Random Acts of Pitching: Pitching Members to the Press

Beyond regular pr leads, day in and day out we are working on ways to get our members in the press.  These Random Acts of Pitching™  our team carries out, whether they be answering editors’ calls for product for a last minute photo shoot, creating segments with national television programs, pitching new products to Daily Candy, or bringing members products and stories face to face with newsmakers through deskside appointments and meetings, you are never far from our minds.  For a sneak peek into how Random Acts of Pitching works, here are a few of the spots I visited today on behalf of the Tin Shingle PR team….

This was a busy PR week over on my end.Random Acts of Pitching were abundant!  Mother’s Day may have just passed but the long lead magazines are in fall fashion mode pulling products and experts for the upcoming issues.  Not only did last minute requests come in to us from magazines including People StyleWatch and Good Housekeeping (to which member products were sent immediately...no time for an official PR Lead), but I also hit the ground running on Tuesday and was hopping into Hearst, Meredith Corporation, and Conde Nast for fall desksides.  This means I’m able to share products and services face to face with the editors who decide what fills their magazines pages.

This is also exciting because I’m able to introduce them not only to cool and fitting member products, but also to our Entrepreneur Directory on the website.  The Directory makes it easy for editors and producers to find items for their story in a quick and easy manner – all they have to do is search under the category they are looking for and they’re immediately connected with emerging designers, breakthrough products, qualified experts – you name it thanks to you they can find it. 

The Directory also makes my life easier – when I need to pull a specific product for a story, or if I want to create a story for the press all I have to do is search the Entrepreneur Directory and see what items I have to work with.  That’s exactly what I did this week on several occasions!  Beyond the regular pulls our team does for editor requests, this week CBS, ABC and the CW wanted us to send them segment ideas, which we did by going through our members’ stories and companies. CBS also wanted us to help fill a beach segment – easily done with the Directory!  On Wednesday we received a last minute call from Reuters who were looking for women who were small business owners for a story they had a quick turnaround on – not a problem because we were able to send them a list of suitable subjects within the hour. 

As I write this I’m actually about to hop on a train with our PR team in tow and visit another set of editors with more stories, products, and of course tips on how they can use our Entrepreneur Directory to help them!  We will also, of course, find out what stories they are working on for the future – one of my favorite parts of pr because I always love knowing what was coming in magazines ahead of time – the secret scoop! 

We’re wrapping up the day visiting Emily Blumenthal who runs the Independent Handbag Designer Awards of which Tin Shingle is a sponsor. This year it’s going to be “big name heavy” as we celebrate the hottest emerging handbag and shoe designers at the New York Historical Society and honor Sam Edelman, Lulu Guinness, and Devi Kroell.  Emily supports our CE members and invited them to share anything they want in the VIP gift bags which means getting your brands in front of the press and other tastemakers!  She was also sitting right next to me when I called the product placement producer for The Ellen DeGeneres Show to plan member products and giveaways for their upcoming season.  Score!  Hopefully her good luck will run off on me again today when I stop by.

I’m sure more Random Acts of Pitching™ will happen today not only with me but with our entire pr team!  It’s so thrilling to be part of a team who is always thinking of innovative ways to get your stories out there – just wait until you see what we have in store next – stay tuned! And more importantly, join Tin Shingle as a member so that you can be included in our Random Acts of Pitching™!

* Editor's Note: Upon posting this, Sabina received word that two members she pitched at Better Homes & Gardens will be pulled into for a shoot this Tuesday for the fall fashion issue in September and one in October!