A Few Leads Before I Head to Cabo

Plus a reminder about the PR power of one very simple phrase

Happy Tuesday, everyone.

And by everyone I mean all 2,525 of you … yes, I just hit that 2,500 subscriber milestone! Thank you for your support!

We had some unexpected excitement in the SchildHOUSE this past weekend, when my fiancé sliced his index finger wide open while cleaning a chopper/blender gadget. The ordeal ended in urgent care with 5 stitches (I’ll spare you the gruesome photos). I swear, men will do anything to get out of cleaning the kitchen! Meanwhile, we head to Cabo on Thursday and now he can’t submerge his hand in the pool or ocean … go figure, as this is the first tropical trip he’s joined me on in like 3 years. Oy!

Thought for the day: A simple thank you goes a lonnnng way in this industry! When my articles publish, MOST of the time I’ll send each individual publicist who participated the link and thank them for their help (and sometimes there’s 15 publicists or more per story!). Amazingly, I get a reply from maybe 10% of them … what?! It’s strange to receive zero acknowledgement whatsoever when a story we worked on together publishes, and even weirder when I take the time to email you the link and you can’t even hit reply and say, “Thanks!” Since I write 20+ articles a month, you can imagine how much time I spend doing this good deed … but I’m honestly starting to wonder why I bother, since most of my efforts go unnoticed. Please remember that a large part of your success is dependent on building long-term relationships with journalists … not completing one-off transactions. Trust me, journalists remember exactly who makes us feel used vs who makes us feel appreciated … and the feeling you leave us with affects how we handle your subsequent pitches that arrive in our inboxes.

I’ll be offline Thurs-Sunday, back at it next Monday. But you’ll be getting a paid newsletter from me before I leave town, so you’ll hear from my one more time this week. The topic? The do’s and don’ts of press packages/mailers!

In the meantime, see below for this week’s leads.

Have a great week and watch for my Cabo Instagram coverage,

Jill

PS: I only have availability for a couple more Pitch Perfecting Parties and Agency Q&As through the rest of July, so contact me ASAP if you’d like to get yours scheduled this month! See below for details.

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Book Your July Pitch Perfecting Party Today!

Still thinking about booking a Pitch Perfecting Party with me? Just shoot me an email (use subject line: Pitch Perfecting Party) and I’ll share pricing details and available time slots for this 45-minute 1:1 strategy session.

Here are some testimonials from recent sessions:

“As a solo PR pro, there are so many positives to running your own business. But regularly I find myself stuck or questioning the way I'm doing outreach on behalf of my clients and I have no one to 'gut check' with. Jill's new offering solves this problem. Not only does Jill collaborate with me to make sure my pitch is getting noticed, but she educates me on the constant changes in the industry and brings things to my attention that are beyond just securing stories for my clients. Worth every penny!” — Kate Kelly, kkpr agency 

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“Wow. I had a pitch review session with Jill and it was both humbling and extraordinary.  Humbling because, after 20+ years in the media relations field, there was still so much for me to learn, as I discovered in my session with Jill.  It  was also extraordinary because Jill quickly, expertly and with warm candor helped me understand what a journalist really needs to build a story.  She gave me great pointers and explained the “why” behind her recommendations.  PR professionals should make a session with Jill a course requirement – we would do better work and journalists would get the pitches they can actually use.” — Pam Abrahamsson, Director, PRA Public Relations

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“Working with Jill was easy, fun and enlightening. She pointed out several nuances about pitches and subject lines that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. She also shed some much needed light on best practices for pitching an expert that is working with a brand!” — Molly Antos, Dadascope Communications

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“I had the chance to be a part of Jill’s Pitch Perfecting Party, and I found her insight extremely helpful! She critiqued 4 of my pitches and had so many tweaks and suggestions I completely missed or didn’t think to include. When a writer/journalist offers to take the time to give honest feedback on the work you present to people in their field, it’s so valuable. PR can be challenging, especially in today’s market, with Affiliate Marketing and brands not being up to par. But having journalists not open or read your pitch entirely can be awful and a severe roadblock in our jobs. Thank you so much, Jill, for taking the time to pour through some of my pitches and give me your honest feedback. It was worth every penny!” — Amy Bartko, Chatterbox

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“My strategy session with Jill was insanely valuable. I received critical feedback on a media pitch that wasn’t getting any traction. Jill provided feedback on my pitch, the product itself, new story angles, and even publishing verticals I hadn’t even thought of. Nothing compares to one-on-one time with a writer like Jill, I believe it’s a must for PR pros.” — Jordanne Pallesen, Owner, Julep Marketing  

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Book a Virtual Q&A With Your Entire Agency!

I’m booking Ask Me Anything sessions with PR agencies, where I provide industry insights (I’ve been in magazine publishing for 22 years), pitching and follow up best practices, feedback on your pitches, and more. Email me (use subject line: Agency Q&A) for pricing/availability.

Here’s a few testimonials:

"We are so grateful to Jill for an honest discussion on what REALLY works when pitching! It was also helpful to get insight into what a writer/editor's day looks like and how to better accommodate flooded in-boxes. Once again, the landscape of PR is changing, and we really appreciated that our team could ask Jill questions on how to best navigate the current media climate. I highly recommend booking a session with Jill!" — Chelsea Gladden, Founder, Everything Branding

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“Having Jill as a resource is worth every penny. She provided some great insight and tips for our agency to perfect our pitching skills. I would highly recommend her to every PR pro!” — Robyn Patterson, Founder, Mack Media Relations

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“Thank you so so much for taking the time out of your day to conduct the agency Q&A! It was so helpful to hear your insights on building relationships and standing out in an over-saturated market. My agency loved it!” —Aaren Rott, Account Executive, Stanton & Company, LLC

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“Our team learned valuable tips about pitching travel media from Jill Schildhouse. Her expertise provided tremendous insight and we all came away with new ideas to help us better serve clients.” — Stephanie Wilson, Owner, Wicked Creative

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“Media is changing at a rapid pace and there are inconsistencies from outlet to outlet. Publicists are struggling to keep track of it all while trying to foster relationships and advise clients on best practices. I’ve been receiving Jill’s newsletter for almost a year and have always appreciated her candidness. When I saw she was offering these Q&A sessions, I jumped on the chance to learn something and have fun doing it. I can’t say enough wonderful things about our experience with Jill. We talked about everything: from email subject line and the information she likes to see in the body of an email, what she deems to be the appropriate followup methods, to the way her editor's assign stories, the importance of affiliate platforms, and we even taught her a few things about branded partnerships!  Her insight was invaluable. We plan to make this a regular activity!” — Sara Spiegel, founder of w/ Sara PR

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Let’s Collaborate on an Instagram Campaign!

Follow my travels on Instagram — and with 17k followers, I’m available for your clients’ brand campaigns and collaborations, too! Happy to share my media kit and rate sheet upon request.

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Get Answers to All Your Affiliate Marketing Questions

Do you have questions about navigating affiliate marketing? Publicist Sarah Karger and former editor Dana Baardsen have co-created a course called Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists and it’ll answer ALL of your questions!

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Recently Published Pieces (Thanks for your help!)

• TripSavvy: Best Alaska Cruises

• TripSavvy: 14 Best Scottsdale, Arizona Hotels (I’ve lived in Phx for 19 years, so this was a very fun one!)

• Reader’s Digest: Bryce and I, along with other TMB editors, tested a bunch of air fryers

• Seventeen: Meet the Winner of HP’s Girls Save the World Challenge (my first for this pub!)

• Clean Eating: Have You Tried Supplementing with Oral Hylauronic Acid, yet?

• TripSavvy: 7 Best Oregon Coast Hotels

• Clean Eating: 10 Natural and Reef-Safe Sunscreens

Now, it's time to get the word out! When you and your clients share your coverage on social media, please be sure to tag my accounts: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (and please connect with me yourselves!)

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—— Current Editorial Needs ——

1. Franklin Prosperity Report: Home Office Solutions That Will Save Small Business Owners Time and Money

• These products/apps should be geared toward small business owners/solopreneurs who work from home

• Please demonstrate a time savings or money savings (or both!) with your pitch

• Subject line: Franklin Home Office Solutions

• Email: JillSchildhouse@gmail.com

• Pitch by: EOD Friday

2. TripSavvy: The Best Beaches in the United States

• Pitch me the very BEST beaches in the U.S.

• Share juicy details of the beach: what exactly makes it the best beach, what’s the sand like, what’s the water like, are there any bathroom facilities or places to get refreshments, what’s parking like, is there a lifeguard on duty, does it allow dogs, can you surf there, are there tide pools, is it safe for swimming, is there fantastic snorkeling/diving, etc.

• You’ll also NEED to share ONE downside of this beach (maybe parking is hard to come by because it’s so popular, the waves are too rough for young families, etc.)

• Subject line: Best Beaches U.S. + Beach Name

• Email: JillSchildhouse@gmail.com

• Pitch by: EOD Sunday (giving you through the weekend, as I’ll be tackling this first thing Monday when I’m back in town)

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More Useful Info

• Agency-wide Substack subscriptions available: Just shoot me an email with how many publicists will need access to my paid newsletter and I’ll send you a custom quote (which includes a group discount, of course!).

• Sponsorship opps: Do you have a course/book/conference/tool/service that you’d like to promote to the 2,500+ publicists who subscribe to my newsletter? Contact me today to discuss sponsorship opportunities for the month of July!

• Other journalist newsletters definitely worth subscribing to: Be sure to follow my trusted colleagues so you can stay up-to-date on their pitching needs: Alice Dubin, Bryce Gruber, Aly Walansky, and Nicole Pajer.