How to make a journalist open your email pitch in 2022

Read this first: 

"I get roughly 300 emails a day. Most of the time, I read a subject line and that's it."

—David Mack, deputy director for breaking news at BuzzFeed News

So this is how it works. No matter if you have a great story, if your subject line is boring, confusing or overdone, your pitch is not going to make it. So how can you design your pitch to grab the attention of a journalist? Start with an attention-grabbing subject line.  

Creating a compelling subject line

 A subject line is an angle you pitch your story through, and it matters tremendously. Keep it simple, and make it sound like the headline of a story. Also, appeal to the core problem your startup is trying to solve.

Rather than saying something like: “My Startup Launches A New Feature“ or "My Startup is Solving a Big Problem", say something that intrigues a journalist enough to open the email.

Here are seven ways to do that:

• Be clear about what the email is about. Think: “PITCH: [proposed title].”, where the word “PITCH” lets the editor know what they can expect. It's also worth it to add “Story:” to the beginning of the body text, to frame your pitch as a press-ready story. 

• Keep it short and cut out superfluous adjectives or adverbs while keeping the offer or idea enticing. Get straight to the point and avoid spam trigger words, like "great offer", "limited offer". Think “PITCH: Only Fitting, Climate-friendly Clothes with AI-powered App” vs. “PITCH: Incredibly Fitting and Beautifully Looking Jeans with This Fresh New App.” Go with the first. 

• Keep your email subject line to a handful of words, ideally up to eight. You want to be noticed and not deleted because your subject line didn't fit the inbox window size.

• Use numbers. Journalists want to inform their audience, as well as tell something data-backed. So they like headlines that promise interesting and, at the same time, easy to digest content, such as "6 Steps to Seriously Improving Your Pitching Skills" or "3 Simple Tips for Improving Your Morning Routine in Under 10 Minutes a Day."

• Personalize the subject line. Think: "Pitch for Mike Butcher: an AI-powered startup that reduces CO2 emissions by 25%". Check the journalist's beat prior to pitching. 

• Ask questions. It is a great way to engage a journalist. This could be something like "Leadership: Can You Learn to Pitch in a Way That Gets Journalists to Open Emails?" Using a question in your headline gets the journalist to either mentally answer the question or feel intrigued to find out what the answer is.

• Combine two topics rarely seen together. It is a quirky and very effective way of standing out from the crowd. For example: "How Buying Stocks Improves Your Wellbeing." These types of headlines get journalists’ attention because they are not normally seen or linked together.

This, combined with the rest of the pitching rules, is all. Please remember to only send your pitches and press releases, with your attention-grabbing headlines, to your niche journalists. No matter how good your headline is, if you send it to a journalist that doesn’t cover what you’re pitching it’s either going to be ignored or deleted. 

Confused? We are here to help. From crafting an eye-catching subject line to finding all the relevant media contacts and telling you when to follow-up with journalists, PR Guy will guide you through the journey of pitching to success. Fill out the Contact Form, get a tailored, AI-enhanced pitch template and a list of journalists for your startup story https://www.prguy.io/hire-pr-guy