Pitching Stories

Valleywag takes its normal (somehow pandering) swipes at Michael Arrington in this blog post, but also provides a number of great ideas for ways PR professionals can actually ply their trade with dignity (from a survey of journalists conducted by Media Survey). Really good ideas from reporters on pitching stories!

I'm happy to have this advice as we begin to rev up at work and I start pitching stories and building relationships. Here's two, but Valleywag lists tons of quotes from top reporters on how PR folks should be pitching stories, all valuable.

Greg Sandoval, News.com
Greg says he met PR pro Michael Prichinello while reporting on Prichinello's client, Kozmo. The relationship grew from there. Prichinello called Greg to discuss trends and ideas that had nothing to do with Kozmo, knowing there was no quid pro quo. The result was that "when he would call with something, I would listen. He didn't waste my time. I'll take his call any time."

Ashlee Vance, The Register
Because he writes two or three stories a day, Ashlee wants to be "off the hook, get the quote, file the story, and move along. Waiting for a call becomes another whole process." Ashlee loves it when PR knows the subject so well they can answer all questions about "shipping info, product details, (and) keep me abreast of events."

Here were some ideas I had back in November.