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Nicole Schuman is a managing editor for PRNEWS.
During the episode, Nicole shares her take on responding to emails, gives examples of pitches that landed and highlights the importance of building relationships and the best ways to connect with her.
Follow Nicole on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.
Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:
Incorrect Names: A Recipe for Poor Pitches
[0:05:23] BB: Do you get bad pitches?
[0:05:24] NS: Oh, my God. Yes, absolutely.
[0:05:26] BB: Tell us more, because the irony of this is high. It's a PR publication getting hit up
by publicists.
[0:05:32] NS: Well, I will say probably the three worst things you can do if you're pitching: Number one, is get my name wrong. I mean, I understand we're humans. These things happen, but hence, where my header on LinkedIn came from. I'm not just Nicole. I'm a media contact, so that obviously went in the trash. The second thing I would say is if you get the name of my publication wrong. Now, I understand, I usually give people one pass, but –
[0:05:59] BB: Wait, wait, wait. It's a pretty basic PRNEWS. What are they –
[0:06:03] NS: Yeah.
[0:06:03] BB: Saying?
[0:06:04] NS: I get PR Daily, and actually I'm connected with the editor over there, Alison, who's wonderful. She actually posted something similar about this the other day, and I said, “Oh, yeah. I've gotten some pitches for PR Daily the past couple of weeks.” She said, “Send them over.” I said, “Okay.”
[0:06:20] BB: Oh, that’s so funny. To be clear, there's PRNEWS, there's PR Daily, and there's
PR Week, and a few of them, so like, yeah, yeah, there's a lot going on in our space.
[0:06:28] NS: The names are similar, but as I was saying, like we all differentiate ourselves in
the terms of the way we cover the industry. We don't cover mergers and acquisitions. I can't tell
you how many pitches I get about mergers and acquisitions or personnel, which honestly, I'm
happy I'm getting them, but I don't report on them, but I like to know who is in different positions,
because I might use them for sourcing.
I might use them for an event. I don't mind getting those, like I'm not saying don't ever send me
that, because I do read them, but I mean, you should know the difference between PR Week
and PRNEWS, and what we do. I know sometimes people are just busy and doing 10 million
things at once. I get it. I've made mistakes as well, but it's a pretty big one when you do that.
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How a Publication’s Methodologies Influence Your Pitches and Follow-Ups
[0:12:05] NS: Yeah. One of the things that we like to do at PRNEWS is we like to educate
people on these topics, so be aware of them, and their daily work, and work that's coming up,
work that'll be coming around, different messaging and things. I remembered it. I went back to
the author and I said, “You know, this piece is perfect for right now. I know it's been a couple of
months, but we're going to run it.” I kept that. I have a chart, I have a spreadsheet with all of my
contributed pieces that are coming in and a lot of times I'll get contributed pieces from people
and they will literally, like every two days ask me, when is this publishing, when is publishing,
when is publishing. I'm just like, you can't do that, like you don't –
[0:12:48] BB: No.
[0:12:49] NS: You just can't do it. Number one, it's annoying. Number two –
[0:12:53] BB: For me a second.
[0:12:55] NS: There's like a method to our madness here on the editorial side.
[0:12:59] BB: Yeah. You don't just hit the button, whatever. Yeah, no.
[0:13:01] NS: No, no. We have standards and we have calendars and things like that. But the
writer, the author was super patient and it ended up being a wonderful piece and ended up
being really relevant for the time. Another –
[0:13:14] BB: Oh, yeah. Give us another example.
[0:13:15] NS: Yeah. Another example I had gotten a couple of weeks ago, subject line was
really simple. It just said, “CrowdStrike follow-up.” I was like, “Oh.” Because we're in the midst of
CrowdStrike, right now.
[0:13:27] BB: Yes. Okay. You already were hooked by the main name.
[0:13:29] NS: Yes.
[0:13:30] BB: But then also follow-up. Now, I'm like following-up about what?
[0:13:34] NS: Yeah, exactly. It was timely. It was to the point, of course, I'm reviewing it. The
pitch included an already drafted piece, which was really helpful, but also the fact that it was
also already an established relationship with someone who had written for us before. I knew
they were a good writer. I knew I could depend on them. It's all right there. I don't have to wait
for it. Of course, I'm running this piece, because it's timely and it's something that this coverage
that I think people would be interested in. That was like the perfect pitch relationship exchange
that we had going on there.
Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences
[0:20:06] BB: You do. We should know most of all, we know the rules, but this is why we're here
on this podcast. Yes, Nicole. I have a quick couple of fast rapid-fire questions. Are you ready?
[0:20:18] NS: Sure.
[0:20:19] BB: Let's do it. Video or phone interview?
[0:20:21] NS: Video.
[0:20:22] BB: Okay. Bullet points or paragraphs in a pitch?
[0:20:25] NS: Bullet points, please.
[0:20:26] BB: Always. I assume short pitches compared to long.
[0:20:30] NS: Yes.
[0:20:31] BB: Yes. Images attached or a drop box zip file?
[0:20:35] NS: I don't really have an opinion on that either or.
[0:20:38] BB: Email or a DM of sorts for a pitch?
[0:20:41] NS: I prefer email.
[0:20:43] BB: Yes. 99% of people do. I also mentioned this in the book, by the way. Okay, one
follow-up or multiple?
[0:20:49] NS: One. Please.
[0:20:52] BB: Yes. Direct or creative subject lines?
[0:20:56] NS: I think direct. I don't want to have to guess what you're talking about.
[0:20:59] BB: I don't want to spend time doing that. Press release or media kit?
[0:21:03] NS: More and more lately, I've been looking for images of what I've been writing about
and not able to find them. If I'm getting a media kit with a press release and some art, that would
be helpful.
[0:21:16] BB: Okay. Noted. Any time that you read pitches or is it all the time?
[0:21:20] NS: All the time, but probably, I'm probably one of the only people that reads a lot of
them on Fridays, but I do it.
[0:21:28] BB: Oh.
[0:21:30] NS: Yeah. I like to plan my week out on Fridays, so I do that. But also, I do a lot on
Mondays as well.
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