It’s easy to copy and paste a template and then hit send — we see it all the time, and you’ve probably received a few pitches yourself today.
And most of these pitches are ineffective for various reasons, but subtle details can make a significant difference.
As a company that loves outreach and does a ton of it to drive web traffic, we’ve noticed the small differences that can convert a mediocre outreach email into one that consistently lands coverage — and creates a relationship.
Here are ten details to pay attention to for a successful outreach campaign.
Table of Contents
- Follow Up on Failed Emails
- Find the Second-Level Email, Not Just the First
- Personalize Outreach by Identifying the Contact Person
- Recognize Context Breaks in Email Templates
- Have Quality Assurance for Outreach Templates
- Leverage Timing by Offering Story Exclusives for Better Coverage
- Identify Domain Name Idiosyncrasies for Effective Outreach
- Handle Negative Responses in a Constructive Way
- Build Strong Relationships with Influential Contacts
- Follow Up With Great Fits That Don’t Respond
- The Small Things With Large Impact
1. Follow Up on Failed Emails
When you’re juggling a long to-do list, it’s easy to ignore a “Mail delivery failed” message and move on. However, if you’ve put in the effort to find and write to that contact, it’s crucial to follow up on failed emails to maximize your link building efforts.
Neglecting to find a secondary contact means missing out on potential opportunities and relationships. A meticulous approach involves not just sending initial outreach but also diligently seeking alternative contacts.
Pro tip: If your email to a blogger bounces back, try commenting on one of their recent posts to request their updated email address. This strategy often opens the door to a conversation and increases the chances of a successful follow-up.
2. Find the Second-Level Email, Not Just the First
When pitching to news publications, you might come across generic email addresses like “contact@website.com.” These general emails can often be a black hole where your pitch gets lost. To improve your chances of landing coverage, don’t settle for these broad addresses.
Effective outreach involves going beyond the generic email and tracking down the direct contact information for the specific reporter who has covered similar stories. This personalized approach increases the likelihood of outreach success by ensuring your pitch reaches someone with relevant interests and authority.
While pitching to a general email like “tips@” can work, finding and using a reporter’s direct email address is usually more effective. If you have the opportunity, balance your outreach by sending to both the reporter’s direct email and the general “tips@” address.
Pro tip: Use tools like Hunter.io or LinkedIn to find the specific email addresses of journalists or editors. A targeted email is much more likely to catch their attention compared to a generic one.
3. Personalize Outreach by Identifying the Contact Person
Sometimes, organizations provide contact emails without listing the associated name. It’s easy to default to generic salutations like “Dear webmaster,” but this approach lacks personalization and can feel impersonal.
Effective outreach involves going the extra step to identify the name behind the email address. By researching the contact email in Google or using professional networking sites, you can uncover the name of the individual associated with that address. For example, instead of addressing your email to “Dear Stanislaus County webmaster,” you could personalize it to “Dear Bryan.”
Pro tip: Use tools like Hunter.io or VoilaNorbert to help find the specific name of the contact person linked to the email address. Personalized greetings make your outreach stand out and demonstrate a genuine interest in the recipient.
4. Recognize Context Breaks in Email Templates
Email templates can be a huge time-saver, but they aren’t always flawless. It’s challenging to create a template that perfectly adapts to every situation. Ignoring semantic breaks can make your outreach seem like a generic, spammy blast rather than a personalized message.
For example, an email template might start like this:
SUBJECT: ASSET for WEBSITENAME
Hey NAME,
Thought you might like this ASSET for WEBSITENAME because REASON.
If you’re pitching a personal blog like siegemedia.com, saying “Hey Ross” in the salutation and then referring to “siegemedia.com” as the asset’s destination can seem repetitive. Instead, avoid awkward phrasing and use more natural terms, like “personal blog” or “personal website.”
Pro tip: Review your email templates for semantic breaks and adjust the language to fit the context. Using contextually appropriate terms and phrases enhances the personalization and effectiveness of your outreach, making your emails feel more tailored and less like mass communication
5. Have Quality Assurance for Outreach Templates
Just like your blog posts, your emails should have editors as well. Even it’s a sliver of content, having a set of editorial eyes on the content you send out can help refine the message, remove the curse of knowledge, and overall improve the end product.
Moreso, if you’ve ever experienced the feeling of sending out 50 emails, only to realize there was a major error on all of them, you understand the importance of getting another set of eyes on your templates.
At Siege Media, our outreach QA process also includes getting an editorial review of where we’re going to do outreach, which also triggers ideas for additional outlets (or outlets to remove), which can overall improve the outreach process as well.
Pro tip: Implement a checklist for your outreach templates that includes key elements like personalization, accuracy, and relevance. Regularly reviewing and updating this checklist can help catch errors before they reach your recipients, ensuring a polished and professional appearance in every email.
6. Leverage Timing by Offering Story Exclusives for Better Coverage
One of the biggest problems marketers have is not enough time or resources in order to properly invest in the promotion of content. No doubt, one of the said advantages of having those resources is the ability to offer an exclusive to a reporter in front of the post deadline.
If you are tight on resources and in a high pressure environment, there’s some probability you won’t have the luxury to align with content launches in order to do this, but if you are truly doing great outreach, you find a way to make this happen, because it can definitely improve the probability of coverage.
One suggestion to get this done is to tie it into your content development team, who might have more bandwidth to start this communication and/or clarify on any of the story points a reporter might want. If your outreach team is forever on another project, they might have difficulty finding the time executing on this concept.
Pro tip: Collaborate closely with your content development team to facilitate offering exclusives. They may have more capacity to initiate communication with reporters and clarify story points.
7. Identify Domain Name Idiosyncrasies for Effective Outreach
When reaching out to websites, accurately using their domain names is essential. Sometimes, the correct domain format isn’t obvious from the logo or site design. For instance, you might see a logo that looks like “Screen Crush,” but the actual domain name could be “ScreenCrush” without the space.
These small details matter because errors in domain name usage can make your outreach appear careless, potentially diminishing your pitch’s effectiveness. To avoid this pitfall, always check the website’s title tag for the proper domain name format. The title tag typically shows how the site prefers to display its name, helping you ensure your outreach is both precise and professional.
Pro Tip: If the title tag isn’t clear or available, do a quick search for the website’s official social media profiles or press releases. These sources often use the correct domain format and can offer additional clues about how to properly address the site.
8. Handle Negative Responses in a Constructive Way
Sometimes, you get a negative response to your pitch, but the thing about getting a no that many might not realize is that no is a solid response – it’s a sign of respect from the other person (most of the time) that gives you the opportunity to continue the conversation, build a relationship, and overcome that first rebuttal to possibly capture more coverage.
Really creative outreach specialists (such as Justin Briggs, who originally turned me on to the concept described), will find new opportunities to get coverage based on the context of the no.
Often times the best situations to overcome the no are when people say “it’s not a fit for that part of the site you pitched” – when there are potentially other areas that might still work. The second most commonly occurring way to overcome the no is by improving your piece based on the feedback and then looping back to that person for a follow-up.
Pro Tip: Always respond graciously to negative feedback. Express appreciation for their consideration and invite them to suggest any other potential opportunities or contacts within their network. This approach can sometimes lead to unexpected avenues for coverage.
9. Build Strong Relationships with Influential Contacts
Tying back in to the “not enough time” point in best practice #6, I am willing to bet the main reason people do not build relationships or leverage contacts is because of a shortage of time, or otherwise, the knowledge that they will likely not return back to a certain market in order to do outreach again.
But it must be stated, despite its obviousness, that a major reason some people will take the next step to great is that they put forward an effort to build relationships, and not just pitch content.
I am a believer that if you have amazing content, it will speak for itself when pitched, but that won’t always be the case. Finding a way to build and sustain relationships in areas you’ll revisit is a must if you’re looking to take your campaigns to the next level.
Pro Tip: Regularly engage with your contacts even when you don’t have a pitch. Share their content, comment on their posts, or offer helpful insights related to their work. This ongoing interaction helps keep your name top-of-mind and strengthens your relationship for future outreach efforts.
10. Follow Up With Great Fits That Don’t Respond
While figuring out ways to overcome no’s is one characteristic of great outreach, also figuring out ways to overcome non-responses is the second tier that can take your coverage to the next level. For example, sometimes when prospecting you might identify a section that you are just made for.
For example, Light Stalking, a prominent photography blog, has a weekly roundup of the best in photography links that often features 25+ resources. If you had just cold pitched the site, which might have seen like a decent idea for a medium-sized kind of publication, there’s a good chance it would have fallen on deaf ears.
With further investigation and a follow-up, you would have noticed the weekly roundup is ran by an outside contributor – a contributor whose contact info you could have ran down and contacted for the link.
Pro Tip: When following up, provide new value or additional insights related to your pitch. This shows that you’re still engaged and can offer something new, which can help rekindle interest and improve your chances of a response.
The Small Things With Large Impact
While they’re not the most comprehensive, these ten best practices highlight common areas where outreach teams often fall short. Mastering these small details can make a significant difference in the success of your outreach campaigns. It’s not always possible to get everything perfect, but focusing on these areas can greatly enhance your campaign performance.
Ready to see the difference that attention to detail can make? Contact Siege Media today to discuss how our personalized outreach strategies can take your campaigns to the next level.