thick of SATs and essays and applications, I already knew what I wanted my major to be -- or, at least, I thought I did. I was certain that I wanted to be a pediatrician, so I signed up for my high school's AP bio class in preparation for four years of pre-med.

My lab partner witnessed several gruesome dissections and miserable lab reports before pointing out that the only part of bio I seemed to like was botany. And that, while I struggled with scalpels and paled at the sight of blood, I happily and easily spent hours, if not days, working on the school paper.

"Why don't you go into journalism?" he asked kindly, while trying to salvage his biology grade. "You can study that stuff in college, too, you know."

Should paid parental leave be a perk, or a requirement?

I wrote about the idea of paid parental leave in 2008, when the New Jersey State Senate approved legislation that would grant employees paid maternity or dependent-care leave, making my home state one of just two in the country to mandate paid maternity leave. (California is the other; both states fund the program through small payroll deductions.)

Since then, not only has the situation not gotten better, it's actually gotten worse. That's what we're talking about right now over at The 36-Hour Day.

In a 2005 survey of 168 developed countries, the United States was one of just five that didn't mandate paid maternity leave. Yesterday, a Human Rights Watch report; showed that, out of 190 countries studied, just three offered no legal guarantee of paid maternity leave: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and the United States. (Nine countries were unclear about their policy on paid leave for new mothers, and 178 guaranteed paid maternity leave.)

"Being an outlier is nothing to be proud of in a case like this," Janet Walsh, deputy women's rights director of Human Rights Watch and the author of the report, told Reuters. "Countries that have these programs show productivity gains, reduced turnover costs, and health care savings. We can't afford not to guarantee paid family leave under law -- especially in these tough economic times."

Setting limits (with myself) while working from home

Once upon a time, I had a proper home office, with a door that closed and everything.

It turned into a nursery.

My next home office later became my oldest stepdaughter's bedroom. My next one was a nook in the master bedroom, with a desk that could barely hold the massive computer monitor from 1998 (it pre-dated three of our five kids) and where I hated to work at night because it was so far away from the hub of the house.

I started roaming around after that, thanks to my best Mother's Day Present ever, and thanks to the fact that I only worked from home a day or so a week. But now I'm working from home 99.9 percent of the time, and even though it's only been a few months, it's cold and flu season, and my pediatrician tells me that the strain winding its way through our local schools isn't one of the ones covered by the vaccine. Which means that it's only a (short) matter of time until I'm working from home with a sick kid or two in tow. And also: I need to find a way to set a few limits.

Not with work -- the team I'm part of has been wonderful. Not with my husband -- he's been nothing but supportive. Not with the kids -- yet. Turns out, the person I really need to set limits with is... myself.

I'm the only one wondering why dinner isn't on the table at 6. And why the laundry is heaped in the bedroom, in piles taller than my kids. The house hasn't been decorated for Christmas, but that's OK, because I don't decorate. But the dog hasn't been brushed (or, for that matter, fed), the floors haven't been vacuumed, and the fridge has not been stocked. And while everyone else is willing to cut me some slack, I'm stressing over the way I haven't seamlessly transitioned into this chapter of my career.

I know I need to create a proper home office with a door that shuts, but that's easier said than done: Even though two out of three of our big kids are teenagers now and rarely spend weeks at a time with us, I'm reluctant to repurpose their old bedrooms. While I'm struggling with that unique step-parenting issue, though, I know I need to tackle my own expectations for myself. I didn't expect that I'd be able to stay caught up on housework all week long while I was commuting, why do I think I should be able to when my commute has disappeared but my workload has increased?

How do you manage your expectations when you're working from home?

When the president shows up unannounced...

When the President of the United States of America just shows up at the summit you're attending, you try not to act too surprised. You pretend to take notes, you try not to grin too broadly, because no matter where you stand politically, meeting the President of the United States is pretty cool.

President Barack Obama drops by the Women’s Online Summit in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Jan. 31, 2011. 

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Click on the photo to enlarge it. That's me, fourth from the right, mid-blink. I'm not allowed to quote what he said, but I can tell you that it was validating and inspirational and exactly the reason why I love what I do for a living.

Along with about 25 others, I had braved the snowstorms to attend an Online Women's Summit hosted by the White House, to discuss policy, plans, and initiatives that affect women and girls. Things like the economy and education and health and business -- things that affect all of us, really, but can affect women in ways we don't normally consider. I am so grateful to have a job that gives me opportunities like this.

We were able to tour the East Wing of the White House by special appointment, and our guide was very, very patient as we scrambled to take pictures of one another. Yes, Mom, I saw Mr. Lincoln's portrait, too:

The views were amazing. I was awed and inspired. Even though I've been to Washington plenty of times, I've never taken a tour of the White House.

But the highlight was shaking hands with POTUS. I was amazed that he took the time to talk to each one of us, ask us our names and what we do, looked us each in the eye and shook each of our hands.

(Hint: I'm the short one. Photo by Jessica McGranahan of Burst Media. Thanks, Jessica!)

Stay tuned for the stories -- if you haven't already bookmarked my section at Yahoo's Shine, you can click here and do so. That's where they'll be.

(In the Green Room. Photo taken by Laurie Berger of Lifescript.com. Thanks, Laurie!)

I came away from the summit with a slew of story ideas I can't wait to tackle, a stack of business cards from whip-smart people with whom to network and collaborate, and the distinct feeling that the stereotype of fluffy "women's pages" was being kicked to the curb. And I'm excited for what comes next.

How step parenting advice relates to office life

I've been a stepparent for about a decade now, and so much of what you read in books, articles, and online highlights the negative aspects to what really can be a very difficult life choice. National Stepfamily Day was in September, and in honor of the occasion, I decided to focus on the positives -- and maybe help a few other stepparents find a way to celebrate what they have.

You can read my stepfamily article over at Work It, Mom!, and you can read my interviews with three stepparenting experts here, because this post isn't going to focus on stepparenting issues, per se. You see, while doing my research and talking to these knowledgeable women, I was surprised to discover that many of the ways one can find happiness as a stepparent also apply to finding satisfaction -- or at least peace -- with your job.