Members of the press receive an overwhelming number of story pitches, offers for interviews and product briefing notices ahead of major conferences. To stand out, it’s best to send your pitch 3 weeks and follow up 6-7 days ahead of the event, highlight something more than a new product feature and keep your email as short as possible.
HIMSS21
The annual HIMSS conference is one of the largest and most significant on the healthcare calendar every year. There aren’t many events in the same “mega-sized” category – only CES, RSNA, JP Morgan, Medica and maybe HLTH are comparable.
The 2021 edition of HIMSS was a much smaller event, officially about 1/3 the size that it normally is. Unofficially, it felt even smaller given how many people and vendors cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. Having said that, it was still a worthwhile event.
As usual, I was deluged with pitches from companies and PR firms ahead of the event. In a normal year I would receive north of 700 emails in the three weeks leading up to Day 1 of HIMSS. This year, I received a total of 211 emails. Here’s how they broke down:
- 130 pitch emails
- 81 follow-up emails
- 147 unique companies pitched
- 22 had attachments (a no-no)
Who is pitching?
One of the most interesting statistics to come from my analysis of the pitches was who was sending them.
The overwhelming majority of pitches came from PR firms on behalf of companies they represent. There were no cases where both the company and PR firm sent a pitch, it was always one or the other.
I honestly have to say that who sends me a pitch is secondary to the pitch itself. I only look at the sender when I’ve already narrowed down to a shortlist of pitches I found interesting. I do have empathy for emails directly from PR & communications folks at companies – because I used to be in their shoes. So I do read them a little more carefully.
What was being pitched?
Most pitches I received had at least one of the following 4 announcements/offers:
- Product announcement / Product briefing
- Customer announcement / Customer interview
- Partnership announcement / Partner interview
- Healthcare industry commentary
The majority of pitches were offers for product demos and product announcements. It’s difficult to stand out with this type of pitch, as most products start to sound the same after the 5th pitch. For example, there were literally dozens of companies making announcement about the addition of AI to make their solution “smarter and more efficient”.
Just like with a sales pitch, the key is to talk about the impact not the feature itself. Tell me how your AI has been proven to save lives or how you + your client determined that the AI saved $100K this past year. Your new feature isn’t a story (unless you’re Apple or Amazon), but the impact of your product is.
When are pitches made?
Another interesting statistic emerged when I analyzed when the pitches were made. Here is a chart that shows the number of pitches received relative to the August 9th HIMSS start date:
I do not believe there is a single “best time” to send a pitch. I think it differs for each member of the press. Personally, I like to receive new pitches 3 weeks ahead of an event because that’s when I’m making my initial plans.
A follow-up 6-7 days before the event is perfect time because at that point my calendar is just crystalizing. Most of my “must-be-there” meetings will have confirmed and I have a better idea of my open time.
I ignore most of the new offers for meetings that I receive within 5 days of the event. HOWEVER, if your email has a subject line: “If you had an interview cancel…” then I might take a peek if I suddenly have an opening that I need to fill.
Breaking Through
The best pitch I received this year was exactly 3 sentences. It was short, sweet and to the point…which is exactly all I have time for 6 days before the event. Here it is (modified slightly to conceal who sent it):
Good morning,
If you are covering the HIMSS event, you might be interested in the importance of XXXXX in healthcare. Company A is exhibiting at HIMSS and their solution can address XXXXXX.
If you have any queries, or you would like to speak to them, please contact either myself or my colleague cc’d on this email
Many thanks
Brevity is key. I don’t want to read an entire press release. I don’t want the entire story in the email. Just give me the basics:
- Who would the interview be with?
- What is the story?
- Why will this be a great interview?
Many people forget #3 completely or they spend too much time telling me how renowned the interviewee is. Spoiler: Everyone else making a pitch does the same thing.
Instead, tell me how the interviewee loves using baseball analogies, or that I will hear the passion in their voice when they talk about [insert topic here], etc. Remember that this is a pitch. If you don’t tell me why it will be an interesting conversation, your pitch will not stand out.
…and now to steel myself for the next deluge…
Colin,
Thank you so much for these analytics. Fantastic information and guidance for all of us continually trying to improve.
Thanks Beth! Helping each other is what HITMC is all about.
As a PR professional, I really appreciated this post. It provided useful insights and analysis and provided actionable ways to increase the odds that my story pitch will be accepted. Thank you for that!
Glad you found it helpful Carolyn. It was fun to analyze the pitches. Keep it brief!
Colin, Thanks for your breakdown, recommendations, and guidance on what would make a pitch stand out from the rest. Good read!!!
Appreciate the feedback Margarita. Turns out it’s not that hard to stand out…but only because so many don’t realize how bland their pitches really are.