Pushy, persistent or too polite?

By on October 31st, 2007 In Pitching

At what point do you cross the line between being persistent with a reporter or editor and just plain old pushy about a pitch? 

If I didn’t think my idea wasn’t good, I wouldn’t pitch it, but I don’t want to shove it down a reporter’s throat either.  I have heard horror stories about some publicists who call and call and call to get their story on. Sometimes that will work (according to a few of my producer friends.) Others get blacklisted and the reporter refuses to ever take their pitches because they don’t like to be called and emailed constantly.

Some contacts tell me to only email them…if we need to discuss over the phone, they will call me. Uusally we set up interviews or live shots through emails and I never have to pick up the phone except to call the client to discuss. I personally LOVE this way to work because I have a history of emails to refer to during and after the interview.  Nothing is lost in translation because its all in black and white.

Some media express interest but then drop off the face of the earth, so I bug a few times and then drop it. Sometimes they call or email me a month or so later saying it was in limbo with their editor or producer but now they are ready to go. Or, they just never discuss it ever again and I move on to other pitches to them.

Others tell me that I have great pitches but need to call more often to bug them about it.  So I call them more…but it doesnt mean the pitch will always get picked…but we do develop more of a relationship that way. Sometimes when I call to pitch an idea we find ourselves chatting about other ideas, etc. But rarely do I get more than a few minutes on the phone with them. I have to admit though, I never did like talking on the phone…and I keep my pitching to a minimum this way.

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