7 Do’s and Don’ts When Pitching Mashable Asia

Mashable is currently one of the most popular virtual news websites, producing a wide variety of content ranging from hard news to the latest developments in the technology, entertainment and lifestyle industries, as well as web culture and internet trends in its “Watercooler” section. The site boasts 45 million monthly unique views and is a hit among 18 to 40 year olds.

Not long ago, Victoria Ho, Mashable Asia’s Editor, shared her thoughts on changes in the Singapore media landscape and the debate between print and digital media in our Media Q&A. Ho has over 10 years of experience in the media industry and was previously a senior editor at Migme, a social entertainment platform. She also wrote for The Business Times and The Straits Times in Singapore, as well as TechCrunch, ZDNet, the Nikkei Asian Review and Women’s Wear Daily.

She hopes online readers will have an educational and enlightening experience when browsing through the website and view it as a definitive news source. With this in mind, how can communications professionals add value to Mashable Asia and maximise the chances of their story getting picked up? Ho provided a list of Do’s and Don’ts to bear in mind when pitching to the Asia team.

DO explain the importance of the story. “Explain in one to two sentences what the company does and what is significant about the piece of news without the big story in front, whether it is a new product or change of leadership. It saves the journalist a bit of time. If they can’t immediately Google someone they can make a call on whether it’s something to jump on,” said Ho.

DO follow up. “Sometimes people see the email on the go and they forget to come back to you. I think it is okay to follow up. I have no hard feelings towards people who bug me. Following up also helps the PR person shape the pitch differently or reveal different facets of the story that may not have been obvious at the start to the reporter,” Ho explained.

DO respond to questions you have answers to. If they are off-the-cuff questions that do not require quotes or if the journalist needs more background information, reply in the interest of time. Ho elaborated, “This helps the story go through. If the journalist thinks, ‘Well it’s pending and I don’t know anything about this company’, they’ll just file it away. By the time an official response comes back, your story would be old. PR professionals need to know their client well; do some reading up on your client’s news and have a deeper understanding of what the update is, what it means and how it impacts people.”

DON’T pitch without knowing the publication’s editorial direction. Rather than doing a blanket pitch for each media segment, research in detail about each media outlet’s reader demographics and the type of news it covers, and customise your pitch to suit the outlet’s content.

“I get pitches all the time for stories that don’t suit Mashable’s readership. I think it is not difficult to notice what our readership is,” revealed Ho. “We cover news all the way to Internet memes for readers between the ages of 18 to 40 years. I receive pitches from people thinking that we are Buzzfeed, including listicles and enterprise news. It is really easy to just take a look at our website and know that we’re not covering B2B news. Re-angling a pitch trusting that the journalist will make a call on it is more valuable than a blanket pitch.”

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DON’T be intrusive. “Don’t send an email and ring within the next half hour to ask if somebody got your email. I think emails generally do reach their destination, so it’s not necessary to ask,” said Ho. “Since journalists are always in meetings or on the go, it would be much better if you could resend the same email and say ‘Just wanted to put this back on the top of your inbox’. This would be a less intrusive way of following up.”

DON’T oversell your story. Do not over promise journalists on what will happen at an event or the topics your clients are able to speak on. “I’ve gone to events where people have said everything just to get me there, such as ‘It’s exclusive’, which is not true because three other journalists were present when I showed up. It is the PR professional’s job to manage the media’s expectations and let us know what your clients can or cannot say, as well as how the event will provide us with a deeper understanding of other issues related to the company if we cannot quote their spokesperson.”

DON’T use a clickbait headline for your press release. “I always get that in subject headers,” said Ho. “If the story is good or if there is a really good reason why you should use a clickbait headline, well it might not be a great one but at least you didn’t betray your readers. However, at the end of the day, writing a headline just for the clicks alienates your readers.”

Think you might have a pitch that will interest Mashable Asia? Contact Victoria Ho today. Don’t forget to follow Mashable Asia on Twitter and Facebook to keep abreast of their latest news and feature stories.

From Mashable to Reuters, not all media outreach is created equal, and earned media coverage can seem elusive to even the most seasoned communications professional. Download our eBook 10 Tips to Leverage the Power of Storytelling for best practices on earning more media pickups and grabbing audience attention through multimedia assets. Also download PR Newswire’s latest 2016 PR Calendar to keep up with major news events and deliver targeted quality content to effectively hook your audiences.

*Editor’s Note: PR Newswire has rolled out a new online survey, titled “2016 Journalists’ Working Status and News Gathering Habits in Asia-Pacific”, to explore how the new era of digital communication has impacted the professional lives of journalists. The short survey welcomes input from the media community in six major markets – Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, and is open for participation until May 16, 2016. Stand a chance to win an iPad Air by taking part in the survey! 

Janice Tan is the Audience Development Executive in Singapore at PR Newswire. Follow us on Twitter for more media-related news.