Remove as much chance as possible. Public relations is effective to push sales and grow your brands, but everyone is busy. People need to know what is interesting quickly. This goes with journalists, influencers, and creators too. So, when you pitch these attention gatekeepers, it is in your best interest to give them more than what they need. 

In The Crowdsourceress, the author, Alex Daly, suggests this:

“We tried to be as personal as possible, sending screenshots of tweets they had posted in support of [our project] with something like: “We saw that you tweeted about the Standards Manual and thought you would be interested to know about an exciting project around its reissue.””

Another massively important tactic for PR is making sure your press kit and media are of high-quality. Your press kit could be a combination of company biographies, testimonials, product fact sheets, sales fact sheets, awards and anything that can be interesting for someone to share. Quality media is also key. This is a way to build brand salience by showing where your product is used, how it is used, and other branding materials that you own. 

And finally, in order to make sure that the person you want receives your pitch, try to find a personal email. Not books@houstonchronicle.com. 

Nothing is a sure thing, but getting more detailed in your approach can always lead to more success. 

If you have particular publications or influencers that you would like to reach out to, contact me below.