Episode 69: The Worst Pitches I've Ever Received Part 2 (Don't Let This Be You!)
Forget the resume-like pitch, the fluffy statements, or even marketing yourself.
All those traditional PR tactics give journalists more reasons to send your pitch straight to the trash.
Because let's face it—we've all been forced into believing that only third-party agencies can pitch journalists on your behalf and that pitching should be all about you.
And I don't want you to pour your time and resources into something that similarly turns out to be like some of the worst pitches I've ever received.
Instead, you can approach the pitching game as we do it here at the Small Business PR community.
In this long-term game, the open secret in our community to earning that media feature is about providing solutions to the journalists' audience.
Now, your question may be, "How can I offer a solution to their audience today?"
It will take practice, effort, and some rejections. Still, you can stand out from the crowd by being credible, specific, and relevant in your pitch.
As to how you can articulate specificity and relevance in your pitch—from your subject line to the bullet points, we have you covered in this episode.
In Part 2 of this special series dedicated to pitching, I'll critique some of the worst pitches I've ever received in my inbox in the hope you will avoid making the same mistakes, too. Doing so will help you get closer to that 'Yes' you've been waiting for.
"Again, it's not about marketing yourself and using people who have podcasts or editors or journalists using their outlet as a free advertising avenue. But how can you be a conduit of information to help their audience?"
-Gloria Chou
Make your pitch stand out from the crowded inboxes of journalists! Tune in to this episode so you can stop committing the same mistakes and start getting more responses from your pitches. Soon enough, you'll land that media feature you genuinely deserve.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
No fluff, no bluff subject lines that get your pitch noticed
Why relevance is the secret to a successful PR strategy
Structuring a solid and easy-to-follow pitch
Expert insights on how to craft attention-grabbing pitches
The reasons why specificity always matters in your pitch
How to demonstrate your value to the journalists' audience
If you want to land your first feature for free without any connections, I want to invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought-after industry expert. Register now at www.gloriachou.com/masterclass.
Resources Mentioned:
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community: Small Biz Pros: By Gloria Chou
Small Business PR Podcast: Episode # 60- Worst Pitches Part 1
Additional Resources:
Join the Small Biz PR Pros FB group
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Here’s a glance at this episode…
[00:45] A great way to learn how to pitch and get it, not right the first time, because there's no perfect pitch, but get closer and closer to that "Hell, yes!" pitch is by knowing what not to do.
[12:53] Remember, do not write your pitch like you're writing a greeting card or you're putting affirmations on a mug. Break it down for me. Peel away the layers of an onion. It really paints a picture of not only are you talking about the subject, but you're really breaking it down for me because it's all about actionable steps.
[16:25] If you cannot clarify exactly the value that you're bringing, and you're using these big, big words, you better be able to back it up with specificity.
[17:59] If you are for everyone that you are for no one. I want to know who you have helped. Where are the specific industry sectors? What is different about right now versus when you were pitching to be on a podcast a year ago?
[24:27] Do not bury your strategies. Do not bury your value. Don't make it harder on me or the person that you're pitching to, to piece together the puzzle and figure it out.
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Gloria Chou 0:01
As you know, I'm all about showing and not just telling on this show. I do this in my PR masterclass in the PR workshops I host. And so today I will be reading some of the pitches that I've received in my inbox in hopes that you will not make the same mistakes. And the more information you receive, whether it's from me or listening to other episodes or other people, you will start to be able to build upon that information. Now, this is not a one and done knowing how to message properly knowing how to communicate your value with clarity. And in a succinct way. This is a lifelong skill that we keep honing in on, we keep sharpening this right. And so a great way to learn how to pitch and get it not not right the first time because there's no perfect pitch, but get closer and closer to that hell yes, pitch is by knowing what not to do. So this one I'm going to read a couple of pitches that I received on my podcast, which I feel like don't really hit the mark, again, it's about providing a solution. It's about it's about not using me or anyone that you pitch as a vehicle for advertising. The more sounds like that, the more it's going to be probably a no.
Gloria Chou 1:01
Hey friends, I'm Gloria Chou, small business PR expert, award winning pitch writer and your unofficial hype woman. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people get the recognition they deserve. And that starts with feeling more confident to go bigger with your message. So on this podcast, I will share with you the untraditional, yet proven strategies for PR marketing and creating more opportunity in your business. If you are ready to take control of your narrative and be your most unapologetic and confident self, you're in the right place. This is the Small Business PR podcast.
Gloria Chou 1:33
So here are some of the pitches that I have received just in the last six months for people who want me to come on to my show that I'm like, no thanks next. Okay. So this is one that I receive a lot. I I love it when people get really creative with the subject lines of something that is very, like, I don't wanna say aggressive but almost like "Aha, I have a solution for you." Right? This is the person you need to have on your show. Can you think that's really kind of pushy, or sound sarcastic is not really cute? And it's not going to be, a yes from me. So this subject line reads, your next guest has arrived, ABC of ABC Company. Now obviously, I'm not going to tell you their name, right. But this is just kind of how the subject line reads. Already, I feel turned off by the subject line is really pushy. It's not concise. It's not specific. It's not telling me what this person is doing, how they're going to add value, what kind of questions they can answer any of it. Right. So I have a subject line training in my PR starterpack, my PR program for small businesses. And it goes really in depth because remember, if you cannot have a good subject line, it's not going to be open or your open rates are all about your subject line. So we need to first get the first things first, right, which is the subject line. This one already misses the mark. Right. It doesn't tell me what the pitch is.
Gloria Chou 2:46
But let's keep reading. Hi, Gloria. I hope you're having a fantastic day. Again, you're competing for my attention line by line, do not waste your precious real estate and attention span on fluff or formalities. Let's just get right into it right. And then this pitch continues to say, I'm Ashley and I have the perfect guest and topic for small business PR, how to finance your marketing without going into a bank with Mr. XYZ. Now again, why would this be a perfect topic for me, I don't do anything with financing with personal finance, with loans with anything to do with finance. This is a small business PR podcast. So this person obviously does not know what the perfect guest is, and there are saying that they do which turns me off even more. But let's keep reading. Getting the right financing for a new business or to grow a business can be difficult and banks are not very flexible in this regard. My client, Mr. XYZ has a great advice to share with your listeners to get around the bank and get fired the financing plan they're looking for. Below some more information about mixing Mr. XYZ. He is the founder of XYZ Company. A leading marketplace that supports businesses of all sizes. With 14 years of financing experience he has helped 1000s of entrepreneurs lend over 500 million in funds. He is a serial entrepreneur that invests in real estate crypto owns two gyms and more and a down to earth and bulk optimists who wants to help businesses grow to their potential. I look forward to hearing the chemistry between you two in action. Let me know if you would like to learn more about it. Now this is I feel really bad because I have to say like 90% of the pitches that I get are from third party podcast pitching agencies. And I teach us on my PR masterclass all the time, which is PR is changing, right? We don't really want a PR rep to be pitching on your behalf. Why? Because if you cannot communicate to me that you are willing to spend the time to talk to my audience and pitch me and you're kind of just shoving it off to someone else. Why should I give you the time of day, right? Usually podcast hosts have devoted devoted so much time and energy to cultivating their audience. They are reading their emails, so they want to hear from the person that is actually pitching them. And if you cannot even spend the time to pitch me yourself. That show already shows to me that you're not super interested in me and you're more using me and my platform, right? That's the first part.
Gloria Chou 4:59
Second part, in addition to the subject line being completely off, is that this has nothing to do with me. Right? Again, it's not about marketing yourself and using people who have podcasts or editors or journalists using their outlet as a free advertising avenue. But how can you be a conduit of information to help their audience, that is how we can bypass paying for an ad, right, the energy of this entire pitch is about this guy, and what he's done and his experience and how he owns two gyms. Again, none of it is relevant to what I do here at Small Business PR, not only does it not fit my demographic, it doesn't fit the industry. And this pitch has nothing to do with what we're actually going to talk about. Now I've received some pretty, you know, left field pitches out there. But if you're able to relate it to small business, PR, or helping founders of color or diverse, marginalized voices to go bigger with their message that will help right but nothing in here has anything to do with the intersection of PR visibility or organic growth. So again, I cannot help but say this person is I feel bad that this is going straight into the trash and this person has paid a PR pitching agency to pitch for them that is really going nowhere, right? Another way that you can actually make your pitch standout. Let's just say it has nothing to do with with my audience. But one way to be a little bit less repulsive is if you actually wrote a little bit about why your industry that seemingly unrelated, could be relevant to my audience, right? Maybe there is a connection there? If so, what is it? Right? I don't know, because this person apparently has all the expertise in the world. So tell me, another way to make your pitch standout is instead of saying what you've done, or kind of naming off all the accolades and awards and where you went to school, write in bullet points, the questions that you can answer on my podcast, literally spell it out, number it out. Question number one, I can answer this question number two. And remember to be specific, I always talk about pitching like peeling away the layers of an onion. And by now I've said it so many times, it's almost like it should be made into a song. How can you peel away the layer of an onion where you're not talking very generally, about our topic, right? Because that's very fluffy and not specific? How can you peel away the layers and get to that juicy core to reveal exactly what are the specific insights that you can touch upon? And it doesn't have to be just one bullet point, you can give 5,6,7 or eight questions that you can answer. That way it'll allow me to see what's possible. Again, the pitch is not just to get a hell yes, from me, is to make it to have the person make a decision, yes or no. And the more specificity that you can help me provide in the pitch, the easier it is for me to say yes or no thanks. Or maybe tell me more. So that's the first pitch that I said no to and it went straight into the trash.
Gloria Chou 7:44
Now let's do another one. Okay, so this one, the subject line is podcast guest submission. First of all, you don't need to write that. I know, I know what this is. So instead of wasting the preview space, remember the subject line gets cut off, just get right into it. Right. So it keeps reading, leadership expert is centering pleasure and joy on the path to success. Now, I'm all about pleasure and joy. And I think that's great. But again, I don't really understand why that's really relevant to this year at this time. I always say that if your pitch can be used five years into the future, or five years into the past, it is not a great pitch. It is not specific. People want to know what is your expertise going to help you solve help my audience solve in today. Because I don't care what industry you're in, things are changing in a lightning speed. How is your insight going to give me something that's different? That's gonna tell me what's changing or maybe drawing upon what's changed in the last six months or even 12 months. Right. So again, the subject line here misses the mark. Let's keep reading. Hi, Gloria. My name is Ashley, PR manager for ABC Inc. I listened to your recent conversation with Jessica Toscano, who is an incredible journalist, I like to interview journalists on my show. So at least they went through and said that, about showing personality knowing who you are, and believing in yourself and pitching your business. I learned so much and was so inspired by the episode. That is why I want to introduce you to another potentially aligned guests who could add value. Miss ABC. Meet Miss ABC. Have you ever felt the presence of a woman who was so profoundly connected to her own essence, that I helped you realize what was possible? This person is that woman and she's sharing that power with leaders who know in their hearts are meant for more. She is a founder of ABC Inc, where she uses her leadership management expertise to help online entrepreneurs grow profitable and aligned businesses that are rooted in integrity and purpose. The secret ingredients, everything she does are honesty and transparency, which can easily be found on her top podcast. Right? So again, I like where I like the ethos and the energy of this pitch. But it's not specific enough because to me, helping online entrepreneurs grow profitable and aligned businesses. That could be anyone, you could put that for literally a slogan for Facebook, or for someone who is a tarot card reader, right? So what I would do is instead of just having really fluffy and nice adjectives, peel away the layer of an onion, tell me who these entrepreneurs are, what industry verticals are in, maybe their demographic, their background, what problems are solving? Are they product owners? Are they non product service based consultants? Are there women founders? Are they women and men? Who are they? Right? Tell me, but let's keep reading. So what I like about this pitch is that this person actually says, here are a few of her unique perspectives that will capture and inspire your audience. One, why living in pleasure and joy today will give you financial and emotional abundance to? How sales lead was sold will create weightless and lifelong clients who are shining bright? Three, how radical personal responsibility is the key to new paradigm of leadership for bringing luxury into your branding? Now, all of these are great, right? All of these are ideas that I agree with, right? I generally align with these values. But again, how is your perspective, your framework or strategy different? Do you have a three step strategy? Like I have my CPR pitching method, right? Have you come up with a framework? Or maybe like a list of do's and don'ts? One of the ways I love to pitch with specificity is if you don't have like a proprietary framework, like I do, then what are things that people get wrong about your topic? Right, that's a great way to really get to the point quickly and demonstrate that you have experience and that you have a point of view. Why? Because experts have points of view. And it's all about putting your not your marketing and sales hat on, but your expert hat on, right. So how can you communicate that expertise is by taking a true contrarian point of view, maybe highlighting what people get wrong. Three things people don't know about XY and Z. Now, again, I generally the format of this pitch is okay. You know, they talk about credibility, I like how they have bullet points. And I, you know, if you're in my training, then you know that that's exactly how I would like to write a pitch. I like to make it easy on the eyes. But again, it's kind of made the first step towards that progress, but it probably is about only 50% of the way there. If I were to improve on this pitch, I would basically talk about what is changing right now right at the time of this recording. And let's say you serve female founders or bipoc, and women of color founders. What is about this time, the place on social media, the fact that Twitter is imploding and TikTok might be banned, like how can we maybe grow organically when cookies are going away and ad costs are rising? What is happening in your industry that is urgent, relevant and timely, so that my audience can get a really quick win and major takeaways from it? I don't really see that here. I see a lot of really great adjectives that can maybe belong on a card or a mug, lots of great and beautiful affirmations. But they're not really specific enough. So remember, do not write your pitch, like you're writing a greeting card, or you're putting affirmations on a mug, break it down for me, peel away the layers of an onion, tell me what people get wrong usually tell me, if you have a three step method or a framework or a path, whatever it is, it really paints a picture of okay, not only are you talking about the subject, but you're really breaking it down for me, because it's all about actionable steps, right? So that's how I would improve on this pitch, even though this pitch, you know, has is in the general right direction is still wasn't specific enough to my audience, it was not specific and not clear, then it means that they need to do more of the work to really hone in on their messaging and their why.
Gloria Chou 13:34
Alright, so let's do a third one. One, this is really, this is great. The subject line is number one global marketing thought leader, Mr. XYZ to join a podcast episode. Okay, well, first of all, that is a big claim. Number one global marketing thought leader. Wow. Like that is listen, I'm all about owning and being empowered to use your voice. But this claim is a little bit I think, way out there. Number one global marketing thought leader. Wow, okay. Again, it's a little bit too outlandish. I really already don't believe this person, right. I also think that this is all about this person and how great they are. And they're joining my podcast episode, but why? What are you going to do for my audience? How are you going to help my audience of bootstrapping small businesses, it doesn't say that in the subject line. It just a bonus how this person is a number one global marketing leader, which already sounds a little bit not credulous to me. Let's keep reading. Okay. Dear Gloria, my name is XYZ and I'm writing to be a guest on your podcast. Okay, great. Finally, someone who pitches not from you know, not not by using like a third party podcast pitching agency, but from their team, their own voice so at least he gets bonus points for that. Okay, let's keep reading. I have more than 15 years of international experience with a proven track record. And I'm regarded as one of the world's top digital transformation and marketing coaches influencers, speakers, professionals futures, thought leaders for Fortune 500 consult and keeps going startup advisors, C suite mentors, who, wow, this person packed a lot in this one sentence, I can already tell how big of an ego this person has. Okay, let's keep reading. I have enjoyed a remarkable career at the top of technology industry. And I'm recognized as one of the brightest minds in digital transformation. As a result, I continue to play a pivotal role in maximizing into so already this is reading not so much like how this they're going to add value to my audience, but more like a personal statement to get into like a grad school of like, all the ways that this person has succeeded, and, and all the trophies that that that their mom maybe put on their desk. But again, that that's not the point of the pitch. The point is to be specific, and how you can be a solution for my audience. And if it reads like a resume, then you're really missing the mark. Okay, let's keep reading. Again, this first paragraph keeps going on and on for probably seven run on sentences about how this person is the top, the best. This and that proven track records, world renowned. Again, nothing about my show nothing about my audience and nothing about the problem that this person is here to solve. And using big general words like innovation, and influence and top, I don't know what that means, right? If you cannot clarify exactly the value that you're bringing, and you're using these big, big words, you better be able to back it up with specificity. So let's keep reading. This person then goes to right, I will share below my career highlights and I kid, I kid you not, there are probably 25, 25 bullet points longer than what would be in a resume of all the rankings, awards, mentors, speakers, interviews, all of these panels that he's been on that I've never even heard of. Right. And, again, I'm sure this person has been very busy and has done a lot because there's like 20 or 30 different bullet points. But have you have to lift list out every time you've talked somewhere every time you've been invited to present at a conference, it seeming to me like the energy of that is not about co creation and collaboration, which is what a podcast interview is. It's more like you shoving your resume down my throat and saying, this is how great I am. You have to get me on your podcast because I have done X, Y, and Z. And that's really not the energy of pitching. The energy of pitching again, is about well, how can we collaborate? How can we co create How can we apart be a part of the solution? And be be a discussion point for your audience, right? Again, this is 25 bullet points, plus seven run on sentences of what this person has achieved using really fluffy and general words. So it's really going against everything that I teach in my PR masterclass and my methods, which is relevance and specificity, and how can you communicate exactly who you're helping? Because remember, if you are for everyone that you are for no one I want to know, who have you helped? Where are the specific industry sectors? What is different about right now versus when you were pitching to be on a podcast a year ago? Right? Because everything is changing, everything is changing, we are experiencing 10 years of change in one year alone, right? Whether it's for online business, or marketing or algorithm changes, the price of ads, everything is changing. And I still do not see here how your pitch is relevant. Relevance is so important. And it's the key part of my CPR pitching method. If you haven't watched it go to my PR masterclass to see exactly my proprietary method that's helped 1000s of entrepreneurs get featured organically, you can do that at gloriachou.com/masterclass. Let's keep reading. Okay, so after the 25 bonus points, this person continues to write a huge paragraph about what he's done, right? How he's future proof strategies were backed by a multibillion dollar corporate track record. Again, if you know anything about my audience, we are every day small business heroes. We are first generation immigrants. We are single moms, we are people who are bootstrapping. So telling me about your multibillion dollar corporate track record makes me feel like maybe there's kind of a distance between your background and the background of my community. And it makes me feel like maybe we're not so aligned. Right? But, but this person keeps on going to talk about how they have been equipped with a plethora of game changing strategies. And anytime you're using more than three or four like adjectives, I mean, I feel like you literally either wrote it with an AI bot, or you put in, you know, in the store in the thesaurus, how to generate all of these huge words that really mean nothing, or it's like game changing or top or pivotal or global thought leader again, tell me how you are on the top. Tell me how you have been influential not just by saying that. Right? And then it ends with I look forward to hearing from you and sharing my experience. Sincerely. Woof. Okay, this is probably one of the worst pitches that I've received. Because it's, listen, it's good to be proud about what you've done. Right? That confidence is important. But when it's all about you and what you've done, and listing 25 different places, that you've been speaking out with no guidance on how you can answer questions from my audience, or maybe a data point that's interesting, or maybe how your perspective about whatever your industry is, is a little bit different. You're not doing me any favors, you're basically saying, here's my resume, I just send it out to as many people as possible, I don't really care about what your audience cares about. And I don't really care about being a solution, I just want another stepping stone, a platform to be able to talk more about myself. And that's really not what we're trying to do. So if your pitch sounds more like a resume, if the bullet points are not the questions that you can answer, and it's more about the things that you've done, then I really encourage you to either listen more to this podcast, watch my masterclass or join my community, where we tell you exactly how you can shift your messaging that's more of a marketing speak right? To one that is really going to position you as someone that can be a part of a solution for that person's audience.
Gloria Chou 21:18
Okay, let's keep going. This one says, subject line, Mr. XYZ might be the guests that you are looking for. Well, first of all, I don't know why you think they might be because I'd rather have it to be more certain than might. I have no idea, a waste of space, right? Again, your subject line is so important. If you do not optimize your subject line, it will not get open, right when you're actually pitching to more people. So your subject line needs to be concise and specific to what you're pitching. Right. So for example, three easy to implement ways to get your product into a gift card this year. Right? That is specific. It's about who I'm solving the problem for. And that in a subject line will tell the person on the receiving end what kind of topics and questions that I can discuss or answer, right, something like that. So let's keep reading this pitch. So again, this is someone who used a podcast pitching person, they were very pushy. They kept following up with me. Hey, did you get this? Hey, I want to follow up, hey, I'm looking forward to it. And it's like, well, obviously, obviously, the pitch is not that great. Otherwise, I would have asked for more information, right? I do like that this podcast, this pitch is short, unlike the other one that was literally like 35 bullet points. This one just has probably four or five sentences and it reads like this. Recently, I listened to your episode with Jennifer or tackless. Dawkins. So she is an incredible journalist was friend of mine I had on the podcast. She is from, she writes for Insider. And so this person said, I recently listened to episode with her about how to get onto business insider and pitch your small business and I find it extremely interesting. I wanted to present Mr. XYZ to you, because she might be a great fit for your lineup and share his knowledge and expertise on the following bullet points. I like bullet points or at least to get brownie points for that. Bullet point number one, holistic strategies. Two, business. Three, entrepreneurs. Four, spiritual techniques. Five, healing. Six, personal growth. Again, this is very confusing, like business. One bullet point about just business. As a as a singular word is like what type of business? Businesses a huge word, right? Healing, what type of healing? What type of entrepreneurs, so all of these huge umbrella words. They don't give me any specificity on what types of strategies or insights or verticals in these, in these bullet points. So just the bullet point, bullet business is not enough for me to decide whether or not you are going to give my audience value a bullet point on spiritual techniques, although interesting is not enough for me to know exactly if you are aligned with my audience, right? A bullet point on entrepreneurs is not specific enough. I like that it's short, but this one is so top layer of the onion that I cannot grasp at all how this person is going to add value. Right? I will keep reading. So then the podcast person says she has been able to combine her corporate experience rapid growth expertise and unique approach using energetic techniques and principles to help innovate small businesses into big conglomerates. Okay, great. But again, what type of unique approaches? Do not bury your strategies. Do not bury your value. Don't make it harder on me or the person that you're pitching to, to piece together the puzzle and figure out. Hmm, this person might be a good fit here. Tell me what these unique approaches. Right? Tell me exactly what energetic techniques are. Are they for times of burnout? Are they for mompreneurs? Are they for New York? Are they for end of year reflection? Who are they for? And at what point do they help because if you help everyone at every point, then you're really not an expert in anything. Right. So this one has zero specificity, and it just, I was not able to even respond to it. And I think it the funniest thing is this person who hired a podcast pitch, third party person to pitch again, you know, didn't even take the time to pitch me, this podcast assistant that pitch said, I can imagine you're already thinking about what kind of topic listed above could benefit your listeners. And it's like, well, yeah, but it's not specific enough to make five bullet points on huge words like business entrepreneurs, and personal growth. So don't make that assumption. And then this person keeps writing. I'd like to know how your scheduling works. And if you feel this person is a great fit, thanks for reading. Fingers, toes, and other appendages crossed. Either way. Thanks for the podcast, keep up the work have an absolutely splendid day. Stay awesome. All the best. So now at this point, I'm like, almost laughing. I'm like, what are these random, like jargon words, fingers and toes crossed to make this person almost like, they're so desperate to convince me that they have to write that, like they're thinking out loud. Another thing that really bothers me about this is not only have they not done the work about my audience, they've copied and pasted in such a way that the bullet points have a completely different font than the other sentences. And the spacing here is really weird. And you can see that this has been very clearly a copy and pasted from multiple emails with multiple different lines, formatting, and, and fonts. So it's like rookie mistake, number one, two, and three have all been made. And I just, I feel like this person is really just praying and praying that this, that this podcast pitch will land, I really recommend this person to watch my PR masterclass and see exactly how to get beneath the layer of the the top layer of onion and really have a pitch that's specific and relevant.
Gloria Chou 26:53
Okay. So, again, I don't mean to hate on any of these people, I'm sure they're very nice people. But in order for them to get featured there, right now, still paying for a third party pitching agency to get them featured. And this isn't really not great pitches that they're sending, right? So these, these guests are paying these podcasts pitching agencies to get them featured. And these are kind of the these are the emails that they're sending. Now you are a clever, a smart small business owner. So I know you're not going to make the same mistake. And if even if you do decide to go with someone to pitch on your behalf, that's okay. Make sure that you don't make any of these mistakes. So to recap, number one, the subject line needs to be concise, specific, and tell me what you what problem you're solving what you're talking about. Right? That is what is in the subject line, don't add any fluff like we have arrived or a podcast guests for you, or suggestion, we already know that. So let's just cut to the chase. Number two, make sure that it's formatted properly, make sure that when you copy and paste, please just spend an extra 30 seconds to make sure the font and the formatting is all uniform. Because that way, it just gives less of an impression that you're emailing it to 100,000 people. Right? Now, number three is make sure that it's relevant and not all about you. This is not a resume. This is not a pitching Shark Tank competition. This is about how we can collaborate to come up with a show that is valuable for my audience. My audience is ear who I've earned the trust of over my hard work. I'm not going to give it away lightly right. So how can you convince me that the audience that trusts me are going to be able to benefit from you? And so that is where the relevance comes in. That is we're pitching in a way where you have bullet points on how the questions that you can answer. Maybe sharing something that you've learned from your experience that is against what most people tell you, right, that shows that you are unique or different are not afraid to take the stance. All of these things help position you as an expert. Again, there is no legal definition of what an expert is, right? There's no legal like line where, oh, now I've crossed this line. And I'm an expert. An expert to me is someone who has a point of view and is willing to communicate that properly. So I really help you do that with my pitching. And so if you want to improve on your pitch and get featured this year, make sure that not only have you saved this episode, listen to some of the other episodes and watch my PR masterclass so you can see exactly word for word, how I would write a pitch in the same format the CPR method that has helped 1000s of founders with no experience or connections get featured. Take care.
Gloria Chou 29:26
Hey, small business hero. Did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, Marie Claire Pop Sugar, and so many more, even if you're not yet launched? Or if you don't have any connection? That's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR Secrets masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods 1000s of bootstrapping small businesses used to have their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought after industry expert. Now if you want to land your first press feature, get on a podcast, secure a VIP speaking gig or just reach out to that very intimidating editor. This class will show you exactly how to do it. Register now at Gloria Chou pr.com/masterclass. That's Gloria Chou c-h-o-u pr.com/masterclass. So you can get featured in 30 days without spending a penny on ads or agencies. Best of all, this is completely free. So get in there and let's get you featured.