What I like to see in a pitch...

No, I'm not talking about my favorite Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Papelbon. I'm talking about public relations pitches for editorial coverage. This morning, I was a speaker at the Maine Public Relations Council. I was one of three journalists—flanked by Judy Meyer, managing editor at the Lewiston (Maine) Sun Journal and Gregg Lagerquist, WGME News 13. The three of us shared our views on how to pitch us a story—and what type of stories we’re most interested in.
So whether you’re a retailer, gourmet manufacturer or a public relations firm, I thought I’d share with you some tips. You’re familiar with Gourmet News, so you know we write about the news in the gourmet retail industry--mergers, acquisitions partnerships, new store openings, businesses filing Chapter 11, educational promotions, expansions and, of course issues that are affecting the retail industry—-bioterrorism and its affect on imports, the weak dollar. And you know we don’t run recipes or restaurant reviews.
So here are some tips on how to pitch Gourmet News:
Every day, I average 10-20 pitches from PR firms. Best-case scenario, maybe one is of interest to Gourmet News. I’m constantly getting pitched stories that are clearly not a fit for Gourmet News. If you’re not familiar with Gourmet News, (and I know y’all are because you read my blog!) we have all the information about the publication online. A link to the editorial calendar is available on the home page. And each month we also post the Gourmet News Digital Edition—it replicates the look and feel of the print publications—ads and all. You can find a link at www.gourmetnews.com–-under Digital Edition. Also, we archive all the Gourmet News content online—to search past issues is free, you just need to register for an account.
What’s a good pitch

• Falls into the gourmet retail industry not restaurants
• Has a national angle – we don’t write local news or about new products that are not available in the USA

How to pitch:

• Email is great – please, no pdfs, no power points. Just text. If you’re sending a release about a new product that has national distribution, please include one high rez image. 300 dpi jpg, eps or tif
• Phone calls are fine
• Fax & Mail – save some paper and e-mail or call me first to gauge interest.
• Samples – are great. Especially if it’s edible! Seriously, samples are not required but always appreciated by me and my coworkers.
• Please include your contact information and the contact information of the best quotable person.

If you want guidelines for new product submissions, check out my my Nov. 13 post.