Emilie Gerber

The most effective media pitches are extremely concise, ideally around three sentences.

"I would say my most successful pitches are three sentences and anytime... Sometimes it needs to be longer than that, and generally I feel like my pitch is weaker for that reason. Attention spans are s..."

Subject lines should be highly specific and signal that you understand the reporter's specific beat or column.

"When I email a reporter, I love to make the subject line just as clear as possible as what the goal is and why I'm emailing them. And so let's say it's for a recurring column that they have, I'll put..."

When hiring a PR agency, evaluate their speed to action and 'month one' deliverables.

"Find out what month one looks like with them. If month one is them just doing intake calls and learning about the company... you're not going to necessarily want to partner with an agency that needs a..."

Reviewing recent writing samples is a critical step in evaluating a PR agency's quality.

"Ask them for a couple recent blogs or releases, whatever they tend to go for, and read those. And, of course, wins too. You want to see what kind of stories they're getting, but that's a little more o..."

Straightforward pattern matching is more effective for press than complex problem statements or trend stories.

"You can get so in the weeds with your own messaging that you want to set up this massive problem statement, you want to make it a huge trend story, but if you're very straightforward and you're patter..."

Referencing a well-known incumbent provides reporters with an immediate frame of reference for your product.

"I'll put company taking on whatever Salesforce with X approach. It's so successful because instantly it gives the reporter a frame of reference. And so it gives the reporter, oh, I know what Salesforc..."

Category creation is generally an ineffective positioning tactic for PR compared to direct comparisons.

"A lot of companies want to position themselves as category creators, and I actually hate that. It doesn't work. It doesn't land with press, and most of the time it's not totally true... for PR, it's j..."

Repetition of core messages during briefings increases the likelihood of those messages appearing in the final story.

"The more that you can reiterate over and over again how you want the article to be, I think the more likely that it'll land in the reporter's head and make sure that the reporter really understands wh..."

Effective storytelling for press involves connecting company news to broader macro trends or public interests.

"It's identifying the piece of the story that's most interesting and then doubling down on that... figuring out how to tie it to these things that people actually care about, and not just the company's..."

Contrarian or bold opinions are more likely to get picked up by reporters looking for a balanced or unique angle.

"Having something pretty controversial to say... we really push our clients to have something unique and different and bold to say. And it obviously has to be a strategic decision for the business... b..."

Funding announcements should be pitched as exclusives with clear, high-level details rather than convoluted narratives.

"When we pitch a funding story, we make it very clear, 'Hey, we're reaching out with a startup launch or funding. We're offering this to you as an exclusive, meaning we're not going to pitch anyone els..."

Flexibility on launch dates is crucial to securing high-quality press coverage.

"I highly recommend not having a firm date that you think you need to announce something and going instead with when a reporter is able to cover your story... if you can optimize for the reporter over..."

A successful press launch requires approximately six weeks of lead time for preparation and outreach.

"I would say before an announcement happens, you probably want to kick off six weeks in advance. So when we start with the company, it's like we're working on the blog, we're doing a media training, we..."

Blog posts are often superior to traditional press releases because they allow for better tone, shareability, and SEO.

"The standard press release format, it's so formulaic, and I think it actually encourages that more marketing speak. The benefit is that you're getting all the news details in one place... However, you..."

Social media impact is driven by executive personalities rather than corporate brand accounts.

"If you're going to do that [social strategy], have an exec that you're also trying a social strategy with. Don't just do the plain corporate channels. Corporate channels, it's very hard to build a fol..."

The transcript provides extensive tactical advice on managing reporter relationships, offering exclusives, and navigating the media landscape that goes beyond general 'Launch Marketing' or 'Positionin

"I stagger it because we're offering exclusives, and I highly recommend offering exclusives."