Anyone working in PR has been in the situation where a journalist is completely MIA after being sent a pitch. So what is the proper timeframe for following up when the journalist has remained mum?
There are a few different approaches to take. It can be hard to know why a journalist has not responded to the pitch, so take some time to try to figure out what could have gone wrong. However, sending a follow up can never hurt.
Following Up Is An Art In Itself
So When Is The Right Time?
If your pitch is not time sensitive, it’s usually best to wait about 3 days before following up. If you need a response within 24 hours, waiting about 12 hours is usually okay until sending a nudge. However, it’s always best to prepare in advance when you have such a time constraint. Journalist have hectic schedules and deadlines, so it’s important to keep that in mind.
Waiting 3 days gives enough time in order to make it clear you’re not stalking them and that you’re not desperate. Since journalist have so much going on, sometimes they may not have responded simply because they have not seen your email, which is why a reminder after 3 days won’t come across as annoying.
Wait At Least Three Days
How Many Follow Ups?
Only follow up once. We repeat, only follow up once. The best way to get a journalist to add you to the “never reply” list is to follow up too many times. There’s really nothing more annoying to a journalist than someone who thinks that constantly sending emails will help get their attention. In fact, it almost always ends up having the opposite effect.
Additionally, it’s important to keep your follow up very short. Something like “hey, any interest in this?” is usually enough. Many journalist will tell you that it is really refreshing to get a short and sweet follow up that reminds them about the pitch without wasting too much of their time. Same goes for the pitch, by the way. Something that’s too long and rambling will definitely keep journalists away.
In short (the key phrase here!), make sure that if you can, you wait about three days before shooting a follow up message to a pitch. If you can take away one thing from us, is that you should only ever follow up once.
Only Send One Follow Up Email
