Before you pitch, it's generally best to ask... and get a reality check...

Reality Check Photo by me in the streets of Tel Aviv (c) 2011

1.  OK to send you a press release as an attached file, or embedded in the email?

2.  For outreach, do you prefer email (which address), Facebook mail, DM via Twitter, or your Gmail account via Google +

3.  Do you honor embargo'd requests?

4.  When pitching a news announcement, what are your deadines?

5.  What times of day / night do you prefered to be contacted (or not)

6.  What days of the week should I NOT reach out to you?

7.  Are you the right person to pitch my story to?

8.  What industry analysts do you rely on, or do you suggest we brief in advance of pitching you?

Most of the time, common sense rules.

Maybe it's time to refresh how you use LinkedIn.  I still find it a valueable too for business development, listening in on groups I belong to, and connecting with others around the world. 

1.  Is this group still valid?  

Maybe in 2010, it made sense to tune into a specific space or interest group that never panned out.  Maybe it was just easier to delete the emails than actually go to the group and say good-bye.  If that group no longer suits your needs, disconnect.  If you're on the fence, disconnect for 30 days and then you can always go back if you find the content and discussions that valuable.

2.  Does this group still serve your needs?

I've been on a social media LinkedIn group for ages.  It's really morphed into really basic, sill stuff with mostly self-promotional discussions and silly offers.  Delete.  Pronto.

3.  Daily vs. Weekly

I am scaling back my notifications to being on a weekly basis. 

I don't think the world is going to dramatically change if I just get a summary once a week.  Remember, this is not a place for breaking news, hot stock tips, or finding out if the debt limit has been raised as of 15 minutes ago.  The groups are a great way to chime in, listen, contribute content and even do business development.

4.  Are there some new groups you should be chiming into?

For me, and because I live in Texas and because I do business in Israel, I am looking at energy, water and in generally, the cleantech space.  I think my skill sets are of value and will soon be annoucing my first major clean related client.

5.  Somewhere New?

We're more than half way into 2011.  Are there some new areas of interst you should be listening into and discovering?

Re-visit your presence on LinkedIn.  

I am a believer in contributed stories.  Publications need them and it sets you apart from just pitching your news.  It helps establish your thought leadership, and you can re-purpose these contributions for your business development and sales teams.

Here's an example of a piece that just published yesterday in CSO Online from my client, John Dickson, CISSP, at Denim Group, and here's some simple rules to follow so you can pitch, and place your contributed story.

1.  Match your expertise to the right media.  This is a security angle, so it was pitched to a security related publication.

2.  Make sure there is an appropriate section (even if it's an industry specific site) to your content.  In this case, the focus being Data Protection.

3.  Identify the right journalist who handles these sections, or the particular subject.  

4.  Read previous contributions and see what is written, the style, the length, the subject matter, the vision.

5.  Send a brief (repeat - brief) pitch.  Something like:  Hi John, my client, (or my company) would like to contribute a piece to XYZ Magazine on the subject of XXXX.  The story would be written by XXX, who is the XXXX at our company.  We have 3 subjects in mind which include - (list the subjects).  Would you consider our submitting an abstract on one or all three for your consideration?  Anything we contribute would be original to your publication and in the context of your editorial themes.

6.  Send you pitch and wait five working days.  If you don't hear back, send it again.  The realities are that journalists are pitched to death and have very full inboxes with lots of other things to do.

7.  Assuming you get a yes, it's your task to then submit an abstract - generally a paragraph or two on the subject matter.  Make sure your content and proposed story is unique, does not overstate the obvious and is useful.  Don't make it a sales pitch.

8.  Send the abstract and wait another five days.  If you don't hear back, make another inquiry.  This can take time, but it's worth the wait. The cycle on this article that I pointed to took 90 days. 

9.  If the abstract is accepted, then get going on the article.  Make sure your article length is in accord with what the journalist want you to adhere to.

10. Once the article is live, share your content.  And rejoice!

So... how about you?  

Have you pitched contributed stories before?  

Share your experiences in how you did this.