15 ways to doom your pitch and tick off journalists

Launching a new product or service? Announcing some guy’s recent promotion? Is your ‘best-selling’ ‘guru’ available to share ‘thought leadership’? None for me, thanks.

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Dissecting PR pitches is one of the duties editors least enjoy.

PR people are typically pleasant to deal with—and many are excellent at what they do—but a lousy few make the story pitching experience, er, let’s say suboptimal.

Here are certain types of pitches we receive all too often—and promptly heave into the deleted hereafter:

1. The new product or service announcement. I have no doubt that your revolutionary, game-changing gizmo will absolutely shift the corporate paradigm or whatever.

Unfortunately, our readers do not care; ergo, nor do I.

2. A company merger or someone getting promoted. Sounds like great fodder for your corporate newsletter!

Better yet, instead of annoying your colleagues with boring, mindless slop-copy (not to be confused with Sopchoppy, Florida, worm gruntin’ capital of the world), why not try telling more robust, vivid and emotional stories through a brand journalism approach?

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