PR Interview: How to Pitch eMarketing+Commerce

Contact information
Melissa Campanelli
Editor in Chief
eMarketing+Commerce
http://www.eMarketingandCommerce.com
1500 Spring Garden Street, 12th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-238-5221
mcampanelli(at)napco(dot)com

Background
Before becoming Editor in Chief of eM+C, Campanelli spent 10 years at DM News as a Senior Editor and Deputy Editor. She is a leading expert on small business ecommerce and author of two books: ‘Entrepreneur Magazine's Open an Online Business in 10 Days’ and ‘Start Your Own e-Business.’ Campanelli graduated from Fairfield University.

Circulation & Readership
eM+C is a supplement to the long-standing Target Marketing magazine and its sister publication, Catalog Success. Issue dates for 2008: January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October and November/December. The magazine has 66,514 readers who are involved in email and search marketing, Web analytics, behavioral targeting, social media optimization and mobile marketing.

Examples of current editorial coverage
The magazine aims to offer coverage of every facet of emarketing and ecommerce, including search engine marketing and optimization; database marketing and analytics; direct response television; email, video, viral and guerilla marketing; social networking; behavioral targeting; Web analytics and optimization.

eM+C’s central objective is to present actionable, tactical information that readers can use to market more successfully. In each issue, MarketWatch analyzes online marketing techniques that reach consumers with varied interests. Similarly, 15 Minutes is a permanent fixture; it includes stories that suggest how to integrate e-trends in your marketing efforts.

Expect to see cover-story profiles on innovators who are transforming the way consumers buy, sell and interact. The premiere issue features a story on Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. The publication seeks to offer readers information that can be applied to enhancing emarketing campaigns.

Campanelli promises that 2008 will be a year of additions. The magazine will soon have a blog, a book section and other new features. She expects it to be a stand-alone print publication soon.

Web site + Extras
Find eM+C at http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com. Also, you can subscribe to eM+C’s weekly newsletter, which features how-to articles, best practices, case studies, headlines and opinions from business-to-business and consumer marketing leaders. Click here: http://ga1.org/emc/join.html.

How to pitch
Campanelli prefers that you email leads to her. She tries to respond right away. “If not, I forget about them!” Pitches should involve useful, straightforward information containing no typos or spelling errors. They should be well-written and not be too much of a hard sell.

If you would like to get on Campanelli’s good side, familiarize yourself with the publication first. “It is clear when a PR person has an understanding of my magazine and pitches me accordingly, and when that happens, it makes me very happy. It also is very obvious if they have no idea who my reader is.” Otherwise, an interesting case study or a customer story is always appreciated.

Her pet peeve is PR people who refuse to listen to her when she tells them what she needs. Also, she dislikes when they try to twist a story too much to fit into her criteria when it is clearly not a good fit. So, to succeed in seeing your name in eM+C, be honest, be relevant and be clear.

Contribute to eM+C
If you have some knowledge on fascinating developments in emarketing and commerce, email your relevant remarks, enthusiastic ideas and clever commentary to Campanelli. She would love to have strategic tips and tactics to share with readers. As an incentive, you will get the credit you deserve on the publication’s eBeat page. So, if you’d like some acknowledgement and publicity, become a contributor.

Press Kits
Don’t bother sending press kits since Campanelli considers them to be more wasteful than useful. She might take a look at one only if she is writing an in-depth story and the information isn’t available online.

Meet Campanelli and other editors
Campanelli will do lunch if she has a good relationship with a PR person (Read: they offer high-quality leads). In addition, she suggests that trade shows and conferences are fine places to catch up.