Episode 112: How to Position Yourself as an Expert and Get Featured in the Media w/ Health and Wellness Journalist Jillian Wilson
The Pitching Process: What You Can Control
Pitching is a process. Even if you have a curated media list, that doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get in touch with journalists. Just because you’ve written a great pitch doesn’t mean it’s going to be opened. Just because you hear a response from a journalist doesn’t mean your article is getting published next week. There are so many moving parts of the process and anything can influence the outcome. Some controllable factors, and some uncontrollable.
So let’s look at what factors you CAN control to set yourself up for success. These tips were shared by an experienced Wellness Reporter from HuffPost, Jillian Wilson.
Controllable Factors
1.Email you’re sending from
2.Researching a Journalist’s background
3.Subject Line
4.Pitch Length
5.Follow up
Email You’re Sending From
Most of us probably have 2 or 3 emails minimum. Maybe your old school one, your customer support one, your personal one, your one for shopping discounts and promos, but here’s arguably the best one for pitching. In order for a journalist to easily verify who you are and associate your business with you, you should use a company email. But not a hello@company that looks like any old newsletter or a support email. Use the following format: name@comany. This is simple, professional, and won’t cause confusion.
Researching a Journalist’s Background
The basics of building any relationship are authenticity and respect. At the very least before you pitch a journalist you need to know…
-What topics they cover
-Their most recent work
-What outlet (audience) they write for
Believe it or not journalists get pitched the wrong topics all the time. It’s a waste of their time and overall disrespectful to want to work with them and not even know what they do. But this is such an easy fix. Just google their name and look at their past articles. Look at any of their online profiles. Their media outles, their portfolio, their linked. Everything you need to do your due diligence is a quick google search away. It literally takes one minute, maybe less.
Subject Line
I always say your pitch is only as good as your subject line. Because that is what gets a journalist to even read your pitch in the first place. It’s important to have a keyword in the subject line that tells the journalist what category your pitch falls into. That way they can easily categorize and flag it for later because ALL journalists have their own inbox folders where they sort their pitches. A trend Jillian has seen recently and is a fan of its founders looking at HuffPost articles and structuring their subject lines similarly. That way it’s already familiar and more aligned with what she’s used to seeing and writing.
Pitch Length
Lengthy paragraphs are overwhelming for anyone, but especially for a journalist that needs to look at hundreds of emails a day. You need to capture their attention by putting the juicy part in the first paragraph, even the first couple sentences if possible. This is a great place to put your relevance and your value add piece. Once their attention is caught, they’re much more likely to read the entire email. And if it does need to be a lengthy email, then help the journalist how you can with summarizing and clear formatting so their eyes can easily follow the important info.
Follow Up
Your due diligence comes back into play here. Everyone uses different social media platforms for different purposes. LinkedIn for businesses, tiktok for entertainment, IG for connection, maybe a mix of everything. When you find a journalist's social media, first check their bio to see if they left any specific instructions or dos and don'ts. If not, use your discretion. Is their Instagram only pictures of their child and family? If so, maybe try a more professional platform like LinkedIn. Most journalists will agree that social media follow ups get their attention and help move the needle in the pitching process. It’s so easy to miss emails or forget about emails they’ve tagged. Follow ups keep you top of mind and are appreciated.
Again pitching has a lot of moving parts, but what we covered above are ALL things you have full control over! But let’s also keep in mind things you have no control over and shouldn’t overthink like…
-Journalists’ current projects not matching what you’re pitching
-Never hearing back from a journalist
-Your article getting pushed back due to a more urgent current event
-Some requesting a sample you just can’t provide
You can’t control a journalist’s personal life, opinions, or a news outlet's coverage focus…so focus on what you can control and don’t worry about the rest!
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Transcript
Can you distinguish like what you were doing before as a freelance writer writing for various outlets? And right now you're saying you're full time as a staff writer. So what, what does, what does that mean? Yeah, sure. So, full time staff writer is, this is my full time job. I work here nine to five, give or take, um, some hours.
But, uh, yeah, I'm here full time. This is my one job. When you're freelance, though, and I did also freelance for HuffPost before I started here full time, you often have multiple clients, so that's when I wrote for Huffington Post, Eater Philly, Philadelphia Inquirer, just a couple, um, Photos Travel. Cupcakes and Taj [00:02:00] Mahal, a bunch.
So you're writing different articles for different news sources, different topics, like you wouldn't pitch the same article to two publications, but different articles, um, and it's more like kind of plug and play, like you kind of pick when you want to work for different outlets. Does that make sense?
What about the stories, though? Even though you were freelancing, and I, I think that's kind of where the media landscape is going, there's a lot of freelance writers write for different things, but do you still mainly cover a theme within that freelancing? I would say yes. So for me, I covered wellness at HuffPost, and then the other publications, it was more like food, travel, things to do in Philadelphia.
So those were my two buckets, and I just pitched, you know, whatever subject to the appropriate publication. But yeah, I would say people generally are known as like a food freelancer or a travel freelancer. And they like have their niche because that's also how you make a name for yourself. Got it. So for example, you know, one of the things I cover in my PR program is how to find and connect with journalists.
And [00:03:00] you want to make sure that you're always pitching to the right journalist, not the editor in chief, of course, right? Someone that covers your beat. Let's say if I'm just starting out in PR, I'm on Twitter, I'm on LinkedIn, on Instagram. I happen to come across someone that says writer. travel writer. So then does that kind of make me feel like I can pitch to them and there's a high chance that they will write for many different outlets because they just say that they're a travel writer, but not travel writer at Condé Nast or something?
Yes, likely if the person is full time, they will list where they work, especially because I do use. Social media to reach out to sources. So I want them to know that I'm like a legitimate writer. I'm not, you know, I'm not just like a spam account or something. So yeah, I would say generally if they don't list where they're working, it probably means they have multiple publications that they write for, or they have a blog and they freelance for other publications, but you will find that some freelancers will list the publications they write for in their Twitter bio or in their Instagram bio or whatever.
Yeah, will you say that now with what's going on with the economy and the market and kind of [00:04:00] how journalism is changing, do you feel like there's less and less staff writers and more and more freelancers or you don't find that to be the case? Good question. Sadly, this industry is so layoffs are rampant, which is, you know, so sad and I've had so many friends and I've been impacted at previous jobs and it's really tough.
So I do think the beauty with freelance is you're your own boss in a sense. So yes, you are reporting into an editor who edits your pieces. You have a little more control, and layoffs, I would say, maybe don't impact freelancers as much as, as, although I can't actually, I'm not 100 percent sure on that, I just, that's what I would think, but yeah, I would say more and more people are turning to freelance just because the media landscape is changing so much, and I think also a lot of people, remote work is so popular now, and with some people going back to the office, With freelance, you don't have to go back to the office.
You can write from Bali or write from Tulum, and no one's going to tell you you can't do that. And also, if you're a travel writer or a food writer, you oftentimes have to write from those places. [00:05:00] So, yeah, I don't, I think, I don't actually, I don't know the split of what percent of journalists are in staff positions versus freelance, but I would say freelance is Certainly gaining popularity and it also allows you to write for other publications and take on other kinds of work too if you want as well.
And maybe the other work is more stable or something like that. So I could see how it is becoming more popular in this unfortunate media landscape. Yeah, I mean, I do see that there are, there's still opportunities and kind of a silver lining for businesses who are pitching because I always say, look, if this person is a freelance writer, that means that there's better chances of you getting featured in multiple outlets, right?
It's not like once you feature someone, you check the box and okay, then I cannot write about them again. Right? When, when you say that you kind of go back to the same sources for all the different outlets, if you are a freelancer. Yeah, absolutely. When I freelanced, I certainly had certain contacts who I knew I could reach out to for certain information or certain expert sources.
And that gives [00:06:00] you, as a PR person, it gives you, um, access to different media outlets because the writer you're talking to writes for different media outlets. Yeah, I love that. That's why I always tell my PR students treat it as a relationship play the long game So now that we're talking about kind of this runway of how do you first connect with journalists?
Which is by the way, not anything that we learn as business owners or taught in schools Can you just give a high level rundown of what is the right etiquette if somebody is a You know, a bootstrapping small business or, or maybe they're, they're a consultant or an author, but they're not, they don't have a huge following, right?
How can they go and connect with someone like you and hope that they can get featured and maybe get a quote in one of your articles about wellness? So I personally prefer email and I prefer that someone emails me, you know, after doing the research to make sure that I cover the topic that they're pitching, kind of a short and sweet email, introducing yourself, introducing what you're pitching.
You know, also asking any questions you have around what kind of areas I cover or [00:07:00] what I don't cover or how I cover and that's always welcomed and yeah, I would just say reaching out with like a pretty straightforward subject line introducing what you're pitching and a couple paragraphs about you and what you're pitching and I think it's also helpful to Say that, you know, I'm not with a big PR agency, but I am an advocate for this because it's my company or it's my sister's company or whatever it is.
And kind of explaining from that sense, why you are so passionate about a specific brand or product or service or whatever it is. Yeah. I mean, wouldn't you say that that passion and that mission alignment is more important than whether or not they have someone representing them? Yes, yes. And to be honest, I do not know, when I look at my inbox, I don't know if the pitch is coming from a huge PR agency, a small PR agency, or like the founder of the company.
Like, when I click on the email, like, that's not something I know before I click it. It's not like I'm vetting through and, you know, only opening certain [00:08:00] emails. So really, the passion is so important when I open that email. See, it's not like a cookie cutter email that goes out to 5, 000 people. It's like, Oh, this person is actually passionate about this.
And, or they own this brand or they own the service. And that is exciting. And you do want to bolster people up who have that kind of passion and who are working to reach their goals and their dreams. Yeah, I love what you said about a subject line that is descriptive not spammy or gimmicky and a few paragraphs That's exactly the structure of my CPR pitch that I teach in my PR starter pack program But now that we've gotten into the juicy part of this, which is what I love.
I love actionable things Let's actually talk about the structure of the pitch So one question I get asked all the time even before writing the pitches Gloria Should I send from my company email or should I you know send from my personal email? What is your take on that? I prefer company email. I think personal email sometimes can get a little lost.
I think a company email, like you can see the brand, you can see that they're affiliated with it, there's no questions of like, oh, who is this [00:09:00] again? Like, who am I emailing? It's like, it's right there in the, in the email address. I guess my question is, should it be like a name at company or should it be like hello at company?
Because there are some other journalists I talked to say that if it looks like a marketing email, then it probably won't get read. So tell me about like, what's the best way to stand out as an individual? I agree with that. I agree with that. I wouldn't do the hello at company. I would do name at company because I think hello at company.
My, you know, that's where the newsletters come from, that's where like the customer service emails often come from. So this way, if it's a name, you're aware that, oh, Jane Smith is emailing me from this company. And also, if I needed to double check and make sure it wasn't spam, I could go on LinkedIn and see that, oh, okay, yeah, she does work there.
Yes, that's, I'm so glad you validated and verified that. Okay, so now I got the email down. Let's talk about subject lines. What are some do's and don'ts for the subject line? So honestly, a tactic I've seen recently is people will kind of recreate a HuffPost [00:10:00] headline that I would write in a subject line advertising their product, which I think is great.
But for example, if someone is representing their, you know, their bar studio, it would say something like, 10 ways bar can impact your heart health. Which is like kind of a HuffPost headline. So just something like that. So I think really kind of looking at the way the author writes their headlines and putting that into a subject line is a way to grab my attention personally.
And it also shows me off the bat that, Oh, this could actually be a HuffPost article. Like, this is relevant. Yeah, you know, everything you said, Jillian, is music to my ears because I literally say the same thing, which is you want your subject lines to read like an article. You don't want your subject line to be like, name, company, please read this because you don't know them.
It's not relevant. And so I know this is an unnatural act for so many small businesses, especially in my community who are wearing all the hats, right? But even if you just master that one thing, that'll increase your open rates. So I always say start with the [00:11:00] subject line. What is the message? What is the story that you are trying to add value to?
And I always say you're not selling to the journalist. So the subject line cannot be anything that you're selling. It has to be about what the issue or topic is. So I'm, I'm so glad you said something like, you know, 10 ways Pilates for heart health. We actually have a couple of Pilates teachers and trainers.
And coaches in our program. So I love that. Now let's get into the actual body of the email. Now, obviously I teach my CPR method, credibility, point of view, and relevance, relevance being the most important thing, but I want to hear from you, what is like a very easy and perfect email that gets you to actually respond.
Short and sweet, certainly, for me at least. I get a lot of emails every day, and um, it's so great if I can open an email and see in that first paragraph or first couple sentences exactly what this person is pitching, the value it will bring it. to HuffPost readers and why it's relevant to me as a wellness reporter.
So just really trying to get that down into a few, two or [00:12:00] three short paragraphs, like short, but I like it really short. But also I will say, if someone did have more to say, you could always almost like in those first two or three paragraphs, kind of pull out a quick summary, like this is what you need to know.
And then below you could go into the full press release, which. Is fine, but I think it's helpful to kind of have that like abstract almost in the intro so someone doesn't have to read the entire press release because You know, I and I know as a writer It like hurts my heart to say i'm not going to read all the words and I also realize not everyone reads my words But it is helpful just to see that abstract so someone so you can know off the bat what they're pitching and how it's relevant Yes.
I, I always say that you always have to start with the relevance piece in my CPR method because you're competing for the journalist's attention every second, every line, right? So you want to get them immediately. Why is this mattering right now? Another litmus test that I, I teach my students is if your pitch or subject line sounds like it works five years into the future or five years in the past, it's probably not relevant enough.
So [00:13:00] I'm always trying to say like, what's the relevance? So what are some, what are some examples of ways that, you know, founders who might have so much to say. How can they start to take things away and only leave like the relevant things? Can you, can you talk about what are some things that they must include?
And then we can go into the things that usually are fluffy and not necessary. Yeah. So include, um, your expertise for sure. Like what makes your service, your product, your brand different? Who are you in relation to the product? Are you the owner? Are you the communications manager? Are you the best friend who was also doing the PR?
Like, who are you? And also it's helpful to have a hook. Like. something newsy. So if it's, you know, National Relaxation Day and you own a massage studio, it's like, Oh, National Relaxation Day is coming up. I own this massage studio. Here's my pitch and why and here's how it's relevant. That's always helpful.
So all of those like national days, like we certainly don't write about every single one. I feel like there's one every single day. Sometimes we do write about certain days or months like that. [00:14:00] And also if there's like a study that's recently come out about the benefits of Pilates or something or the benefits of a HIIT workout, it could be helpful to use that as a pitch as well.
Ooh, you're just dropping all the gems. I want to break that apart a little bit. So you said a user study. That's also some of the things that I teach, because I think so many times founders trip themselves up and say something like, well, there's already a lot of discussion about yoga. There's nothing else that I can contribute.
And it's like, that's not true because there's still articles being published about what is yoga, right? Don't you agree that there's people at every level, whether it's beginner or advanced. So would you agree that like, even though I'm in a quote unquote saturated industry, that there's still going to be room for me to pitch.
Oh, yeah, of course. And there are also different avenues in which is like the job of the journalist and, you know, we've done stories about the best yoga moves to do first thing in the morning. Like that is a different way to talk about this subject. Or, you know, we've done things around like primal movement.
I don't know if you're familiar with, yeah, so like primal movement, like [00:15:00] why that is trending right now, because it was trending earlier this year. So just there are different avenues in and just thinking of those little things like this is what's good in the morning. This is what's good before bed. This is what's Good on the weekend.
This is what you should be teaching your children. Just there's so many different avenues in kind of, yeah, they talk about the same topic in yoga as the whole, but there's a different avenue in. I'm just, I hope for those that are listening, I'm actually nodding every sentence that she's saying. So I always talk about pitching like Layers of an onion and I think you illustrated perfectly where if yoga is the top layer of the onion What we want to do is is do the work to peel away the layer and add levels of specificity So like you said yoga in the morning yoga for kids yoga for a prenatal yoga for hip replacement So I love what you said about that because the more specific the pitches the more you can use it, right?
If it's very fluffy in general, you're kind of like well, I don't know what you're trying to say, right? Yes, yes, absolutely. So yeah, it's just like peel away at that onion and even if something comes to you, like, I mean, [00:16:00] especially like I'm a wellness reporter, but I am not a yoga teacher. So it's like yoga teachers have information.
I do intense. So if you're a yoga teacher, and you are really excited about a certain movement that has really helped your back and pitch like five yoga moves that can help. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? That has been in the news since like 1980s and it's still being published. So I don't really find that, that there's like an expiration date to that kind of expertise.
Right. Especially because it's like we learn more and more every year. So it's like, you can always be updated with new information or even just brush to the surface for people who missed the article five years ago, or they read it five years ago. They completely forget because they read 10 articles a week.
And then five years later, they're reminded of, Oh, the power of yoga with, for my back pain. Right. And, and, you know, with today's ever busy news cycle, you're churning out content all the time. So I think for a lot of founders, they think, well, this is so obvious, right? But it's not obvious to me. I'm not a yoga teacher, not obvious to you.[00:17:00]
So I hope for anyone that's listening that ever has imposter syndrome, because we all do, right? We're humans. If you think it's been said before, or it's been done before, or there's other yoga teachers who work with celebrities who I might've pitched. Like this episode is for you. And I'm so glad that you've really touched on that.
Which brings me to my next question, the question of credibility, right? When I think about wellness and health, I think a lot of founders are thinking, well, I don't have letters after my name and I don't have all these diplomas and certificates. What is your answer about that? What is your thoughts about that?
Yeah, I understand that, of course. Um, there are certain topics where I do look for letters after their name, like when it comes to heart health, like I'm talking about heart attack or stroke, of course I'm gonna be talking to a doctor. But for someone who owns a yoga studio, owns a cycling gym, owns a Massage therapy studio.
You're experts. This is your day to day work. This is what you do. You are in this work more than anyone else. And it doesn't matter about the letters after your name if, you know, this is what you do every day, and your expertise is what our readers want, and [00:18:00] our readers certainly do not care if you're a name.
They want to know that, oh, so and so owns this. Studio in Ohio or in Florida, they have great advice and that's really what they're looking for. Yeah. You're saying that there's always something new and fresh. Let's talk about what that means because earlier you said something's trending like a pose or something's on Tik TOK.
Is that a good way to pitch? Because I always tell my students, like, look for searchable words. I set up a Google keyword alert and look what's happening on Tik TOK. Would you say that that's kind of a good way in? Oh, yes, yes. If something's trending on social media, it is trending in the world, beyond our screens.
So, there is a lot of power. Social media is just a powerful tool, and if something's trending there, jump on it. Like, we also get story ideas from things that are trending on TikTok. So, it's likely, if you see something about a trending skincare remedy, It's likely that I'm also looking at it, so if someone were to pitch me, it'd probably be perfect timing where it's like, Oh, I need an expert for that anyway.
Talk to me about this. Is this legitimate? Is it fake? Should people be warned? What do they [00:19:00] need to know? So I think absolutely journalists look at TikTok all the time. We look at Instagram. We look at, not so much Facebook. We look at Instagram and we look at TikTok for these trending items to see what people are talking about.
And also it's important as a wellness reporter to debunk anything that could potentially be dangerous or not Ideal for certain people because things on tiktok are certainly not always safe Isn't like that's where people learn to eat tag pods. Maybe that was before tiktok I don't know, but either way tiktok isn't exactly like the safest place for information So it's important as journalists that we address those topics so if you see something trending on there whether or not it's accurate pitch it and be like this is actually beneficial because x or This is dangerous.
Do not do this because x Yeah, I I love what you're saying because what the essence of what this is is positioning themselves as an expert, right? An expert is not does not mean you have a certification or a degree for me What an expert is is someone with a point of view? So what I'm hearing from you and correct me if I'm wrong is you're just looking for someone with a [00:20:00] point of view on A bigger topic like you said agree or disagree.
Yes. Yes or no. Yes As long as they are in the field and well versed, like if, you know, if they own a certain type of gym or own a certain type of studio, absolutely, you are an expert, no doubt. And those are the people who I call on for a lot of my articles anyway, absolutely. Yeah, is there another way to leverage credibility if you don't have a lot of letters after your name or if you're really early starting out in your business, how can we get into your inbox and get your attention?
So I think once again, just being clear about what your business is, what your product is, and also letting me know like what kind of education you do have in the subject area, because also if you are starting a business in a certain area, you do have knowledge there, like even if it's new. You know, like, for example, I'm not going to go open a massage studio because I would probably cause back injury to people or something, but someone who is in that field, like if you open a massage studio, you have the expertise.
So [00:21:00] just as long as you pitch yourself accurately, like you could say, Oh, I worked at so and so studio for 10 years and now I'm opening my own, that is 10 years of experience that you have under your belt. It's not, I don't only count the years that you own a specific business. It's. You have 10 years of training elsewhere, or you went to school for this, or you did these kind of night classes and then started working as a skin tech or something.
It's not just how long have you owned a business. It's like, okay, tell me what you did before and why that's relevant. Yeah, 100%. And you know, we have members in our program who are cancer survivors or currently undergoing cancer treatment. And they actually formulated cleaning products without toxins, and they're not a chemist or anything, but would that be something to add in the pitch?
Like their own personal story and, and their own why? Yes, absolutely. So it's like, it shows once again, that you have that passion about the safety of product and the clean products because of the cancer treatment, the cancer diagnosis, so that's important to include as well, and also just helps humanize a product.
Yeah, [00:22:00] but keep it short, y'all. Jillian said three, three paragraphs. So keep, keep chipping away at the pitch. What about attaching resumes, bios, longer things that they want to stuff in the pitch? What is the best way for you to find out more information without the pitch being really long? I would say linking to a website is a nice way to kind of have everything in one place.
So it can be a portfolio, it can be the website for your Pilates studio. And on there, you can have an about me page that tells more about you can have information about whatever is relevant. I think that's a powerful. way because I think to open up an email and see a ton of attachments I kind of get a little bit shell shocked and if I can just click on a website and kind of go through it at my own pace without having to have a specific email open, it's helpful.
Also, once again, brings that credibility where I'm, where I'm aware that, oh, okay, this person owns a Pilates studio, here's the website for the Pilates studio, here's more information on them, here's where they're located, here are the kind of classes they have. So it just kind of helps see it all in one place like that.
And does it matter if it's local in your city? What if they own a studio [00:23:00] somewhere not in your state? Does that matter or not really? HuffPost is national, so for me, personally, it does not matter, and I do look for people all over the country because our readers are all over the country. So I've talked to people who own studios in Washington, D.
C., in Philadelphia, where I am, in San Diego, in Denver, so it doesn't matter to me if it's a small local studio as long as they have that expertise and they're doing things in a safe and legal way. It doesn't matter to me. Yeah. Oh, I love how you validated that because wellness is universal, right? Health is a human right.
So I totally agree with what you said. So we talked about so many things. I hope people are taking notes. We talked about the etiquette to message a journalist. We talked about the subject line. We talked about the structure of the pitch, how to put in a resume and other things. What about... Sending times, what's the best way to send, and how do you follow up, which is probably the question I get asked the most.
Gloria, this journalist opened my email multiple times, now they're ghosting me, I don't know what to do. So what's the best [00:24:00] time to send, and then what's the right way to follow up? The best time to send, for me at least, and I'm sure it varies, but um, is during work hours. It's helpful for me to see things come in during work hours, just because I'm already looking at my inbox.
After work, there's the chance it will get buried with any newsletters I get or any news alerts I get, and I get a lot of them. So it's helpful just to see it come in during work hours. And following up, I do think it's important to give the journalist time to open up the email. We get a lot of emails. I feel like I've said that a couple times now, but we do.
I do not like to get followed up, certainly not within 24 hours. That to me is kind of like a red flag. It's like, okay, unless it's something that is so pressing, like, I don't even know what it would be. But Generally that is out. I would say at least four business days between follow ups. I prefer those to be email.
I do not love to get phone calls unless once again it's an emergency. And actually it wouldn't be a pitch that I would want via phone. It would [00:25:00] be like if it was some kind of, I don't know, other kind of an emergency. Yeah, I would say four business days at least. You don't want, like, too long because you don't have to become irrelevant or something.
But, and if you find the person isn't getting back to you, I will also say I am the queen of not replying for a little while. And it's not because, not anything personal, it's just because I have so many story deadlines. Takes me a while to get back to some people. And I will also search my inbox for certain keywords when I'm writing.
So, for example, I just did a story two days ago about. Physical therapists and their tips for a good workout. So I googled in my inbox, physical therapists, and I found pitches from, honestly, the one woman I emailed it was, she pitched me in May, um, but I followed up and I was like, I'm so sorry for my delay.
Do you wanna talk to me about this? And she did. And she was happy. So I will also say like, don't lose hope if you don't hear back within a few weeks. Certain things are filed away for the future. It's like, okay, now I have a Pilates [00:26:00] expert I can reach out to for my next Pilates story. Or, oh, okay, I have a yoga expert I can reach out to for my next yoga story.
But it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be hearing back from me that week. It might be a few months, which I know is probably frustrating. But it's just kind of, I think, how this industry works. Yeah, I love what you said. And one of the metaphors that I use when I'm explaining this to, because for a lot of small business owners, when they send out that pitch, it's so scary already to send it out.
And then they're like, Oh no, this journalist hates me. Uh, I'm never saying anything again. This is not a success, but you just disputed that along with so many other journalists I've emailed. Who said the exact same thing, which is sometimes I go back all, actually, all the time I go back into my inbox and I will search for people from six months ago, but the business owner needs to feel confident to send that pitch early and often so that they can actually put their name in the hat.
It's kind of like a, like almost like a baggage claim when you get to the airport. Right. As the bags are coming in, it's not like they're gonna get picked up right away, but it keeps going around and around eventually, hopefully, you know, if they're following the tips that you, you have given that it will get picked up.
Um, I love what you said about. [00:27:00] What about DMs? I am a big believer in using multiple platforms to follow up with journalists, obviously, respectfully and with tact. How do you feel about using DMs as a way to connect with journalists and social media? I have received DMs mostly through LinkedIn. That's where I think I get the best DMs and where I'm most likely to respond.
So I would say LinkedIn DMs are certainly valuable. My Instagram is private, so that, like, I think probably is a bit of a hurdle. So when I do get DMs, I often don't see them for a little while. So I would say LinkedIn is probably best for social media DMs. At least for me, because I'm a little bit of a bitch.
Instagram. I will also say I have received DMs on Twitter. I have replied via Twitter. Kind of like what you were saying. I wonder if the person even got advice from your podcast. Maybe she did. She emailed me first. Followed up and then DM me on Twitter and the Twitter DM was what caught my attention Finally, um, and I did look at her email and I think she wanted to have a virtual coffee or something like that So we did that but [00:28:00] yeah I would say tread a little lightly with social media at times if they do have an Instagram or Twitter that is purely work Go for it.
If it's It's maybe a little bit more where they, they want to kind of savor that space for their personal life. They don't want to think about work. So I would just say like tread a little lightly there and lean into LinkedIn and lean into the accounts that are clearly work accounts, which people do have.
But if it does feel like it's a more personal account, maybe like go to LinkedIn over Instagram. Yeah, I love that. Do your research. And maybe that person is from my PR program. So after we get off of this call, you'll let me know who that is, because that's exactly what I teach. Follow up, which is email and then DM, but wait one week and do it again.
And obviously, in that meantime, follow the journalist and do the right thing. things so that you are planting the seeds for that relationship. Let's talk about once they follow up, right? They follow up, they don't hear back. What do they do next? If you are opening their email, what is the right way to start that conversation again?
What is the right way to keep that door open? So it's not [00:29:00] just, you know, Oh, well she ghosted me. She hates me. How can someone use that opportunity and turn it into something else? Yeah, so first of all, no one is ghosting you because they hate you. But I think kind of following up, and I think you could even ask, I've seen some emails where people ask me, like, is there a better way for me to portray this information, or is there a better time for me to email you?
And sometimes I have said like, Oh yeah, actually this will be relevant for a story I'm doing in October. Can you follow up with me in September? And I think that's helpful. Kind of just to ask them point blank like, What is best for you? How will this help? And you can even ask, Is this relevant? And if they say no, then you know, and you don't have to keep wondering.
And you can even ask, Why isn't it relevant? Or, What types of things are relevant? Just to make sure you are pitching that person the things that they are going to open. And remind him. Now, I got so many ideas for teaching follow up messages is like, is this relevant? If not, let me know. I feel like that would be a nice follow up message because it's kind of eliciting a response.
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, and that's also clear that in the end you are also just, we're just [00:30:00] trying to be a team here. Like you're trying to pitch what is most relevant for my readers while also pitching your brand. So it's like, it's just a good way to kind of establish that teamwork. Yeah, so now you've walked us through the whole journey from beginning when they first make contact with a journalist to once they follow up.
Now let's say you like their pitch. What usually happens next? People are wondering, is it a phone call? Is it just back and forth emails? What does it look like before it actually gets published onto the internet? Yeah, so generally I email back and I ask to set up an interview, a phone interview. Um, I prefer phone.
Some people prefer video, I generally do phone. And once we have a time set, I call the person and I record it, and that's really mostly what I need from the, the PR. And then I write, and if I have any questions as I'm writing, I will email, or if it's pressing, I will text the expert just to get whatever information I need, and then it publishes.
So do you ever publish things without them [00:31:00] knowing the date of it? It's kind of like, it's assumed once you get on the call with them, you just kind of say, well, it'll be published or is there any final rounds of edits or how does that work after the interview? I do like to give the date it's publishing if I know it.
Generally, I know the date it's publishing. If I don't, I will say like, oh, the week of September 5th or whatever. Try to email the final link to every expert I talk to. I would say I succeed in that, like, 95 percent of the time. I might miss it if I'm, like, out sick or something. But generally, I do send the final product after it's published.
And I don't do edits ahead of time from the expert. The only reason I would ask for any follow up would be if I had a question about something they said, or if I was confused. But I don't do edits. And my colleagues really don't either. I think most people don't really do edits just because it ends up becoming a really long process and kind of a little messy.
Yeah. I always think once the journal responds, everything's kind of easy from then on out because you're asking for exactly the questions that you want and they know the answer. So the whole point of kind of what I'm teaching and kind of what the [00:32:00] reason why we're recording this episode is just to help founders get to that first point, which is to actually get a response.
I know that this is different because you're not doing gift guides, but do you have a rough calendar of themes that you're covering? What are some of the stories that you're looking to cover thematically that you kind of cover every year around that same time? Yeah, so as, as a wellness writer, we are heading into flu and cold, COVID, COVID season isn't always, but we are heading into, you know, the kind of like respiratory virus season.
Kids are back in school, it's going to get colder soon, people are going to be inside more. So certainly topics related to. cold and flu and COVID prevention, treatment, and I don't do gift guides, but we do like really actionable things. Like I did a fun story last year about how doctors treat their colds at home, like what they actually do, which I thought was really interesting.
Um, we've done stories about like the timing for vaccines, like when you should get your flu shot for to be best protected. So certainly articles like that, and general fall, like, I did a story last year about how [00:33:00] to exercise. The days are getting shorter. It's like, how do you go for a run in the morning?
Now it's gonna be dark in the morning. Giving people advice on, like, how to change their summer workout to a fall workout. Just offering tips around that. And, you know, and before we know it, we will also be in holiday. So I can't believe that. Um, yeah, I would say just kind of things that are seasonal like that.
We've certainly done a lot with back to school. And then, of course, seasonal affective disorder. So things around like happiness and joy and kind of like finding the joy in everyday life as some people really do struggle when it gets dark and cold. So, um, yeah, just general fall, I guess, is what it comes down to.
So many ideas. I know all the people listening are going to get off of this and start to just write their pitch and feel excited about the value that they want to contribute in the world. So how can people find you? How can people read more about you and connect with you? Yeah. So my Twitter is Twitter is not up.
So I guess I guess you could still, I don't know. I think you can go to twitter. com slash Jillian, J I L L I [00:34:00] A N, Gloria, G L O R I A. There you can DM me, as I said, uh, that also has a link to HuffPost and all of, like, my author page. So it has my bio, and it has also all the recent articles I've ran, and my email address.
So, yeah, if you go to HuffPost. com, if you go to the live page, that is where most of my articles will be published. So you'll see my name there. You can kind of click through to see the kind of articles I'm putting out. Also get in contact with me that way. I love that for anyone that's listening that owns a Pilates studio yoga who's a doctor or a coach or a nurse or anyone in the Wellness services industry this episode is for you.
Please feel free to share it with your friends who can benefit Thank you so much for your time. You've given us so much to think about so many actionable tips And yeah, I just know our audience is going to get so much value from it So thank you so much for being on the show Jillian. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me.
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