You pitch to us. We pitch to our editors.
I’m guessing it might be useful to know how meeting with them actually plays out.
Firstly every editor I know is short on time. So short on time they probably have to get their PA’s to schedule bathroom breaks. Actually none of them have PA’s anymore. (Which means they are even busier.)
Everybody wants a bit of them, so, once the pleasantries are over, you have about ten minutes sell your stories in.
I had an editor, who shall remain nameless, (Lorraine Candy) who would give me five minutes to talk story ideas. I’d shuffle in with a list of groundbreaking trends like ‘coral is the definitely the new red’ and then shuffle out backwards. Like Ab Fab. Only more scary.
This lack of time means you sell stories in as headlines. As in ‘The new 2.99 face cream that totally transforms your skin.’
So it really helps, when trying to PR your product or place, to think in headlines. Great for the press release, but also in conversation. Even when you are talking to journalists over lunch, phrases like ‘Spanx for the skin,’ or ‘therapy in a bottle’ make our synapses snap.
Easy.